You ever feel like as soon as you purchase that new, state-of-the-art piece of technology that it seems to become antiquated within a matter of minutes? Well if you bought a laptop recently you may feel that way sooner rather than later. Phoenix Technologies Ltd, a software developer has announced that it will release a feature to laptop manufacturers making it seamless for users to jump from one operating system to another to play movies, surf the Web or read e-mail.

The first application of the technology called HyperSpace will be in stores next summer in the shape of laptops that can play DVDs outside Windows. Users will be able to boot up straight into the DVD player, skipping the longer Windows startup, or switch to the DVD player from Windows. If Windows is running at the same time, it can be put in sleep mode, prolonging battery life.

Currently there are laptops with separate media player but the in order to run windows you have to shut down and reboot.

As part of the eventual progression, the company hopes to incorporate Web browsers, e-mail programs and Web conferencing software into HyperSpace. Users would then be able to run antivirus scanning outside Windows which would improve security.

I’m not really sure quite yet of the functionality of the software platform. It seems that the company is trying to create an environment where the laptop becomes part of your life, a regular household appliance. You play your movies from it, music, whatever without having to worry about the time it takes to load its just always on.