By Dave Murray

One of the great things about the Internet is that, online, everybody has their own soapbox. On the Web, anyone around the globe can sport their cyber-persona and share with the masses their deepest thoughts and opinions. And boy, do they ever.

Think about it: take your average person sitting at your local coffee shop, more often than not he’ll be unassuming and keep to himself. But stick a laptop in front of him and fire up the Wi-Fi, he suddenly turns into the next Pundit on any subject he finds interesting. How great is that?

From neo-traditional avenues like blogs, forums and simply commenting on articles/posts, to social networking and social media, you can just about go to any site online and have the opportunity to post your thoughts somewhere. It would be really interesting to see some statistics that break down Internet content and look at what percentage of all that content is opinion. I’m sure the numbers would be pretty impressive.

Yes, the Internet is the domain of the opinionated, but when you cut to the chase, the natural question is, “How much is anyone really listening out there?” The answer: you’d be surprised.

Reinvent Mobile recently published a study called Track the Yack, which used a unique methodology called “cyber-eavesdropping” to examine and analyze thousands of online discussions and conversations that everyday people were having about their mobile PC experience. Essentially it’s like going around to all corners of the Internet and listening in on public conversations – 4,000 in total that included nearly 10,000 distinct sentiments and opinions – to identify the real attitudes and preferences of real mobile PC users.

When you consider the sheer number of people online that are none too shy about expressing their likes and dislikes, it made sense for us to start looking in and analyzing what those people are saying about their mobile lifestyles.

The complete Track the Yack report is available here, and reveals some interesting insights about the opinions people are expressing about mobile computing, including their top concerns, frustrations, preferences, and unfiltered attitudes. I encourage you to download it and check out the findings.

In an earlier post, Phoenix Technologies CEO Woody Hobbs talked about what some of his own personal gripes and wishes are for the mobile PC. Do they align with those of my mobile PC user peers? Here’s a taste of some of the most common attitudes:

• People want instant-on. In the age of easily accessible information, one-click shopping and on-demand TV, waiting and waiting for systems to boot up is so 20th century. Users want – and need – to start up and shut down their systems quickly and easily.
• There is overall great discontent about operating systems. Users have a desire for lightweight environments, as opposed to the complexity and size of today’s RAM-hungry operating systems.
• While lighter mobile PCs are preferred, users are otherwise satisfied with the overall design and carrying comfort.
• There is dissatisfaction with an inability to automatically connect to the best available Wi-Fi network.
• Many have gripes about the design of hardware features, including screens, keyboards and touchpads.
• And of course – better battery life. Need I say more?

So what’s a good complainer to do? Quite simply, keep expressing yourself and turn your commendations and complaints into thought-out opinions and feedback. The purpose of Reinvent Mobile is to sustain a rich community of co-innovation, where you the people help share the exciting task of shaping the future of the mobile PC.

A couple of quick ways to start having your opinion heard: run through our Get Vocal About Mobile survey, explore the REACT section and take our netbook survey, and simply share your comments below. Of course, don’t forget to keep your eyes open for interesting conversations going on elsewhere on the site and chime in with your thoughts! I can assure you that your voice will be heard!