What do you think of Google’s new Chrome OS, their Chromebooks, and the open source Chromium OS?  It’s very point-and-click, and using the Linux kernel too.    They boot up quickly and directly into the web browser, the web browser is the desktop user interface.  Google’s cloud is built-in (“The Cloud” means they store your files, on their harddrives, doing what to your privacy?).

I really like competition. Competition keeps companies agile and innovative. But I hate it when companies blatantly rip off another company’s intellectual property. The Google ChromeBox is an obvious ripoff of Apple’s Mac Mini. Google and Samsung are also very mute about the computer’s specifications. “Intel Core Processor”? C’mon. Also, considering how ugly the Google Chrome browser is I’m disinclined to give their OS a try. I really wish someone would give Apple and Microsoft some strong competition, but Google and Samsung aren’t off to a good start.

I think the market is a lot like the two party political system here in the US. Both Apple and M$ have attained such market dominance, both have such predatory business practices and they have the hardware vendors so tightly locked down that it is difficult to conceive of anyone giving them any serious competition at this point. Google probably has a better chance than most but I don’t see them gaining a significant market share.

I found Google Chrome computers’ specs on Amazon. The desktop computer has a 1.9GHz Intel Celeron processor and a 16GB hard drive. That won’t cut it in today’s market. The portable computer is even more anemic, with a 1.3GHz processor. These are not computers, they are overly large tablets, and the ChromeBox is not even portable. I can see where the ChromeBook might gain some traction as an alternative to the iPad, but the ChromeBox is a terrible idea. For only $170 more one can get a real Mac Mini with an i5 processor and a 500Gb hard drive instead of a cheap imitator.

DarronS - 08 September 2012 12:55 PM

I found Google Chrome computers’ specs on Amazon. The desktop computer has a 1.9GHz Intel Celeron processor and a 16GB hard drive. That won’t cut it in today’s market.

I think this is not what it is about. Everything you do, except the browser and the input/output devices (sound, keyboard, video, mouse) runs at Google’s servers. So 16GB is more than enough for that, plus maybe some cache, in case the connection is bad, and you might loose personal data. So the Chromebook is more or less just a ‘fat terminal’.

It fits in the strategy of Google that because it has your data, it knows you. It is the strategy of the commercial equivalent of Big Brother. Pray that the NSA or CIA does not get access to Google’s servers. All the big companies: Microsoft, Apple and Google try to bind customers to their systems to be able to predict the market, if possible by dictating the market.

For me it is already bad enough that Amazon knows what I am reading and viewing…

I refrain from other accounts (I just love books too much), and have my browser settings deleting all cookies immediately after the session. (Small additional advantage: I never forget my password of CFI, because I have to type it in everytime again…)

GdB - 09 September 2012 03:31 AM

I never forget my password of CFI, because I have to type it in everytime again…

It’s good always to use different, long, non-dictionary passwords. I highly recommend LastPass for this. It generates them, remembers them for you and enters them into the fields.

Like I mentioned, the Chrome OS looks like it’ll be storing your file on their Cloud, thus a smaller harddrive and a lower price.  Some people think that more is always better when it comes to computers, but isn’t there enough harddrive space for you to cache those web pages that you browse?  The Mac Mini can’t compare to a portable notebook.  Apple invented point-and-click, WIMP, and a high resolution GUI… nah.  Google has made a success of Android on the cell phones, could the Chrome/Chromium OS be their next success?  Google the first to turn a web browser into a UI… nah, I first saw that as a student in the university library the IT people used the new Netscape web browser to launch all of the applications, the computers booted MS Windows and that ran the web browser right away.  When Microsoft tried to tightly integrate Internet Explorer into their OS, they were sued.

jump_in_the_pit - 10 September 2012 11:43 AM

Google the first to turn a web browser into a UI… nah, I first saw that as a student in the university library the IT people used the new Netscape web browser to launch all of the applications, the computers booted MS Windows and that ran the web browser right away.

Yes, of course. That is why MS is in a difficult situation: the OS becomes less and less important. The only thing important in the future is that the browser runs stable and can handle all contents: text, pictures, sound and video. The OS is ‘just a local technical nuisance’: how the input and output of the hardware (screen, keyboard, mouse and speakers) is connected to the browser. That can be a pretty small OS. And all the rest is done in the cloud.
It has some advantages: low cost (“thin”) hardware, no worries about updates of your software, run everywhere where you have connection with the internet, even with other devices than your own etc. But there are disadvantages too: you must be connected to the internet, you are not master anymore of which software you would like to use, and of course the ‘big brother problem’.

jump_in_the_pit - 10 September 2012 11:43 AM

When Microsoft tried to tightly integrate Internet Explorer into their OS, they were sued.

Yes, of course they were. MS totally oversaw the importance of the Internet (which makes some sense because their business was the Personal Computer). Netscape was the standard browser (who remembers Mosaic?), and MS pressed them from the market by delivering the Internet Explorer with the OS, and intentionally mixing it with other parts of Windows so that it could not be removed. Add to that that nearly every PC was delivered with Windows, and it is clear that MS was misusing its market power. Now you can choose: you do not have to buy a Chrome book. Now you can choose to sell your soul to MS, Apple or Google. And do not forget: all the main browsers (Firefox, Opera, Chrome) also run under Linux. There is competition now.