[PCWorld]

Post your comments for HP will jump on the Chromebook bandwagon: Report here

[brainout]

What's the advantage of Chromebook? I see none. My 8.9" four-year-old Acer netbook does all my main desktop can do, has the same resolution as cited in the article, runs XP Pro and could run Linux. Fits in a purse, doesn't have the hangups Chromebook has. The latter needs to be connected to the internet. You can buy an Atom-run netbook from dellauction for about $100 and kit it out as you see fit, Linux or older Windows, and do the same thing for half the price. A computer which requires internet connection to function isn't worth using.

The only thing I can think of to account for sales, is that people are sick of messing with the many flaws in Windows, want a turnkey OS versus Linux they have to learn. But it's not worth even that, if you can only run it when hooked up to the internet.

Google is fickle about what it supports. Its programming changes in Youtube, Blogger, and elsewhere demonstrate that it doesn't pay sufficient attention to user needs, and is quick to pull the trigger on stuff. I don't want an OS dependent on Google, for that reason. Don't get me wrong, I love Google -- but not as a dependency. Their programmers often make really stupid designs; and in an OS, that's not tolerable.

I'm leaving MS due to Win8. Will learn Linux for that reason. For I must control the OS. Until Win8, the user had enough control. With Linux being so diverse, that makes it hard to learn initially, but one can then control it forever after. So why would I want a Chromebook, which though based on Linux, robs me of the control, AND forces me to be connected to the internet, at the whim of Google programmers?

Sorry, I don't get the attraction.

This post has been edited by brainout: 28 January 2013 - 08:50 PM

[IanRayvzuo]

Quote

What's the advantage of Chromebook? I see none. My 8.9" four-year-old Acer netbook...

I think I can explain it.

I have two Chromebooks. I also have a fanless netbook from 2008 running Ubuntu. At work, I use Ubuntu, Windows 8 Enterprise, and ChromeOS.

I feel like I would rather there be no "control" on my part over the Chromebook. I am fine without maintenance chores. I'm also the type of computer user who doesn't need to hug a server as if it was my cool toy, I am fine with PaaS and SaaS as long as there are efficiency gains.

The Chromebook's security provides me confidence when using it. The security is built into every bit of usage. Even compared with bitlocker on Windows or user space encryption in linux, the Chromebook provides more security after the machine is booted.

Cloud computing is part of the maintenance-free aspect. The Chromebook is a key piece of the puzzle for realizing the cloud computing model. Cloud computing has always been looking for some kind of rich thin client that didn't need to be centrally managed. Older desktop designs have extra baggage which doesn't fit into cloud computing by design, they were designed at best for a client-server model. While the average business patches their software 59 days after the patches arrive (and who knows what the consumer average is), cloud computing patches the same day.

As a result of all of these factors combined with 8 second boot, I find myself reaching for a Chromebook to perform computing tasks. I have other computers at my disposal, but I want to use the Chromebook. Wanting to use a device is a fine measure of if it is designed well. I use my smartphone when I can't reach a Chromebook, but the experience is not as good for productivity uses.

[RonSmith]

Why would anyone care what one of the ten most despised companies in the world (officially) is doing or not doing. Everyone is just waiting for them to declare bankruptcy because being a dick company does not imbue success.

[karthiq]

If MS really wants to put out this fire ( for them) they need to do this with the next windows.

1) One non touch version for the professional and enterprise users (but anybody can buy) that doesnt default into metro and that can be used on even older laptops than those on which win 8 can run.

2) A touch version for ultrabooks with or without default and lighter than the current one, for use even on smaller x86 tablets.

3) And similarly a touch RT version that is even lighter on specs than the current one which requires a lot of storage and ram thereby making it unsuitable on smaller 7-8 inch RT tablets.

[Charbaxijo9]

ARM Chromebooks allow for $100 13.3" ultra thin, ultra light laptops, with speed in web browsing exactly as fast as any $1000 Ultrabook/Macbook. ARM Chromebooks are 100% secure, 100% easy to automatically upgrade, they NEVER become slower with time, they only become faster with time as software updates only make Chromebooks faster. A Chromebook is fully easy and secure, you never need to worry about loosing your data, it's all automatically backed up in the cloud. You never need to worry about other people accessing your data, it's fully secured. Break or loose one, don'ty care, just buy a new one and all your data is exactly right there.

With quick time, all apps people care about, even professionals, full office suite, full video editing, full audio editing, full graphics designing, full 3D modeling, even full 3D gaming, all apps can soon enough work fully on the HTML5 system that is Chrome OS, and, they can all work offline and cached offline. Which means they are all virtually indistinguishable from "native apps" on boring old fashion OS like WIndows/Mac, in fact, Native Code and full 3D can work in HTML5 on Chrome OS, and all the apps you want to use offline can work offline, exactly as fast and as smooth as any offline app you can imagine. With the benefit that HTML5 centric apps are much better designed to do things like using the grid of cloud computing to speed up rendering, to use cloud to collaborate, to integrate with every other app online to only expand on the capabilities of your app. Web apps are all ultimately better, with full offline support, with full native code and 3D acceleration support, so you have no argument against the web app. The only argument against the web app is that they are not all available yet, they are not all perfect yet. But they are getting better and more and more perfect by the minute as the web app is the focus of the worlds leading developers worldwide.

[jpalovely]

I think with MS in a transition to touch, with google flare up will happen for a bit, but as Windows 8/9/10 moves into the corporate world, and consumer world, I think you'll see Chrome move back to irrelevance again.

[SElope]

Best news ever. A closed monopoly can never resist the open source community.

[SElope]

Best news ever

[mattern74]

Honestly, I have decided to move away from Windows 8 for the moment with an Ubuntu desktop and a newly purchased (but used) Macbook Pro 15.

The five new Windows 8 machines I have used/setup for others (including one I bought for my wife for Christmas) leave me continually jumping over the hurdles Microsoft has placed in front of the user - - Metro "Modern" UI, Microsoft accounts, complete redesign of most everything. Naturally, I will be forced to use Windows 8 on occasions but not by choice.

Chrome OS just doesn't seem like a viable alternative with my main profession being graphic design and my sidelines being android phone development and computer repair.

One quick question sums it up for me with Chrome OS: what can a user do with a Chromebook while offline?

[jazzy007]

Chromebook, secure ha! Lets start it needs the cloud to function and needs the internet connection. How many times does internet connection fails for whatever reason? Too many times. How many cloud or storage center have been broken in and all the information stolen. Too many times. How many times we find out that Google knows more about you than yourself and sells that information? Please do not come with the excuse they don't sell your information, because Google makes money by ads. Those ads needs all kind of information about you, to target you as a potential customer. Many can get that information from Google. Money talks and b... walk. So your whole life is in Google cloud computer for eveyone to see, if they pay.

Hasn't Chromebook been in the market for over two years and have not even made a dent as a OS? Now we have these looser companies, Acer and HP treating to go to Chromebook. Acer is a low quality PC maker and crying because they are losing sales. They were losing money even under Windows 7, and Windows 8 is not going to save them. They tarnish their reputation and keep digging them self even worse by criticise the hand that feed them.

As for HP, this is a ship with no directions. How many CEO they have gone thru in the past couple of years? They don't know what they want to be, but they are lost.

Microsoft told them about Windows 8 and the need of a touch screen for more than a year ago. Enough time to ramp production for touch screen. But they did not listen. Now, any laptop with touch screen is selling like hot cakes and the non-touch screen is sitting at the store. Guess they did not plan well.