Comments on: Google Chromebooks: What You Need to Know

By: AdamC

AdamC — Thu, 12 May 2011 23:54:29 +0000

What you think may not be what it is…

Since you think it works for you well good for you and good luck.

It is not as secure as once thought google and you will find its security had been breached.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 12 May 2011 09:30:20 +0000

The data mining bit, owning every click and keystroke one makes tied to an account name, when chromebooks are sold off to schools at hard to beat bargain prices is a bit creepy in my mind. I like much of what Google does but this hook of getting chromebooks into schools and thus moving the whole Google privacy thing down potentially to 7 year olds IS part of Google’s school pricing calculus and troubling to me.

By: Chris K

Chris K — Thu, 12 May 2011 02:30:18 +0000

Exactly!

By: Tony Camilli

Tony Camilli — Wed, 11 May 2011 23:39:49 +0000

This is simply Google’s take on a thin client. Like current thin clients, it will have an opportunity for task workers in the enterprise (help desk, call centers, reception desks) and K-12 education. Given pricing and the fact that it’s less capable than a tablet, I don’t see much of a consumer play. Keep in mind that mobile thin clients have been very slow to catch on and linux netbooks were returned in droves when users realized the limitations. Both are more capable than a chromebook.

By: Tal

Tal — Wed, 11 May 2011 22:43:45 +0000

I am not sold on this yet. One needs to take a few leaps of faith to get where you guys have. Also while making sense to you – probably the really smart people – it can confuse the consumer market. I don’t know. I am a Google fan and pride to work around vision – but I am probably the lesser thinker here amongst you. I still need to think it over :) So you say that Chrome is the client OS for Hybrid cloud environments. It would still need a very robust application base. One which is so much similar to the Android Tablet market. Anyways – thanks for your point of view.

By: Lucian Armasu

Lucian Armasu — Wed, 11 May 2011 21:48:04 +0000

less secure = more secure*

By: Lucian Armasu

Lucian Armasu — Wed, 11 May 2011 21:46:57 +0000

I also think Chrome OS could be very successful for businesses. It’s so much less hassle and so much less secure, and not to mention cheap.

On the consumer side, things are not so obvious yet. It could be because it’s still very early for HTML5, but disruptive innovations are usually not obvious to most people anyway, so it could be that. I do think web apps will eventually replace “mobile” native apps too just like they are doing on the desktop (for the most part), and if Chrome OS has the potential to disruptive traditional OS’s like Windows and Mac OS, then it will also have the potential to disrupt Android and iOS once it becomes touch based too, because those 2 are also more like traditional OS’s with native apps.

I think Chrome OS needs an incubation period and we shouldn’t jump to conclusions yet. Let it grow (or fall) organically in the market, and we’ll re-assess its potential to disrupt the whole computing market a year or two from now when there should be a lot more high quality HTML5 web apps and WebGL games.

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 11 May 2011 21:33:43 +0000

Will they mine the data for improved advertising opportunities? How private will the data be? Will you have to see ads while using the apps?

By: Kevin C. Tofel

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 11 May 2011 20:39:00 +0000

That makes total sense to me: I think this will be bigger in the enterprise and education markets as opposed to the consumer market for the reasons you mentioned. There’s much to like for a SMB!

By: Droidfan

Droidfan — Wed, 11 May 2011 19:53:36 +0000

Between the Chrome OS release last fall and what was presented today, for my small business it could make total sense. Local support for Google Doc (my word processing and spreadsheet needs). Citrix and VMware providing support to run my conventional MS software (with local support). Cloud syncing to provide the best backup support my little company could imagine. And the ability to use my laptop to securely access my files anywhere I have an internet connection. Security and upgrade support for $ 28.00 per month. Process and print anywhere. And tablets able to sync into this OS as well. What’s not to like? There is something very Apple-esque about this, in that Chrome OS is providing a very controlled, simplified platform here.