Who is the cloud for?

Few months ago, during walking around Apple Store, minutes afterwards leaving Microsoft Store, I without warning thought: "My straightway laptop will run Chrome OS." So then, nearly. I ended up with 11.6-inch MacBook Air first. However four days into using the unbranded Google Cr-48 laptop running Chrome OS, I can see living in the cloud as a reasonable future -- not just for me yet many other computer users. Problem: It's a residence not quite finished. There's a roof overhead and enclosed walls, now rooms are drafty, electricity works only in some places and the appliances are portable temporaries.

Windows NT 4 and Mac OS X 10.0 represented platform shifts. From NT 4 evolved Windows 2000 and XP, which were more mass-market friendly. Mac OS X 10.0 begat six more direct versions and iOS running on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Chrome OS has same potential, although from reading Betanews comments and other web commentary many people don't but see it. Google is plotting a fundamental platform shift to the cloud. Everything about using Chrome OS feels the same as early NT 4 and OS X testing. I expect similar adoption pattern -- slow at first sight, at that time accelerating.

A day later, Gmail creator Paul Buchheit, who no longer works for Google, predicted: "Chrome OS will be killed straightway year." More: "Chrome OS has no purpose that isn't better served by Android." Moreover: "I'm surprised that an OS with roughly zero users would have so many fans." Surely some critic or competitor said something similar about the early Gmail beta. :)

Same day, Guardian tech reporter Charles Arthur quoted GNU founder Richard Stallman as condemning cloud computing now renewed in context of Chrome OS. Stallman asserts that people will lose control of their data should they store it in the cloud. His statements have a conspiracy quality about them, and they're eerily familiar. Surely someone made similar assertions about the PC in the early 1980s -- that by letting employees use personal computers instead of terminals connected to mainframes that businesses would lose control of their data. So much for ragged-hair doomsayers holding "End of the World" signs, 30 years ago and in 2011.

Buchheit's and Stallman's statements spread like fire across the Wild Wild Web on December 14th and 15th. Many Chrome OS critics see Google returning to the failed network computer effort of the late 1990s. They observe that Google CEO Eric Schmidt worked for Sun, which while his tenure was a big network computing advocate. Like Foley, they can't fathom who the "Chromebook user is supposed to be."

The mainstream [is] long past overdue

Browser based OS in the mainstream [is] long past overdue and as a matter of fact a reality today with Windows -- just track my wife's usage. I could...plop a so then configured Chrome OS notebook or tablet down in front of her and she wouldn't lose a beat and nor would probably about 75 percent of her world, and we geeks would love not to have to deal with more support than a browser based OS.

Chrome OS is no more ready for commercial release today as was Windows NT 4 or Mac OS X 10.0 when beta testing. Like these operating systems, the market likely won't be ready for Chrome OS in summer 2011, assuming Google keeps to the release schedule. Instapaper creator Marco Arment is convinced inertia and switching costs will hold back business adopters:

Setup are large

Most businesses that could use such a setup are large, and deploying a major technological change to their staff is a huge and very expensive undertaking. Even if Google somehow gave them thousands of Chrome OS netbooks for free, any company attempting this will need to spend a ton of money in IT labor, employee training, and increased help-desk needs as the organization deployed the new setup.

I agree to a point. Many enterprises are already deploying cloud solutions however. Whether they outsource to companies like Microsoft or Salesforce.com or self-host, the clouds servers are there, or will be. Chrome OS is simply the client, and arguably a secure one. Many businesses will already have made the painful backend transition previously Chrome OS ships.

Richard Stallman is full of crap talking about losing control of data in the cloud. Many enterprises will regain control of data there. Right however they've got all kinds of valuable data leaking out on laptops and smartphones. These devices present huge privacy and security risks if lost or stolen. Businesses need to get this data back where it belongs -- behind the firewall. The commonsense behind Chrome OS is providing a reliable and cheap frontend for accessing data safely-stored behind the firewall.

Chrome's critics miss the point: Technology research isn't about giving people what they want however what they don't know they need. Google is looking ahead with Chrome OS, and, yes, some businesses or consumers won't get it suddenly and may balk at how they must change behavior. Windows NT 4 and Mac OS X 10.0 had their critics, too, though the demands asked were less. Over the years, I talked to many IT managers and CIOs who refused to deploy Mac OS X. The demands Arment identifies -- costs associated with switching, employee training and helpdesk support -- often topped their reasons. Nevertheless many of those same people are deploying iPads and iPhones -- running iOS, which derives from OS X.

JoeBeen following your posts since I recieved my Cr-48 and I too have adopted the Google way of life. Until further notice for the then 30 Days.I can't agree with you more about this pilot program, and one thing Everyone has been missing is the fact that the Cr-48 is just the "control" in this experiment, not the actual experiment. The experiment is the migration to the cloud, and the delivery is ChromeOS. Google as a general rule has the basic infrastructure up and running, they just need to work on the frontend. This is where ChromeOS comes in.Personally the only pain I am having nevertheless is the fact that I don't have direct access to my music library, meanwhile on my Cr-48. I use my Android phone as a MP3 player so I on the whole have that. At that time I have Last FM and Grooveshark as my Internet radio stations, so I am not out 100%. I can't wait until Google all things considered clears up the conflict with the Music labels and opens up Google Music.The one thing that kind of bothers me about the pilot is the fact that Google hasn't upped the limits on my Google account. Exactly my storage on Picasa, I am nevertheless at 1GB nevertheless I have so then over 2.5GB of pics so thankfully I use Microsoft's Skydrive. I would have liked them to up the limits to as a matter of fact show the potential of the cloud yet I know that they are as well looking at a subscription based future. I foresee Google selling these devices cheap, now you will have to pay online for your storage.Speaking of pictures, I haven't tried to connect a camera, so that will be interesting.

What is Chrome OS?

So what is Chrome OS? A Linux system running a browser? So what this is so special? Because Chrome OS is very simple to set up as it only allows you to run the browser? People already complaining that they cannot change wallpaper in Win7 home basic. Nevertheless considering the phenomenon of Chrome OS I suggest Microsoft release a Win8 "super basic" version. However happy?And I am getting more and more confused about the concept of "cloud computing". Browser is a "local application" right? You use a browser or Outlook - both are "local applications" to read email, so what is the difference here, except that the specialised "local" app is more powerful than a general purpose 'local' app? It's safe to say that Outlook Web App is one of the best web mail in a browser, now I for all that rather to just use Outlook. Another example, we saw the popularity of Windows Live Writer for writing blogs. Blogs are anyway you look at it internet services, so why people want to use a 'loca' app to write in spite of the fact that they already can write blogs in a browser? Same on iPhone. Why people want to use the 'local' mail app instead of Safari to read email? I heard that Apple at first wanted to promote Safari based web app or rather than 'local' apps on iPhone, yet we all know what happened since at that time.

Joe, do you read the crap that you write? "Mac OS X 10.0 begat six more direct versions and iOS running on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch." WTF Learn to read! That isn't correct, and you are a freaking moron! You know nothing about innovation! I don't understand why BN lets you post here. You should be a homeless bum! You are about as smart or informed as my cats.EDIT: PHQ, I am done with BN and your BS. Later, late news, and retarded blogs!

How is he not correct?

How is he not correct? If you're going to call someone out and next proceed to insult them, until further notice provide what you believe to be the correct facts.Truth is although, Joe is right. Mac OS 10.0 did in the long run lead to 6 new direct versions and Steve Jobs himself explicitly said while his original iPhone keynote that iOS was built on the OS X foundation. Perhaps you're interpreting what he said differently than the rest of us however I don't see anything here factually incorrect.

Senior vice president of Microsoft's developer division posts a simple blog in other words a model for showing off the digital lifestyle behind the company's products. It starkly contrasts with the controlling approach taken by Apple.

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The UK High Court

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