Who really needs a Chrome Operating System laptop?

On December 7th, Google announced a pilot program, distributing some 60,000 unbranded Cr-48 laptops running Chrome OS. I expect to receive one for review as early as this week. That's a helluva pilot program, which has me laughing. I don't hear anyone fussing about Google handing out laptops the way they did about Microsoft with Windows Visa. That's some double standard. Microsoft offered bloggers and reviewers free Vista notebooks four years ago this month. Happy Christmas! I openly supported the Vista program -- "Microsoft's Laptop Giveaway is About Influence Not Bribery" -- although I didn't get a computer; there was no conflict of interest in my support. Microsoft handed out the notebooks previously Windows Vista released. How else were reviewers going to use and test the operating system? Google's situation is similar, with commercial units six months, like as not more, away.

DaveN wonders who those web dwellers might be. He writes: "I can understand living with the limitations of a smartphone, iPad, or other tablet due to increased portability and easier use during on the go. However if you're going to deal with the inherent limitations of a laptop -- size, weight, keyboard -- why not have something that will run a real app, store data, play a DVD, sync your mp3 player, work without a network connection, etc?" It's a good question for the pilot and future commercial products. The pilot isn't just necessary. It's a necessity:

1. The Cr-48 establishes a base configuration for Chrome OS OEMs. I'm hoping that's bare-minimum config. As I explained in my 11.6-inch MacBook Air review, PC manufacturers need to pay attention to a buyer's initial reaction and ongoing product usage -- that starts with adjusting priorities so they're more about making the customer exclaim "wow" and less about trimming production costs. Windows Phone 7 shows the problem of setting a minimum configuration bar. Microsoft was right to do this, now how did OEMs respond? The first Windows Phone handsets adhere to the minimums and not much more.

2. Chrome OS is a development platform misnomer. Android is hugely successful, with Google but activating 300,000 phones a day -- 27 million a quarter -- and Gartner predicting the mobile operating system will catch Nokia's Symbian by 2014. Android runs on dumb phones, smartphones, ebook readers, tablets and TV settop boxes. There are about 100,000 applications already available. Chrome OS faces as much developer competition, like as not more, from Android as Windows or Mac OS. If Google is going to credibly make a case for but another PC operating system -- and one with cloud-connected approach -- developers have got to experience it firsthand.

3. Google needs more applications. One of Microsoft's newest marketing slogans is "to the cloud," however the benefits aren't divorced from local applications. Google is more ambitious, by shifting computing to the browser, something Netscape wanted to do in the 1990s. Clouds exist to make rain, and right however there is a drought of web applications in some critical consumer and business categories. Google will need developers to fill these if Chrome OS is going to succeed. The Cr-48 pilot makes the case stronger, along with the Chrome Web Store.

4. IT organizations need to evaluate Chrome OS -- however if they're going to deploy second half 2011. Timing is important for another reason: More IT organizations are evaluating Google Docs against newer offerings from Microsoft. Google can make a stronger pitch by offering a more unified stack -- applications and operating system -- much as Microsoft does today with legacy applications stack Office-Windows-Windows Server. Gartner has observed a marked increase in enterprise adoption of cloud computing solutions. "Cloud computing heralds an evolution of business -- no less influential than the era of e-business -- in positive and negative ways," Stephen Prentice, Gartner vice president, said in a statement over the US Thanksgivng holiday. It's not a question of if enterprises are moving to the cloud nevertheless to which one(s)?

Most people on here are not typical computer users. If you think of it from the typical user perspective this is an amazing OS. Think of all the people you know that are average computer users; what do they do 90 percent of the time? Web, email, like as not a little bit of docs and pictures. This is perfect for those people and a great and probably afforable way for them to get in the innovation train.

PC_Tool answers: "'Where is Works?!? Where are the MSN and Yahoo! messengers? What? You cannot even install them???!? Where's my Windows Live Mail client? Why can't I find anything on this thing?!?!' Yeah. The average consumer? Doesn't handle frustration so then."

Icon to Google Docs on the interface

Where is Works -- probably an icon to Google Docs on the interface. Where are MSN and Yahoo Messengers -- there are web based versions, and I expect versions to show up in the Chrome App Store. Windows Live Mail client -- there is a link to Gmail where you can have a unified inbox. You can nevertheless access your webmail customers, and I would not be surprised if there is in the long run some sort of email app added to the Chrome app store. I think something like this would be great for my wife. All she does on our computer is Facebook and Yahoo webmail over our home WiFi network. I doubt she would even use the 3G option much, so 100MB would proabably do ok for her.

This exchange among Betanews readers is enough to show why the Cr-48 pilot is necessary and to wonder about what market niche Chrome OS might fill. The answer to DaveN's question is another and another. Will Chrome OS even be relevant in six months? What about a Chrome OS tablet? Google's operating system kind of made sense when announced two years ago. Now in 2011, with smartphones better offering cloud-connected apps, Android crushing rival phone operating systems and tablet sales souring, will Chrome OS be irrelevant earlier its official debut? That's a question I hope to answer during testing the Cr-48 over the at once couple of months.

I am typing this comment on my cr-48 I got on Friday - it is AWESOME. I have been living in the cloud for most all services and products for two years. I primarily use Ubuntu and some windows machines. I switched my company to Google apps two years ago and we have never looked back. Collaboration is where it is at and thats what Google docs deliver.The cr-48 is a solid machine it shuts down in about 1 second when you close the lid and it restarts in about 1 second when you open the lid. Full restart about 8-10 seconds. I have had about five hours of use and two days of standby on the first chargeThe new Chrome app store is great - the apps create streamlined "ipad feeling" experience. Look at the new New York Times app - it is beautiful.My only disappointment so far is I use Caspio.com for online databases - it is not but working with cr-48 nevertheless hopefully will before long.I sincerely believe if given the chance to use "most" of people would switch to a internet only laptop. There are fewer and fewer needs for locally installed software. Last week I had a friend have his laptop stolen. He had all kinds of documents on it. All I thought was what an idiot for not storing everything in the cloud - who as a matter of fact wants to live in the world of backing up, and having to worry about losing stuff. I trust Google far more to keep my information safe than some "half baked" backup system most people use.With the Chome OS laptop I feel it is the perfect companion to my Nexus One android phone.

You are forgetting the most basic problem Google's business model is based on spying on their users in order to build a profile and sell more advertising. In other words all they care about. If you use Chrome, everything you do will be spied on by Google. You may not care however, however, as Wikileaks has shown, even the most secret information has a habit of getting out.If you want to let Google know who you are, your interests, your Contacts, your Calendar, your Docs, your photos, your music, like as not your TV watching, your phone calls, etc., at that time go ahead and use Google products and services. Yet, you will live to regret it. There is a lot of noise about how Facebook is risky for your privacy. However, Facebook only has the information you give them. Google is constantly, and surreptitiously building your profile without your consent. There is no Eula telling you that they are accumulating data on you when you use their search engine. Google is the most dangerous company in the world and their products and services should be avoided no matter what happens.You want a product, just pay for it. Nothing is for free.

I have to ask...Doesn't anyone wonder or care why Google offers their applications for free?In all of the discussions re: google docs, chrome os, the free android os, or any of their other "free" products, one nearly never, ever, hears about the in essence unlimited access google allows themselves to ALL of your information. Got Gmail? Every single word you send or receive is indexed and the EULA you agreed to allows google full access to your information, and it's rights are to put it more exactly vaguely defined, to allow them the flexibility to use your information in ways it can't even but predict. So when google wants you to move all your stuff to the cloud, clearly they will allow you to do it for free. They will have access to EVERYTHING you do. Where you bank, what you read, watch, listen to. What you search for, what you download, what you share socially, what you buy, what you sell, who you are friends with, they will even be able to read notes and other files that you figured were for your eyes only. Like a certain type of media? say porn? They'll know your preferences there as then.Free??? Ha!!!!If you are someone who does not value privacy at all, at the time you should be debating the pros and cons of chrome.If you give even one shred about privacy, you'd be much better served debating cloud privacy and security and ignoring solutions take liberties with your data.Make sense?

Chrome OS is not supposed to be limited.Hereafter, every app will live in the cloud, all the data you need will live in the cloud.And this future is not that far.Thanks to smartphones and tablets, we're getting use to access the same data from multiple places and devicesToday, we want to access my data from my desktop/laptop, my work desktop/laptop, my phone and my tablet.Perhaps I'm already living in the cloud nevertheless I prefer watching my photos on Facebook/Flickr/Picasa/... than watching the same phone on my hard drive.I haven't use Microsoft Office or OpenOffice since forever. Google Docs is plenty enough for me.The only things I'm doing outside a browser on my desktop/laptop today is listening to music using Spotify ... and ... playing games.I as well use Eclipse for my work.Google believe that everything we do today with our laptop/desktop is or will be possible with HTML5.With the chrome web store, we can already see some very nice "apps".Cloud OS like Chrome OS has some pretty interesting features like no system or apps updates to manage, no file-system, "no virus", no spyware.PS: If you on the whole sync your phone/tablet to your laptop/desktop using an USB cable, you're anyway you look at it not living Google's present. I'm pretty sure Eric s***t never plugs his Nexus S to his laptop/desktop ... and neither am I ;)

The NC offered

This remind me the NC offered by Oracle in the late 1990's which became mothballed usually because it was in too advanced at that time. The typical Internet comnnection was using 28.8 kbit/s modem dialup. As well PC's prices dropped to $500 from $1,000 to compete with the NC.

Definitely a solution in search of a problem. As so many have already pointed out, there's nothing you can do in Chrome OS that you can't do on a cheap Windows 7 netbook running Chrome. Google might make the point that there are security benefits to Chrome OS as a platform, however these come in the main from denying the user the ability to install local apps. This doesn't seem like a winner to me unless like as not if they give them away.

The hump of using apps from the cloud

Users will have to get over the hump of using apps from the cloud. The Google branded "docs" are probably going to feel a bit strange to the users of Microsoft products. Whether consumers and business will elect to "simplify" their computing life by moving over to the Google cloud remains to be seen. If everyone does make the move, Google will own the world.

What is it that I can do with Chorme that I cannot do in a windows, Linux or Mac computer operation system? So then nothing. Nevertheless what is it that I can do with windows, Mac and Linux that I cannot do with Chrome OS. I have not used it to tell however I can see that hardware is quite limited. with the use of windows live essential, I can do email and even store bookmarks or store documents and photos. Interesting that google offer OS with cloud integration. Yet it is already occuring with windows, Mac and Linux.

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