Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 19th Nov 2009 20:01 UTC
Google has just unveiled its Chrome OS operating system during a press event at the company's headquarters, and it's pretty much exactly what we expected it to be: a streamlined Linux kernel booting straight into the Chrome web browser. The code is available starting today.
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Member since:2008-12-26
I could use it as a second OS running on a hypervisor alongside Windows with disabled Internet. Or browse with it on a dirt-cheap ARM tablet. It would make a great OS for grandma.
But I don't see it being used as a primary OS by anyone with some computer literacy.
But I don't see it being used as a primary OS by anyone with some computer literacy.
You hit the nail on the head. Nobody is going to get one of these as the primary computer (expect the scenarios where you'd like to buy a zero-support computer for your parents).
It's intended for secondary/tertiary "email/facebook" devices for living room, something you turn on in a whim and quickly catch up with whatever is happening.
It will also work fine for most common "entry level" offline needs (media browsing, ebook reading...).
Member since:2005-07-22
Nobody is going to get one of these as the primary computer (expect the scenarios where you'd like to buy a zero-support computer for your parents).
If you mean no tech-inclined person, then you *might* be true (or not, let's wait and see). But most people's current use of a computer is for web browsing, chatting, emailing, media playing, some word processing... That's already covered by Google's services and other online services in the web. With audio/video plugins, you can easily have access to online/local multimedia with a browser frontend. I imagine rtorrent/transmission-cli/btd with their respective web based frontends for illegal downloading. Big trouble for Microsoft if this catches on (it's Google after all).
Member since:2005-07-06
It's intended for secondary/tertiary "email/facebook" devices for living room, something you turn on in a whim and quickly catch up with whatever is happening.
The Deities help us. Ultra quick Facebook appliances. So you can stop having a real social life even quicker(TM).
I haven't seen a few people for over 6 months in the flesh, because they seem to believe that publishing every uninteresting little detail about their everyday lives and commenting on these posts from other people just like it, is adequate replacement for real life contact.
I wonder how "I'm sitting in the garden. Reading a book" [Random friend X likes it] --> "Enjoy your book." --> "Nice having some leisure time. Wish I was there." --> "Is the book any good?" --> "Barnes and Noble are having a sale." is enough for some people.
There is no longer any exchange of ideas, nor talk about feelings or the deeper stuff of life. I guess I'm a dinosaur and I feel threatened by the birth of Homo Superficialis.
The only upside to this is that Google will probably get some serious revenue through shoehorning all those online time wastes into their adsense channel.
Member since:2007-02-26
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/25/13 0:45 UTC
"So in summary... Google has pulled the plug on support on a protocol they've helped popularize, after years of promising interoperability, for reasons that are dubious at best, and in a way that leaves people who don't jump to the new Hangouts app unable to talk to their contacts without any feedback that their IMs aren't getting through... And they've done that with no warning to anyone. I imagine there's a bunch of people out there wondering where some of their buddies have gone, or why their messages aren't getting responses, because this isn't documented anywhere." Google really messed this up. Such a dick move.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 23:59 UTC
The Tizen Greek Community has some screenshots of a very recent build of Tizen running on a Samsung GT-i8800. It looks wholly unremarkable.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 22:33 UTC
Joint statement to The Next Web from Microsoft and Google: "Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube's API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks. Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time." Good to know these children stopped acting like little pricks. Can we have full Google support in Windows 8 now, please?
Linked by Howard Fosdick on 05/24/13 21:41 UTC
Yahoo is acquiring Tumblr, the microblogging and social networking website, for $1.1 billion USD. Tumblr offers little revenue but lots of eyeballs if Yahoo can monetarize them. Now Yahoo is bidding for Hulu, the streaming video service. After years of ineffective responses while Google, Facebook, and others took large chunks of the online advertising market, Yahoo is fighting back. Can Yahoo reignite the momentum it had at the turn of the century? What do you think?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 14:44 UTC
"Sources have described iOS 7 as 'black, white, and flat all over'. This refers to the dropping of heavy textures and the addition of several new black and white user interface elements." I couldn't be happier.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 23:22 UTC
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 22:04 UTC
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 22:01 UTC
"In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/23/13 17:52 UTC
"The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/22/13 22:23 UTC
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.More News »
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Member since:
2005-07-06
I could use it as a second OS running on a hypervisor alongside Windows with disabled Internet. Or browse with it on a dirt-cheap ARM tablet. It would make a great OS for grandma.
But I don't see it being used as a primary OS by anyone with some computer literacy.