"Acer, the Taiwanese computer maker that's suffered two consecutive annual losses, posted strong sales of notebooks using Google's Chrome platform after the release of Microsoft's Windows 8 failed to ignite the market. Chrome-based models accounted for 5 percent to 10 percent of Acer's U.S. shipments since being released there in November, President Jim Wong said in an interview at the Taipei-based company's headquarters. That ratio is expected to be sustainable in the long term and the company is considering offering Chrome models in other developed markets, he said." HP is also planning a Chrome OS laptop, and it's been at the top of Amazon's charts (whatever that means) for a while now. In case you haven't noticed - the desktop world, too, is changing. Nobody wants Windows 8 (touch or no), so OEMs are finally looking elsewhere. We're finally getting what we wanted 13 years ago.
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Member since:2006-08-18
Of course it is.
I know no-one in the non-geek world which find it a good idea to even being shown a terminal, let alone have to type any obscure command line in it.
However, i know of a few geeks which consider that basically anyone without the knowledge nor the will to use a terminal should not even be authorised to touch a computer.
Jesus, what an elitist/corporatist/extremist point of view. This is the very reason why Linux has never been a mainstream computer (and been a darling to IT/programmers).
I'm glad this mentality is getting hammered these days by Google and its imitators.
Edited 2013-01-29 00:03 UTC
Member since:2010-03-08
Why has it to be one or the other ?
Shells are fine as a computer administration interface. They use up little system resources, make few assumptions about what works and what doesn't, are easily scriptable, and their commands can be trivially transmitted from one person to another.
GUIs, on their side, are generally more practical for everyday use. They allow for more advanced tasks, it's easier to find out how they work without piles of documentation, they make more efficient use of screen estate, and they tend to be more aesthetically pleasing too.
Now, what I can't wrap my mind around is why there hasn't been more work on scriptable software that can work well with both interfaces and then some more, considering how anyone who designs modern GUI software also ends up creating a form of CLI interface in the backend code at some point.
The way people currently end up creating dumb GUI frontends whose sole purpose is to feed a CLI interface, or give up on GUI or CLI altogether, strikes me as suboptimal. Especially when people subsequently end up creating nonstandard CLIs in an attempt to go beyond the limitations of a pure GUI approach, as with voice interfaces.
Edited 2013-01-29 05:33 UTC
Member since:2009-05-19
And you assume that Linux is unusable without an access to the terminal.Yet Chrome OS is exactly that - Linux without a terminal.
I use Ubuntu and, with the exceptions where I need terminal access to compile my software or install something that is really old and very technical, I barely use the terminal. It's no longer an essential tool for day-to-day use.
Member since:2005-11-13
Please don't make that kind of generalization, it's simply not true.
You're absolutely right. Probably 90% of folks out there would tell you a shell is something you find at the beach.
Member since:2012-01-13
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.
Member since:
2005-11-10
Please don't make that kind of generalization, it's simply not true.