Guest post by A new version of Chrome OS has been released. From the Chrome Blog: “We made the apps list much more compact, so you can access your apps without interrupting your browsing experience. We also added a search box at the top of the apps list, which you can use like an omnibox to search the web, specific websites, or the apps on your computer, visual improvements such as a redesigned Cloud Print dialog and the ability to add custom wallpaper. You can now also save files directly to Google Drive, so you can access files later from any device, including Drive on iOS or Android. Under the hood, we’ve added audio support for USB and HDMI, additional sandboxing security features, and many more bug fixes.”
Chrome OS has been so restricted that even doing the simplest of things, like printing, it is a chore. Plus the machines were way underpowered. And expensive.
With Android being developed in such high speed and being adopted in such a fast pace it even feels redundant for ChromeOS to exist. I have a Transformer Prime and it is great. Granted the Office suite included in it isn’t that powerful but whenever I need to make small documents/notes it fits the bill. It has everything that Chrome OS has and more.
Perhaps I am not the target group of this OS. As far as I understand it should be students and small companies that just need a machine too boot up to the internet and not have full blown office suits (yep, thats you Microsoft).
I don’t know for how long Google will keep up with the development of another OS. Specially now that Sergei seems to have got the itch for axing (cool) projects.
I agree. It seems pretty pointless to keep this going, especially now that their tablets are finally taking off. There’s nothing in my opinion that atrracts me to it.
I think it’d be a great idea to be able to use Android tablet apps on it, especially if Chrome OS has multitasking, it would give it some productivity.
I think the main reason they’re keeping at it is because they do intend to have some of it incorporated into Android. Think back to that “Ubuntu for Android” demo we saw, where they plugged the handset to a monitor and were able to run a desktop Ubuntu OS (albeit very slowly, considering the hardware) from it. I suspect Google might have similar plans for Chrome OS down the road. They’ve already demo’ed it at some tech shows, if I’m not mistaken.
Phones are bound to replace the basic desktop sooner or later. Perhaps there’ll be a huge market for docking stations soon. Do work at home, save to phone (or cloud), go to work, dock phone and continue work. Go to hotel, dock phone and continue work. Kinda scary if you lose your phone, though.
Edited 2012-08-24 23:32 UTC
Not sure I get it either, if it was cheaper and somehow integrated/docked with TV, your real desktop, phone and tablet for coach potatoes…perhaps it is, but tis too expensive to bother with.
Here is what I don’t get about Chrome OS…who is it for exactly? I mean you’d think with it being so limited they would be selling it at a cheaper price, but most of the Chrome OS units I’ve seen are $399-$499 with a lousy Atom CPU, very little storage and not much memory.
Compare your average Chrome OS machine with the Win 7 Starter units they sell at every B&M and its like a bad joke! Last time I walked in wally world they had an Atom dual core with 2Gb of RAM and a 160Gb HDD for $249. You are talking a $150 off for a better unit! And at the same price as the Chromebooks you can have an AMD quad with 4Gb of RAM, 320Gb HDD, and is powerful enough in the graphics dept it can play many mainstream games.
So I just don’t get it, I really don’t. When I first heard of Chrome OS I thought it was a smart idea, I figured ARM or Atom based at $100-$200 depending on the chips, at that price people would be happy to put up with a less featured OS that depended on the net and Google services, but at $399? Who would want to buy such a crippled system at a cost higher than a full featured laptop?