Acer To Launch Chrome OS Netbook Next Month

Barence writes "Acer is preparing to launch devices based on Google's Chrome OS at next month's Computex trade show, according to reports. Multiple sources have apparently told VentureBeat that the company will show off devices at the Taipei show at the beginning of June. It doesn't specify what the devices are, although given that Chrome OS is primarily designed for low-powered laptops and Acer's status as the world's second biggest PC maker, it seems inconceivable that the devices won't be netbooks. Meanwhile, Google is considering implementing a Coverflow interface into Chrome OS. One design adheres fairly closely to Apple's template, and allows users to flip through applications and web pages with 'hotkeys and swiping gestures.' Favicons will be displayed beneath the pages, allowing users to click these and head straight to the application."

Comments

Finally.

[cromar]

Perhaps there will be real progress in UI design now that Google is putting its resources toward that goal. I hope windowing systems die soon. There has to be a better design than a metaphor to desks and file cabinets...

Re:Finally.

[JustinOpinion]

I hope windowing systems die soon.

We all have our complaints about windowing systems. It does indeed seem like we spend a fair amount of time just managing the windows (moving, resizing, etc.) rather than working. Like you, I'm pretty convinced that there has to be a better design out there. But I don't think it's the right strategy to throw-out windowing systems altogether, without a viable alternative to actually push towards. Despite all their warts, our modern GUIs are by now highly tuned and in fact do help us be productive.

There has to be a better design than a metaphor to desks and file cabinets...

I think our modern desktop metaphor isn't really mimicking desks and file cabinets in any meaningful way. Sure, the same terms are applied ("desktop", "folder", "file", etc.), but in reality the computer-objects bear little resemblance to the real-world objects. (You can't infinitely nest folders in the real world!) I think our GUI metaphors have abandoned any real-world resemblance that was slowing them down. (E.g. you can't arbitrarily resize a real-world sheet of paper on the fly, but it's easy to resize a GUI.)

I'm not sure what the answer is (mostly just thinking out loud, here), but I think our time would be better spent refining the modern GUI, rather than throwing it all away and hoping that something fantastically better fills the void. Some ideas that spring to mind:
1. Windows in a GUI are useful (e.g. to read from one and type into another) but managing all the windows is as much fun as shuffling paper on a real desk. What would help is far smarter layout algorithms. When a new window appears, its size and position should "make sense". For instance it should be in some way proportional to the amount of text within it. It should try to appear in areas that will not obscure existing content. A given document should re-open to the same position on screen as the last time you had it open (thereby taking advantage of human visual memory and habit-forming procedures). A GUI that shuffled all the windows around on you would probably be more annoying than helpful. But some amount of predictive behavior would be nice (e.g. tossing a window towards one edge of the screen could dock it there cleanly.)
2. GUIs should let users easily define tasks rather than forcing them to manually open all the windows/documents associated with a given workflow. So when I open the "banking" task, my financial spreadsheets should open (and appear with the size/position I always set them to), my Firefox window should appear in the right place with the right websites all open, my calculator app should pop open in the upper-right-hand-corner, and so on... It should be easier for users to define sets of tasks and have those states reappear when required. This all boils down to: the size, position, and state of all the windows on-screen actually conveys useful information to the user! Don't throw that information away!
3. Each app should have a hidden backend database where every command and help topic (with appropriate index terms and tags/keywords and synonyms) is stored. If you can't remember where the button or menu item for a given task is, it should be trivial to type that into a persistent "help/do-stuff" bar and have the option simply appear, ready to be clicked/invoked. For apps with tons of options (MS Word, Photoshop, etc.) this would make it trivial to find the option you want. (Just type "red eye correction" or "make sentence all caps" or whatever.) If done properly, this would also allow users to interact with applications in a faster text-command mode (anyone who has used Firefox's Ubiquity will know what I'm talking about.)

These are just the ideas that have occurred to me (repeatedly) and may not be the best ideas out there. Overall my point is that I agree we need better GUI-interaction styles... but that I think we can use the existing windowing systems as good starting points for further refinement.

Re:Competition

[Ephemeriis]

EEE netbooks used to ship with a Linux distro. You know what killed that? Returns. Joe User booting it up, braying "The hell? Where's my Windows?" and returning it. It got so that retail salesweasels were begging people not to buy them, because they got dinged for all the returns.

The problem wasn't that the things shipped with Linux instead of Windows.

The problem was that the salesweasels either didn't know that, or didn't bother explaining it to the customers.

I had a client at my last job that was absolutely convinced she needed a Dell mini-9. Thought it wold be terrific. Kept imagining all the ways it would be great to carry around a fully functional computer in her purse. Wanted me to put together a quote for one right away.

I happened to have a mini-9 at the time, used it for configuring network equipment and whatnot.

I explained to her that it shipped with a tiny SSD so she wouldn't really be able to store all her pictures on it... Explained that it had no CD-ROM drive... Explained that it was generally too slow to handle streaming Netflix and things like that... Had her try surfing and typing on it...

And she decided she didn't really want one after all.

If I just wanted to make a buck I could have sold her the mini-9. Maybe I would have been stuck with the return... Maybe she would have kept it... But she wouldn't have been happy. And that's what I wanted - a happy customer.

Keep in mind, this thing was running XP - not Linux.

Re:Get a Real Computer

[0123456]

New Egg is selling an AMD 2.1 Ghz, 3 GB ram, 160 GB HD for $380. And, what do you know, it runs Linux.

Can it run for 8+ hours and fit in my pocket?

Re:Competition

[Sleepy]

That's because the "Ubuntu" netbook Dell sold was bastardized, and the OS couldn't be upgraded to regular Ubuntu packages (not unless you knew what you were doing).

Linux done RIGHT is no more difficult to use than Windows. Period.

I'm impressed with Android, and a few years back I used to love my Nokia N800 Internet tablet (great system, but Nokia obsoleted the OS far too quickly), Ubuntu Netbook and MeeGo distributions look promising and Android just kicks ass. These are all "Linux". I haven't tried or read much on GoogleOS so no comment there.