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Google's Chrome OS To Launch In Fall

Kidfork writes "On Wednesday Google's vice president of product management said that this fall Google will launch Chrome OS to compete with Microsoft Windows. More than 70 million users already use the Chrome Browser, and Google expects at least 1 million users of the OS by day one of release."

57 of 375 comments (clear)

  1. Not me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I prefer to keep my data where it belongs, on my machine and encrypted on backup servers.

    1. Re:Not me by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Lucky you! That is exactly what Google thinks!

      --
      Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
  2. Can only guess... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We can only guess what information it will suck up and report back to Google.

    1. Re:Can only guess... by minus9 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "We can only guess what information it will suck up and report back to Google."

      We can only guess what information $PROPRIETARY_OS will suck up and report back to $VENDOR.

    2. Re:Can only guess... by somersault · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Except it's open source. And it can't suck up any information you don't enter. If you're worried about people spying on what you do online, either use encrypted connections, or don't go online.

      You might want to check over your shoulders whenever you go out in public to make sure nobody is following you - you never know, they may find out what brand of toilet paper you buy, or see what type of films you enjoy watching at the cinema!

      --
      which is totally what she said
    3. Re:Can only guess... by V!NCENT · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Browse the source code line for line to know exactly how it behaves, you mean?

      --
      Here be signatures
    4. Re:Can only guess... by somersault · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If your browser is open source, you can change its behaviour to be in line with what you want. Duh. Then you just have to worry about the security of your actual connection, and what any person or machine at the other end of your connection is going to do with the data you are transmitting.

      Yes, I don't care who knows what I like to buy or do at the cinema. Though I haven't entered any supermarket incentive card schemes because I know they're pretty much just for marketing schemes, and I don't feel the need to squeeze 0.1% extra value or whatever out of every purchase I make.

      --
      which is totally what she said
    5. Re:Can only guess... by kthejoker · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Since Google's entire business model revolves around advertising (and thus, customer targeting), while Microsoft, Apple (and Linux, in a fashion)'s business model revolves around selling OSes, I think it would be pretty easy for MS or Apple to simply say, "We will never collect any data about our OS users' application usage, browsing habits, or other personal information."

      Google simply can't afford to say that. So no, not exactly the same thing at all.

    6. Re:Can only guess... by Skarecrow77 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No no, don't get me wrong. I use windows at work because I have to as well. I dual boot it at home to play games because most games I want to play are windows native and I got tired of fighting with WINE and VMs trying to get 80 to 90% functionality... I boot into Linux for web browsing, email, IM, i.e. essentially everything but gaming.

      I neither love nor hate windows. It is what it is. It's a mature, robust OS that covers the vast majority of needs of most people... just like the other two do.

      My point was that most people who don't know anything about how to properly use their computer when it comes to security (don't click on the flashing ads on the suspect web pages. don't install software you don't know the source of. don't click on links in emails from people you don't know. scan for malware on a regular basis, etc. etc) are using windows.

      These same people would, in theory, be just as careless under OSX or linux, the difference is due to the lack of viruses/malware/developed exploits for thsoe operating systems (currently), those users would be playing traditional russian roulette around with a gun with only 1 bullet instead of the fully loaded gun that windows represents.

      I man the systems support line for a major software company. I work with these people every day. They're not bad people, they just have never had any training on how not to be security retarded, and they don't really want any training because they have other stuff to worry about... until they find out they have a massive security breach and they're about to get sued.

    7. Re:Can only guess... by Turzyx · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think it would be pretty easy for MS or Apple to simply say, "We will never collect any data about our OS users' application usage, browsing habits, or other personal information."

      Except they have never said that, nor will they ever.

      Chrome OS is also open source, maybe there will be some nice branch projects in the future. I'm concerned about how their OS is so entwined with Flash though, it hardly has a stellar reputation for security.

    8. Re:Can only guess... by oakgrove · · Score: 2

      I guarantee you that if Linux or OSX had 85% of the market share, Either OS would be identically compromised on a similar widespread basis.

      That myth would make sense except for the following facts. OS8 and OS9 both had less marketshare than OSX yet they had viruses and OSX has none. I would even believe it if OSX had a few viruses but it doesn't. If it were that easy to get something in the wild as you say it is, some hacker somewhere would have done it already just to say they did. Pwn2own is a game, not the real thing. Don't confuse the two.

      Also, consider this. People running macs obviously have more disposable income. And since you seem to think OSX is so easy, they should be sheeps lined up for the slaughter right? That would amplify the effect of their marketshare and since you're pulling numbers out of your ass, I'll say that gives them the effect of having at least 20-25 percent. That's untold millions of credit card numbers, botnet nodes, etc. Why isn't it happening?

      Speaking of which, at hacking competitions, which OS is usually the one to fall first?

      Er, you're mixed up there, skippy. The guy you're responding to isn't defending OSX which is the first OS to fall at the competitions. And if you're speaking of pwn2own, OSX fell first, then Vista. Ubuntu didn't get hacked at all.

      --
      The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
  3. This isn't going to compete with Windows by dward90 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's going to compete with Linux.

    In other news: 2011. Year of the Chrome Desktop (tm).

    --
    My other sig is clever.
    1. Re:This isn't going to compete with Windows by JasterBobaMereel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's an OS to launch and run a browser, which does *all* the work .... and do as little as possible otherwise ....

      It's competing with very little ....at the moment, except if you have a thin client desktop machine ?

      --
      Puteulanus fenestra mortis
    2. Re:This isn't going to compete with Windows by SiaFhir · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It is in fact Linux, albeit a scaled down version to eliminate a lot of the overhead that a "normal" OS carries, leaving only the web browsing capability, and little else.

      Having said that, I'm sure someone will program up an app that will open up this OS and add the capability to install any application available to Linux, effectively creating a full-featured fragment of ChromeOS and a proper competitor to Windows. At the same time it could compete with other Linux distros like Ubuntu, Fedora, Suse, et al (or perhaps with Linux desktop environments like Gnome and KDE, depending on the work done to expand its use).

      After all, it's Linux, which is open source. With open source you can dig in the code and make changes and improvements.

      Let's just hope Google doesn't turn around and say "you can't do that", like Apple is doing with the AppStore and Sony is doing with PS3.

  4. Re:hmm... by Mouldy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They'll probably response by not trying to use it to play games.

  5. Re:hmm... by Vanderhoth · · Score: 2, Insightful

    With the way the game industry it trying to ruin PC gaming with DRMs these days I don't think it's going to matter.

  6. no, that's not what it's for by FuckingNickName · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ChromeOS is not general competition "with Microsoft Windows". Windows has always been about delivering services on your desktop using the native CPU power and full set of UI capabilities, ensuring availability, low latency, full features and (relative) privacy.

    Google Apps deliver a quite limited subset of general office suite features available only under certain environments. They are completely inadequate where privacy is of concern.

    ChromeOS is another option for Netbooks - i.e. it might be suitable as another alternative in the already harmfully and unnecessarily flooded market of Netbook operating systems. But no firm should entertain using ChromeOS to prepare content.

    1. Re:no, that's not what it's for by Miros · · Score: 4, Interesting

      And why is it impossible to solve the privacy issues in the long run? The way I look at it, if the economic benefits of the "cloud" model are good enough, it's only a matter of time until the other issues are solved over time. Consider checks as an example of this idea. Initially, they seem retarded (I'm going to give you this little piece of paper which is a promise from me to you that my bank will give you this amount of gold if you go there to call on it). Stupid. However, when you consider that the same innovation (banks and checks) allowed you to draw on your account from anywhere that bank had a branch, and enabled you to perform large transactions without having to carry all of your gold with you all of the time, it is obvious that the transactions enabled by the innovation are valuable enough on average to outweigh the risks inherent in the system. Even today there is a tremendous amount of check fraud, but by god, we use them like there is no tomorrow. Why? because without them (and their equivalent financial instruments) our modern society could not exist.

      The new "store everything somewhere else and access it from anywhere" model has very similar risks, but also very similar benefits. Sure, it's not perfect, but it's a lot better than the old model in many ways and will, over time, enable valuable use cases that we have not even imagined yet.

      so, returning to my original question, why can't we solve these concerns in the long run? Because if it's not impossible, it is simply inevitable.

    2. Re:no, that's not what it's for by tenco · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The point is, gold can not be copied as private data can be. If a bank loses/sells your gold, you'll notice it as soon you are going to check if it's still there. But data? It can be sold without you ever knowing it.

  7. Compete with Windows?! by nmg196 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    > Google will launch Chrome OS to compete with Microsoft Windows.

    Sorry, where does it say that they are aiming to compete with Windows, because it doesn't mention windows in TFA. They've never claimed to try and do that - they're targetting a completely different market. Chome OS is just a browser than boot up with no host operating system. Windows IS an entire operating system.

    1. Re:Compete with Windows?! by somersault · · Score: 2, Informative

      How do you expect anyone to do any work on Chrome OS? That recent article said that they are using Linux or OSX in place of Windows, not Chrome OS. At this point in time, Chrome OS is only really useful for anything that a browser can do. That is a lot of stuff these days, but there are still some apps that people will need a full OS for - for example proper 3D gaming, creating art/music, or doing pretty much any kind of software development.

      --
      which is totally what she said
    2. Re:Compete with Windows?! by FencingLion · · Score: 2, Insightful

      > Google will launch Chrome OS to compete with Microsoft Windows.

      Sorry, where does it say that they are aiming to compete with Windows, because it doesn't mention windows in TFA. They've never claimed to try and do that - they're targetting a completely different market. Chome OS is just a browser than boot up with no host operating system. Windows IS an entire operating system.

      If you want to talk about competition, you need to consider use cases, not technical implementation. Insofar as Windows users browse the internet, check email, and do word processing (which is a substantial chunk of users), Google Chrome OS is competing with Windows.

      --
      Just keep swimming.
  8. Re:Um... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wasn't it already said that it's illegal to integrate your browser into your operating system?

    No, integrating a web browser into an operating system is completely legal. It is illegal, however, to attempt to use an effective monopoly in the desktop operating systems market to gain an effective monopoly in the web browser market.

    Google has approximately no market share in the desktop OS market, so this is not an issue. They may have an effective monopoly in the search engine market (debatable), but they are not requiring Chrome or ChromeOS for their search engine so this is also not an issue.

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  9. Re:hmm... by Alphathon · · Score: 4, Funny

    Probably by asking "But will it run Crysis?"

  10. Re:Um... by minus9 · · Score: 2, Informative

    "Wasn't it already said that it's illegal to integrate your browser into your operating system?"

    No it was "said" to be illegal to abuse a monopoly position in one market to take over another. In fact it wasn't just "said", it was and remains the law.

  11. Re:hmm... by l0ungeb0y · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm sure farmville and mafiawars will get higher framerates on these systems and have a totally unfair advantage

  12. Re:hmm... by V!NCENT · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fixed that for you.

    Thank you, slave.

    --
    Here be signatures
  13. nice try google by bitt3n · · Score: 4, Funny

    if they want my windows, they're going to have to pry it out of my warm, living, delicately moisturized hands

  14. What I want by Miros · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What I want is the ability to save my browser session back to google somehow "in the cloud" or whatever so that I can close my browser on one computer, start up a generic copy of chrome somewhere else, login, and get my entire session restored. If that happened the whole system would just become much more useful, particularly if you are in a landscape littered with what are effectively thin terminals. Imagine that kind of functionality with a mobile device like the iPad or something (ignoring all of the limitations that exist today). Close out on my desktop, transfer to my portable device, go to meetings and w/e without missing a beat or having to take the time to open things on one device that I was already interacting with on another.

    1. Re:What I want by Joeseph64 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Although it looks like there's a few more steps in this implementation than you'd like, Android has started doing this with Froyo. Here's the Engadget article that demonstrates pushing links from your desktop onto your Android phone.

      Of course, this misses the "without missing a beat" part of your solution, but it's a start.

    2. Re:What I want by Pegasus · · Score: 2, Informative

      Just use Opera. It does what you want for some time now.

    3. Re:What I want by quercus.aeternam · · Score: 2, Informative

      For firefox, look at the weave plugin.

  15. Re:hmm... by Skarecrow77 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's a hacked up version of linux. Even if you could get WINE working with it, You're only going to be able to get a few windows games working. However, that's not what the OS is intended for. It's a platform for a web browser. It's the most minimalistic OS since the 80s.

    It'll probably run flash games just fine, but you can do that with any existing system so why go to ChromeOS just for that?

    Actually, considering you can get Chrome on all 3 major OSes as it is, I don't understand why anybody would use ChromeOS on a real PC at all anyway. Maybe on a little netbook or something... but on a real pc/laptop? why?

  16. Re:Um... by JasterBobaMereel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Do you need to use Chrome to use Google - no

    Do you need to use ChromeOS to use Chrome - no

    Do you need to use Google if you use Chrome and ChromeOS ... probably not

    Do Google have a large market share in browsers - No

    Do Google have a large market share in OS's - No

    No monopoly behaviour here ....

    --
    Puteulanus fenestra mortis
  17. Re:Games by Tapewolf · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Will it run my games? Y/N

    Will it run them reliably, effecivly and as table as Windows 7? Y/N

    will it have support, patching, ease of use and compatibility with 3d party aspects? (printers for example) Y/N

    if N to any... thanks, i'll stick to windows.

    Will the iPad do those? Because that's what this thing is, essentially - an OS for making an iPad-alike.

  18. Re:Um... by Kilrah_il · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Still, you have not debunked his main point. MS used its dominance (not monopoly) in the OS market to get users to use IE. They didn't force anyone to use IE, but by bundling it with Windows, they used their OS market share in order to increase their web browser market share. That is a monopolizing behavior.

    If Google had used its search engine to get you to use Chrome or Chrome OS you would have had a point. AFAIK, anyone, with any web browser can use Google's search engine. If anything, they may be using Chrome to get people to use Google Search more - but since they have no dominance in the OS and web browser markets, this is a non-issue. I know, Sherman does not talk about Monopoly, but if a minor player in the web browser/OS market uses them to increase the number of people using their (already dominant) search engine, this is no violation of the Sherman act.

    P.S.
    What does "applefan" have to do with this?

    --
    Whenever in an argument, remember this.
  19. No thanks by wcrowe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    First Google begins by tracking everything you search for. Then, with their browser, they want to track everywhere you go on the internet. Now, with their operating system, they want to track everything you do, period.

    --
    Proverbs 21:19
    1. Re:No thanks by Professor_UNIX · · Score: 3, Funny

      You missed a lot of evil steps in between like, in no particular order: "Then they want to index all your e-mail and serve you up targeted advertisements, then they want to index everything on your desktop via Google Desktop, then they want to harvest and store all your documents in the cloud with Google Docs, then they want to have all of your appointment and todo information cataloged in Google Calendar, then they want to know where you are at all times with Google Latitude, then they want to know where you plan on going with Google Maps, then they want to catalog your shopping habits with Google Shopper/Goggles, then they want to know about your astronomy interests with Google Sky Map, then they want to catalog all your SMS messages and listen to all your voicemail and telephone calls with Google Voice, then they want to index all your DNS name resolution requests via their resolvers, etc." Google is absolutely insidious!

    2. Re:No thanks by minus9 · · Score: 2, Funny


      You forgot to mention search Prof, they have something to do with search engines I seem to recall.

  20. Re:hmm... by Pharmboy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It'll probably run flash games just fine, but you can do that with any existing system so why go to ChromeOS just for that?

    Because if that is all you do, then it *will* do it better, as that is all it can do, making it faster. One example of a perfect place is my netbook, that I only use when I travel. I only check email, browse and hit facebook. Of course, this is after I spend a couple of hours updating Windows XP because I hadn't used the thing in two months. I'm also trying to get us to move our accounting software to something that is web based, on our intranet server. If I could do that, then this is all we would need in the office as well, as everything else we do in via the web. Even MS *.doc files can be read online, which is fine as we don't generate many of those.

    --
    Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
  21. Re:hmm... by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Piracy is the future, get over it.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  22. Re:Yawn. by IamTheRealMike · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Nothing says it has to replace your existing laptop or workstation.

    I'm quite looking forward to ChromeOS. I work there so I'm hoping the big G will give me one for testing, but if not then I might buy one myself if they review well.

    See ChromeOS as kind of like an "extreme" version of the Mac or iPad value proposition. The hardware and software are very closely integrated so you won't get much of the benefit if you're running it in a virtual machine. But if you're running it on hardware designed for it in mind, you get a number of benefits.

    If I look at what I do today with my old MacBook, 90% of my time is spent in Chrome anyway. MacOS' shitty window management just gets in the way, frankly. The only other apps I use are iTunes (for internet radio and occasionally movies rented online), and the terminal emulator. Fortunately shellinabox provides easy access to remote terminals without needing a local ssh or terminal emulator. I have it set up on a colo box I rent from Linode and it works pretty well.

    ChromeOS promises watertight security (as opposed to MacOS/Windows/Linux), an end to stupid update nags, extremely good and consistent performance, simple and efficient window management .... lots more. The downside is that I'll need to use a separate machine occasionally for more power user stuff like programming, at least until a web based IDE like Bespin starts getting good. Other things, like word processing/spreadsheets/PDF viewing/chat/etc can be done via web apps already.

    Also, at some point the promise of NativeClient will arrive and then porting existing native apps (like maybe emacs) to be runnable in Chrome will become possible.

    All that remains is a good multimedia experience really. I can listen to most net radio stations today using Flash, but it wouldn't be as nicely integrated as iTunes. And as for renting movies, well I keep hoping Microsoft will stop sitting on its ass and make Xbox Live movie store work here in Switzerland, but it's been years so I'm not holding my breath. International media licensing is such a disaster zone.

    Basically, I think ChromeOS will deliver a lot of the benfits people see in an iPad but without the obnoxious tablet form factor. It's a clean break, a fresh new OS but with things that actually matter for getting things done, like "keyboards".

  23. Re:hmm... by Skarecrow77 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They also must have low IQ's as well...

    Depending on which test you believe, 127 to 132. Hi.

    Not much to spend it on? are these people brain dead meat puppets? Motorcycles, Cars, Jetpacks, Overpriced stereos...

    You can't have both? I've got a pair of Sennheiser HD 650s with a pretty impressive amp and source, had a modified LS1, have a 21" speed boat, and own a Ps3 and wii (360 redringed on me), and two computers.

    I can list 90,000 things other than videogames to spend my high-earning money on that is not only more fun, but get's you way more chicks...

    A sports car is more impressive to a lady than a 6 digit Xbox achievement point number.

    depends entirely on the lady in question. I submit that you're going to want to spend more time long term with the lady who digs gaming than the one who's only interested in you because you can afford to drive her around in an M6 or 911.

    Playing a single player video game is no different than reading a book or watching a movie except that the experience is interactive. Playing a multiplayer video game is a lot more interactive with your friends than sitting around watching the game.

  24. Re:hmm... by silentcoder · · Score: 3, Informative

    >They also must have low IQ's as well... Not much to spend it on? are these people brain dead meat puppets? Motorcycles, Cars, Jetpacks, Overpriced stereos... I can list 90,000 things other than videogames to spend my high-earning money on that is not only
    more fun, but get's you way more chicks...

    All of which has this in common: they are LEISURE items - why does choosing one leisure item over another define your IQ ?
    Also - most high-earning men that age are married, presumably this at least marginally reduces the number of additional chicks they actually NEED to get.

    >A sports car is more impressive to a lady than a 6 digit Xbox achievement point number.
    To some ladies. Perhaps even a significant majority - but most certainly not for ALL ladies.

    >A motorcycle is far more fun than ANY driving game on any gaming platform.
    To you. To me. Not to everyone.
    Besides, much as I prefer my bike over driving games, I prefer WoW over golf - tastes differ. Why the aggro dude ?

    >Racing with your local racing club on a real track is far more fun than any game. $10,000 can get you a nice Miata and all the racing upgrades to really tear it up at the track. a 1.8 with a turbo in a miata makes for real fun on a real track (not a redneck oval)

    To you. To some other people. Not to everybody. A helluva lot of people will think THAT is the sign of a low IQ. Choosing to risk your life at high-speed in the real world (where you do NOT respawn).

    >Hang gliding is an absolute rush.

    Again... to you. I think RAIDING is an actual rush.

    I don't fit the profile, I've just turned 30, but I am a high-earning single male without much other financial responsibility. I pay my bond and since I don't have other debt - I got plenty of cash to burn even after making investments. Why the hell should you get to decide that burning it on hanggliding is smarter than burning it on the Cataclysm expansion ?

    Talk about having your head so far up your own ass you can't see the crud for the dingleberries...

    --
    Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
  25. Re:hmm... by imakemusic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm also guessing (perhaps naively) that it will boot much faster.

    --
    Brain surgery - it's not rocket science!
  26. Re:hmm... by gad_zuki! · · Score: 2, Insightful

    >Of course, this is after I spend a couple of hours updating Windows XP because I hadn't used the thing in two months.

    Is the Chrome OS wont need updates? I have an old ubuntu install I boot up every so often and the updates are just as bad, if not worse. Modern OSs require updates. Theyre all moving targets.

    I'm also very skeptical of the claims of "I just need a browser!" Every user who told me that or something similar adds "Oh and yahoo chat, and my toolbars, and it must work with this shitty printer/scanner combo, and run this old crap software I've been using since 1998, and quickbooks, etc etc."

  27. Revisionist history with Sundar Pichai by VGPowerlord · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are some choice quotes in the article's source article over at Reuters.

    Here's one of my favorites, from Sundar Pichai:

    "Chrome OS is one of the few future operating systems for which there are already millions of applications that work," Pichai said. "You don't need to redesign Gmail for it to work on Chrome. Facebook does not need to write a new app for Chrome."

    Wow, lots of revisionist history here. It turns out that Microsoft wasn't/isn't bundling web browsers with Windows since Windows 98. I mean, they must not have been, because they weren't one of the "few... operating systems for which there are already millions of applications that work" such as "Gmail" and "Facebook."

    Seriously, did he think no one would notice that he was saying that Chrome OS is one of the few operating systems that can run web applications?

    I don't need a B.S. in Lieology to detect the problem with that logic!

    --
    GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
    1. Re:Revisionist history with Sundar Pichai by ildon · · Score: 2, Informative

      There seems to be a reading comprehension problem on your part here.

      The question being posed is: "If I write a new OS now, won't developers have to write all new apps?"
      Answer: "No, because we're designing the OS for users of web apps, which do not need to be ported. They'll 'just work' because they're already platform independent."

      In the past, before web apps existed or had come into significant use, this was a huge barrier for writing (or, more accurately, marketing) a new OS. e.g. "Why should I switch to Linux if it doesn't run MS Office?" or "Shit, I want to buy an Android phone because AT&T sucks but I can't until someone ports ."

      But because this web app framework has already been developed, it is no longer a barrier for a new OS, as long as there is a market for users who only need access to web apps. e.g. "I'm already only using web apps on my netbook, so I can drop the price and a ton of overhead (resulting in a theoretical speed increase) by switching to Chrome OS and not lose any significant functionality that I had before."

      Obviously this won't be true for all netbook users, but clearly Google is banking on it applying to a lot of them (or at least enough of them for it to be profitable).

  28. Re:hmm... by Pharmboy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That is supposed to be one of the main benefits, and additionally, it will sleep/wake up in one second. More importantly, with it running so little software, sleep mode should be more reliable, although that isn't the problem it used to be even with Windows. For kiosk systems, basic access systems, "mom's first computer" (and I don't want to have to maintain it weekly), and plenty of other limited use applications, this could be a good thing.

    --
    Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
  29. Re:hmm... by Spewns · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Piracy leaves no future for outdated, dinosaur business models. Accept it.

    Fixed that for you. And I've long accepted and praised it.

  30. Re:hmm... by mcgrew · · Score: 2, Insightful

    don't understand why anybody would use ChromeOS on a real PC at all anyway. Maybe on a little netbook or something... but on a real pc/laptop? why?

    My netbook has as fast a processor, three times the drive space and twice the memory as the desktop I built five years ago. It streams fullscreen videos flawlessly. Hell, the PC I use at work is ten years old and running XP. My netbook is running Windows 7 (starter). If it won't run any version of Linux out there (which I fully intend to install once I get a thumb drive) I'll be greatly surprised.

    It's far more powerful than the IBM thinkpad I paid $20 for (bad battery and hard drive is shot, I'm going to fix it and give it to my oldest daugher).

    But anyway, a netbook IS a "real computer", far more capable than anything made just ten years or even less ago.

  31. Re:hmm... by warrior · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I am very impressed with your 21 inch speed boat. Do you have a tow bar set up for some hard core wakeboarding? Sorry for being pedantic, couldn't resist. Side note, I'd prefer the lady who would want to work on said hot car rather than ride in it or play video games.

    --
    Intel transfer the difficult from Hadware to software, for get more power, programmer need more technology. -- chinaitn
  32. Re:hmm... by Ginger+Unicorn · · Score: 3, Insightful
    1. Cinema tickets still sell even though everyone is torrenting movies.
    2. Pay actors 5 digit wages instead of 7 digit wages.

    TA-DA!

    I wonder what the movie industry could come up with if they spent more than the 30 seconds it took me to pull that out of my ass?

    --
    (1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
  33. Re:hmm... by Pharmboy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Google owns YouTube, they likely are pretty set when it comes to codecs. And with HTML 5 coming on strong, they would be positioned pretty well.

    --
    Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
  34. Re:Google's first flop? by DragonWriter · · Score: 2, Informative

    I admire Google's pioneering spirit, and I also welcome any move towards relegating Microsoft to the trashcan of history, but I find it hard to believe that any OS intended for a PC environment that fundamentally requires an always-on internet connection could successfully compete for market share against those that also provide the option of running apps locally.

    Chrome OS isn't designed to require an "always on" internet connection, which is why features for offline use of apps are key to it; it requires internet access for online tasks, and for the first logon of a given user.

    It is designed to run offline HTML5 web apps locally.

    I don't think the world is wired enough yet for the Chrome/Software-as-a-service concept. I also don't think people will just silently accept making regular payments for a service that replaces what they used to be able to do for free locally.

    Nothing required to use Chrome requires making regular payments other than the payments already required for having some kind of (at least intermittent) network access.

    With Chrome the whole privacy issue is a serious one, and I can also imagine that just the associated network latency of running an app on a remote server instead of locally on a reasonably specced PC is always bound to make the experience feel clunkier.

    Google's put a lot of effort (both in the HTML5 standards processes and in the Chrome browser, a key Chrome OS component) to allow "web" apps to do more work locally (including working completely offline.) No doubt, the latency experienced with tradition web apps that do almost all of their work on the server side is precisely the reason for this. This work continues in the runup to Chrome OS (improvements in this area in the Chrome browser are part of what needs to happen before Chrome OS is ready to deploy.)

    If Chrome manages to fulfill Google's dream of entirely killing the notion that PCs can run apps locally,

    If Chrome OS was intended to do that, it probably wouldn't include as a key component Native Client, whose whole purpose is to enable running native applications locally in a secure sandbox.

  35. Re:hmm... by PBoyUK · · Score: 2, Funny

    She sounds awesome.

  36. Re:hmm... by alexo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    To be (somewhat) fair, I don't blame Daniel Radcliffe for asking for 20m/movie

    I don't blame him either. Hell, If I could get such an amount, I'd be asking it as well.

    That was not my point.

    You don't *need* a $20M Daniel Radcliffe to make a good movie.
    The Blair Witch Project had a total budget of $22K.