Slashdot Mirror
Real World Stats Show Chromebooks Are Struggling
recoiledsnake writes "The first real world stats for Chromebooks show that they're struggling to have any traction in the marketplace. In its first week of monitoring worldwide usage of Google's Chrome OS, NetMarketShare reported that the percentage of web traffic from Chromebooks was roughly 2/100 of 1 percent, a figure too small to earn a place on its reports. The first Chromebooks went on sale in June 2011, nearly two years ago, with Acer reportedly selling fewer than 5000 units in the first six months and Samsung selling even fewer. In the past three years, Chromebook sales have been worse than even three months worth of WindowsRT sales. Perhaps users are heeding Stallman's warning on Chromebooks. We previously discussed reports of Chromebook topping Amazon sales, selling to 2000 schools and wondered whether QuickOffice on ChromeOS can topple Microsoft Office." I find ChromeOS good in some contexts (any place that a browser and a thin layer of Linux is all you need), but the limitations are frustrating — especially on hardware that can run a conventional Linux as well as Google's specialized one. We'll watch for developments in the Google hardware world at next week's I/O conference.
Make it a linux machine with deep ties to the net, not an internet machine with crappy compromises for offline use. Make it an offline machine FIRST, then worry about adding your online hooks.
Good-bye
Well, it's atleast doing better than the following:
Nexus Q
Google Wave
Google Buzz
etc.
Not long before it might go the way of the Google Reader and get scrapped.
In the past three years, Chromebook sales have been worse than even three months worth of WindowsRT sales.
Should read "in the past two years". Sorry for the typo.
This space for rent.
I just bought an Acer C7 a couple of weeks ago.
Light weight, fast enough. Good web browsing experience.
I wouldn't have it as my only computer, but over all I think it will make one heck of a good momputer.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
I am typing this on my Samsung ARM Chromebook. Cost me under 200 euro first hand and for that money it's fantastic. I get about 8 hours battery life from the thing and it runs GNU/Linux without any issues (except a lack of graphics acceleration, which is a licensing problem). I run Xubuntu in a Chroot using crouton and it's great. If I need to watch 1080p video I just hit a key-combo to switch back to ChromeOS and do it there. For the price I am delighted and it replaced my 2012 MBA.
Perhaps users are heeding Stallman's warning on Chromebooks.
You're joking, right? Please tell me this wasn't actually a serious statement...
"Perhaps users are heeding Stallman's warning on Chromebooks."
Based on the long history of Richard Stallman being able to effectively and rationaly communicate with and sway general consumer opinion I am 100% confident this is the reason.
>> whether QuickOffice can topple Microsoft Office
Isn't the real battle Google Docs vs. Microsoft Office?
Chromebooks are shit. Not the device themselves. But the concept.
It's the same old Netclient concept that failed more than a decade ago. Excactly the same. Just in notebook form instead of a small box.
In fact in a way it's just the same as the old 70s Mainframe/terminal setup we (well at least me) all were happy to get away from.
... ummm no we won't. It's not even a good toy (like tablets).
Just checked the logs for a site I run. Over 375,930 unique visitors 81 were using Chrome OS. That's what 0.024% I think. Which is the same as the reports figures.
Can you print from Chrome OS btw?
Chromebooks have been topping the Amazon sales charts. Clearly TFA's numbers are bullshit because you don't top Amazon by selling less than 5,000 units.
X is dying. Slashdot confirms it. One of the oldest trolls that still works.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
The whole netbook thing came and went already. The biggest problem with the Chromebook is it's got a tiny 12" screen. At that size, I'd rather just use a tablet. For doing any actual work, a 15" screen is pretty much the minimum. I know, I've been using a netbook for occasional travel and configuring IT equipment at the office for the last 4 years. While not terrible, it's hard to type on the shrunken keyboard and the screen is frequently too small to view the window I'm trying to work in without stuff being cut off at the bottom. And the weak Atom CPU can barely play movies while I'm on the plane. I don't need a desktop replacement, but the 12" screen just isn't getting the job done. Put ChromeOS on a decent laptop and then see how it compares to Windows units.
Between Tablets, eReaders, and smart phones why would anyone want a crippled Chromebook laptop?
My thought is that most people who are in the market now for a Laptop are looking for something more capable to do work, etc. For everything else they are using tablets or smart phones.
LAst year (or was it two years ago?) they released some sort of media speaker cube thing, then suspended it a couple days later because it was so pointless (or wtf inducing). The only reason I remember it is because it was made in the US. Is anything else happening with it?
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Hardware loss leader, designed to make money on the backend either via servies or advertising deals to the manufacturer. Instantly hacked to be more or less useful, thereby negating the business model which produced it.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Google is a wonderful company, and their products are useful and seductive and beautifully interlinked. But they're free to use and you're not the customer. And every day a certain number of people have their Google account blocked, for one reason or another, and find that there's no recourse to Google to fix that. In fact, there's no customer service department at all.
Examples on the internet of this are easy to find:
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/open-letter-to-google-why-have-you-taken-away-my-google-gmail-accounts/7873/
http://classicsynth.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Get-Disabled-Google-Account-Back
Now imagine that this happens to you, and your laptop has just become a paperweight. And this time, you've paid for it. Hmmm.
The Samsung model that came out late last year is quite nice. It's a small, light, inexpensive web terminal on something approximating hardware designed to be a Chromebook. Other Chromebooks have been older, heavier, weaker, and bad battery life laptops that aren't a good hardware fit. And the Pixel is probably too high end to justify right now with the limitations on the software. But I find the Samsung hardware quite nice, and the system is perfect for my family. We all have google accounts, can switch seamlessly between them, and I don't have to worry about any of the things you need to worry about with a Windows or Linux box. We keep it's charging station on a table next to the TV next to a Nexus 7. At any given time one of the devices is usually in use by somebody. I highly recommend this for anybody who doesn't need more than a web terminal and doesn't need MS Office. It's all my kids will need for most of their schooling.
Also, at $250 I don't mind letting my 5 and 7 year olds operate it all over the house. If it breaks, I'll just buy another one. Same with the N7.
Most of the people who complain about the Chromebook are trying to use it for the wrong thing. This is a spare computer you have sitting around for ANYBODY to pick up and use for 15 minutes, including guests. For power users it's not a primary computer.
Apple products are used by people who are welded to them. Conventional Linux laptops too, but with a smaller number of users. I suspect chromebooks are used by people who just want to use Facebook and gmail, so they won't show up on statistics that netmarketshare looks at. These users simply don't use the wider internet much.
I would speculate about the habits of Windows users too, but I don't know anyone who uses Windows.
I rather like my Chromebook. It fills in my occasional need for a laptop and putting a full build of Linux on a SDCard helps if I ever need to boot into something more powerful. But I hope that the often rumored merge between Android and ChromeOS happens at some point. A light weight online OS with full access to Android apps would meet my needs the majority of the time. I suppose even then, it would still be considered a niche product but I think it would be a step in the right direction.
There is something awesome about a thin client experience where everything you need is in the cloud/central datacenter. My only problem is I wish someone would just come up with a server side software suite taht I can buy and put on a server of my choice. Even though I consume almost all of google's services individually, theres something strange about giving up local storage/control to a third party.
But who knows, maybe in 50 years we'll all be on $10/month Google PCs that are free/inexpensive to buy.
2/100 of 1 percent. ...So 1/50th?
Chromebooks are like tablets. They are generally complementary products for desktops and laptops, not replacement products. They are a device you can leave on your coffee table and do a little web browsing and email from your couch. Similarly your guests can pick it up and use it from the couch. It can be a box to help keep others off of your main pc or laptop, less malware risk.
My school just ordered 30 and plans to get 30 more. A simple, inexpensive way to get devices into lots of students hands. For research and simple content creation it's fast and convenient. As a teacher I love the fact that they can be up and running in 30 seconds.
The solution is simple: drop ChromeOS, and replace it with a version of Android that has some modifications and optimizations for the desktop. That gets you a much larger base of available apps right out of the box.
A quick look at the submitter's posting history is very revealing.
I would have bought one... if it supported SSL VPN.
Why would anybody choose a chromebook over any 9/10" tablet (ipad or android)? Their target market is, generally speaking, content consumption. The sexiness, form factor and off-line convenience of tablets overcomes their lack of a good built-in keyboard, and there is overlap in the price point.
My friend was one of those lucky winners who won a chromebook when Google was giving a bunch away. He used it for all of two hours until he shelved it and I think he sold it. In his words "It was useless" and "What the fuck is it even for?" I wonder why Google even decided to create a chromebook in the first place. What market is ChromeOS trying to fill? Netbooks? Dead market. Laptops? People use them as desktop replacements and want to run a real OS, not a toy OS. Why would anyone want a Chromebook when tablets are almost as cheap and run most of the apps that people want? I don't get it. I mean I get that web apps are gradually becoming as featureful as desktop applications and in some cases just as good but why ChromeOS? WHY!
Here is a thought:
If anyone can pull off a "Windows 8" it would be Google. I am not an Android expert but I believe most apps are cross platform as they are running on a JVM. Some I hear are tied to or call binary ARM libs outside of Dalvik so they are tied to ARM only. Google should have developed a version of Linux similar to Windows 8. It can run Android apps in a Dalvik VM that is displayed through X. If the user wishes, they can drop to a regular Linux X desktop and do some actual work. It could also be possible to display more than one app at once and possibly have windowed apps. How cool would it be if the same damn laptop that can run android apps like a tablet can also be a development platform as well? Bonus points if the reference design is similar to the Asus transformer or the Intel Ultrabook (or whatever its called) with the screen that opens 180 degrees to become a tablet. Oh, and give the user ROOT for christs sake.
That to me is the ideal combination of desktop OS + mobile OS. Allow it to run both at the same time. I believe Microsoft wasn't too far off their rocker with Windows 8. But it was too little too late and the UI changes were too drastic, confusing and made no sense. Then to top it off MS taking 30% off the top for an app sale.
The only way I would every buy one of these is if it cleanly ran a Linux distro. And by cleanly I mean every bit of hardware is supported properly and in ways that don't result in 1/2 the battery life or some other compromise. Then I would happily buy one and probably not even try ChromeOS.
I'll bet a large number of buyers are installing a more usable OS like Chrubuntu, or even some generic distro.
thegodmovie.com - watch it
Sure, it might very well be the best move
Removing choice from a market is never a best move.
Especially when you are the only other major alternative.
But even with Chromebooks, it's of value to promote the idea of basically a thin-client laptop, rather than just letting the market be only composed of more full featured hardware.
A lot of the value is being one of the people defining what a market is made of.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Chromebooks are like tablets.
That is totally wrong.
You are only saying that because of the surface issue of processing power.
But in reality tablets are the ultimate expression of a stand-alone computing device that enjoys being connected to a network but where almost nothing requires it (mostly because of spotty mobile connectivity issues).
Meanwhile a Chromebook can tolerate being disconnected from a network for a short while but is designed to breathe network 24x7. It's pretty much assuming that it's going to be on WiFi almost all the time you are using it, the whole product revolves around the network.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
iphone lacks the serial port profile for bluetooth so it's quite a sure bet it can't do that.
Anytime you see someone bet an iPhone "cannot do that", you can be sure they are wrong.
In this case you are wrong because there are quite a lot of OBDII readers for the iPhone. They just use other means of getting data out of the port than Bluetooth 3.0. WiFi is one possibility, BTLE another (since no registration of bluetooth protocols is required for BTLE on iOS).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
cant even CUT and paste files
Where I come from that's called "move". You drag a file from one place in Finder to another. It''s so simple it's the default action.
Cant direct delete without going to the command line.
That's a specialized need, but easily addressed with an Automator plugin for Finder... You can create one in a minute, or just download one from somewhere.
The biggest problem Apple faces right now is the platform is just too locked down.
It's not at all locked down for technical users. For non-technical users none of the examples you gave would even be things they would understand or want to do.
The thing you are missing is that Apple devices are exactly as free as you have the ability to handle.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Chromebooks are like tablets. [They are generally complementary products for desktops and laptops, not replacement products.]
That is totally wrong.
You are only saying that because of the surface issue of processing power.
No. You should really read that second sentence, it explains why chromebooks are like tablets. Its not about use cases, its about complementing a regular desktop/laptop not replacing it.
Tablet vs Chromebook is an entirely different topic. Each has use cases where one or the other is the better option.
http://slashdot.org/~bonch
How many hundreds of troll accounts do you have bonch?
Gotta love the pathetic desperation that continues to be completely and utterly futile with Apple's stock price and marketshares both taking a massive dive due to the ass kicking Google is dishing out.
The product isn't popular because it's not filling a need. Richard Stallman's opinions one way or another have very little impact on anything.
I already have a netbook with suitably classed hardware and have no need to buy another. For my use or that particular device, a lightweight, no hassle, Internet centric OS like ChromeOS would be ideal. Unfortunately every time I have looked at installing ChromiumOS there have been video driver issues with my hardware.
Chromebooks are getting apps that can be used offline, packaged apps. They are already in beta and are due out probably at I/O.
CDE open sourced! https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdesktopenv/
I have a Samsung Chromebook and frankly, they are great for someone that just wants to check email and the web without worrying about viruses or tablet browser issues (such as flash or mobile site issues) but there are some things that make them a near impossible sell to people such as seniors.
1) Printing. I'd have sold 100+ chromebooks by now if they could plug in a USB printer and print out of the box. Google Cloud Print simply doesn't cut it here. Without a Cloud enabled printer, you're still tied to a PC.
2) Price. Try selling someone who is not computer savvy a $250 web browser. Seriously try it. In fact. Here's your two laptops. (I'll save your sanity and not dare mention the Chromebook Pixel).
HP Windows 8 Notebook
HP Chromebook
I guess you could start with the chromebook is going to be faster with no viruses, but they're going to ask you about printing, and if it plays their old games, ETC...
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
Moms like iPads and iPhones.
Actually Moms may prefer the Kindle Fire. Last I heard the Kindle Fire stats lean towards female and the iPad stats lean towards male. It will be interesting to see if the fits-in-a-purse iPad mini is more like the Kindle Fire in this respect.
I have the Samsung chromebook, it's awesome. I also possess about 6 other laptops including the latest 13 inch Retina Mac. Guess what I like taking about with me? The Chromebook. For web browsing it's responsive, fast. I can even watch netflix on it. Having an SSD instead of an HDD helps a lot.
I bought it at Best Buy, the guy tried everything under the sun to dissuade me from buying it. He told me all the negatives didn't list a single positive. Are those guys under commission or what? It seemed like he rathered me walk out without purchasing anything.
Our school district loves the Chromebooks. We've purchased a 1,000 or more with plans to purchase more. Easy to manage, cheap to replace, and everything the students do now is web based.
Sound familiar? T-Mobile with the first android phone? Wasn't too long ago. Just saying...
But that feature is completely useless when the actual functionality of the office suite SUCKS worst than an industrial power vacuum.
Sorry, but only a Google fanboy would think that Google Docs is a good product. It is not. It has less functionality than the free MS Word ... which sucks.
For me what it does do is an excellent match for what I want from a portable device. I can write documents and emails (offline or online), browse, and produce content. I realise that many people will be more concerned with playing games and consuming content, and for them a tablet would be a better option.
I am not surprised that it is not a "best seller", but for people who want to produce content and write on the road it is excellent.
I want to buy an ARM Chromebook since it was announced, but as today, I still have not one, and maybe I'll never have it. Why? Because I live in Spain, and ARM Chromebooks still have not been released here :(. I don't know why Google punish spaniards not launching it here, but I also don't know how they pretend to have big sales if they do not launch it everywhere and make big advertising campaigns.
Converted to plain Linux, so they will not register as "chrome-books" in stats.
Your conclusions are inconclusive!
I am happy to see a walled garden built on top of free software failing, but I don't think it's failing because people are rejecting the principle of taking a free, open operating system and building a walled garden on top of it. I think it's failing because it's meeting a need no one has. The whole class of online-only computing is failing.
... they costs like an ultrabook, and not like a tablet.
Like a lot of you, I'm sure, I'm one of those people that non-technical people come to for advice on computers. The trend I've noticed is this: when people ask me about getting a Chromebook, most of the time their first question is, "Can it run Word/Excel?" When I say no, that's it. They're not interested in it beyond that point. There are just so many people who cannot get away from the "security blanket" they have with Word/Excel.
Personally, I think Chromebooks are great for what they are. I got one for my daughter last year and she absolutely loves it. Of course she has never developed an attachment to Word/Excel, and mostly just wants an internet-access device. I loved the fact that the Chromebook was half the cost of an iPad.
Proverbs 21:19
My Chromebook boots up and connects to the internet faster than anything else I have, my desktop, laptop and even phone cannot boot up or shut down nearly as quickly. I can toss the Chromebook into a messenger bag and just forget about it, the battery life is good, the 3g means I have internet anywhere.
I am a software developer and I typically demand a lot out of a device or OS but I love the chromebook because it has 1 task and it amis to do that task extremely well: Connect to the internet and get shit done. I know I won't be compiling, printing or doing other things.
Also there is an SSH app which means I can pretty much do anything I need if I did want to get some work done.
Chromebooks will be HUGE in K-12 education in the next year. Over the past year chromebooks were hard to acquire and I had to resort to ordering them in batches of 5s and 10s from various suppliers as they were backordered. The supply problem seems to be resolved as of about February and my district will be purchasing hundreds of them after July 1. Other districts in my area are as well, in total I am aware of about 4,000 chromebooks that will be purchased this Summer. More importantly I see K-12 student computer use trending in this direction. The support costs for a device like this are minimal and for most students these limited devices are sufficient.
Until Netcraft confirms it, I call bullshit...
I am wondering how many Chromebooks get reinstalled with Linux or other operating systems so they don't show up in the statistics as Chromebooks.
The new generation of Chromebooks are usually very cheap when compared to Windows machines with similar hardware so it is worth it to buy them and put an other OS on it (especially if you are a Linux guy)
My XE303C (Samsung ARM Chromebook) got reinstalled in one day after arrival and Ubuntu 12.04 makes it a pretty good Linux laptop.
A year back attended a Google Day session and the googlers were talking on how good ChromeBook was. They also had some contest where they handed out one. of these.
But guess what not a single one of them was using a Chromebook all were using a Macbook Pro. Actions speak louder than words. Apart from the fact it was the worst conference I ever attended it made me realise even Google considers Mac to be a superior product. All their demos,sessions were done on Mac. Fortunately I didnt spot an iphone on any one of them since they were so gung-ho on JellyBean.