After Negative User Response, ChromeOS To Re-Introduce Support For Ext{2,3,4}

NotInHere writes: Only three days after the public learned that the ChromeOS project was going to disable ext2fs support for external drives (causing Linux users to voice many protests on websites like Slashdot and the issue tracker), the ChromeOS team now plans to support it again. To quote Ben Goodger's comment: "Thanks for all of your feedback on this bug. We've heard you loud and clear. We plan to re-enable ext2/3/4 support in Files.app immediately. It will come back, just like it was before, and we're working to get it into the next stable channel release."

Comments

re ext support

[freddieb]

Correct response. Thanks Google for listening. I definitely would consider a Chromebox however ext support is manditory!

Re:re ext support

[KozmoStevnNaut]

Absolutely, I was in the same camp of considering a Chromebook, but removal of extFS support could have made it a lot harder to work smoothly together with my Linux desktop. I'm glad the devs listen to the feedback they get and are willing to go back on their previous decisions if they prove hugely unpopular with the users.

Now, all I have to do is wait for the 64-bit Tegra K1 "Denver" Chromebooks to hit the market.

Re:re ext support

[KozmoStevnNaut]

That's good, because Google doesn't do that.

Do you really honestly think that Google would want to sell out parts of their massive goldmine of data they've assembled? Of course they want to keep it to themselves, why give away the major advantage they have over competitors?

Re:re ext support

[SourceFrog]

Yeah, I hate Microsoft as much as the next guy, but I'd rather pay for an OS that doesn't spy on me than have a "free" one that does. Each to their own though .. some people are either happy to make that trade-off (which I can understand) or prefer to live in ignorance of it.

Re:re ext support

[spacepimp]

Fact: MS has been fined for selling (illegally) personal and identifying information of users to political parties in the US.
Fact: Win 8.1 is a giant step in tying a cloud service/tracking account for all that you now do in their OS, and to boot, the backdoors built in for the NSA are also usable by the black hats of the world.
Fact: Google doesn't sell your data, they serve ads. Your data is never known to an advertiser, ever, by anything supplied to them via Google.

You might want to ask yourself why even in the Enterprise, MS tries to foist upon you personally identifying information. so they can track app uses/web c alls made by applications, and send them all to MS for collection.

Re:re ext support

[KozmoStevnNaut]

andreport everything you do back to Google

Well yes, some data is sent back to Google when you use Chrome. This includes searches and partial searches for autocomplete suggestions. It also sends back 404 results for pages than don't handle those themselves, again for suggestion purposes. Crash statistics and anonymized performance reporting is sent as well, if you opt-in. All of this can be switched off.

And of course your synced bookmarks, tabs, passwords and so on are sent to Google, encrypted with either your Google credentials or a passphrase of your own choosing.

There are also a couple of other things, like a one-time unique ID sent back if you downloaded Chrome during certain promotional campaigns, for statistics on how well they worked.

You can check all of this using Wireshark, if you care.

Re:FOSS

[gweihir]

No zombified, closed-down Linux for me. I will continue to use the real thing.

So now I've contributed to OSS!

[Thantik]

So now bitching and moaning constitutes contributing to F/OSS? Awesome! I'm an open source contributor! Now to put this on my resume.....

Re:So now I've contributed to OSS!

[KozmoStevnNaut]

You joke, but honest and constructive feedback from users is a huge part of developing quality software. Sometimes the feedback to certain changes gets a bit virulent and aggressive, but even then there might be bits of valuable information on how users view your software.

So keep up the feedback, and try to be as constructive as possible! :-)

nice.

[Philus]

Now where can I bitch and moan about Chrome loading all tabs at once on startup? Such a pain to launch it and wait for a.couple dozen js- and flash-ridden pages to load..

Confused

[Midnight Thunder]

So a bug is a feature and per Google, a removed feature is a bug? Okay, I think I have it.

Re:Confused

[thegarbz]

The way I understood it a bug is what originally caused them to remove a feature that they didn't think anyone wanted. When backlash hit they fixed the bug and re-introduced the feature.

Re:Ditch ChromeOS, focus on Android

[B2382F29]

I wonder if Android can at least do IPv6 correctly now. At the moment you can only use IPv6 in combination with an IPv4 DNS server (which has to be assgined using DHCP (IPv4). (RDNSS value from IPv6 is not used and you can't even specify IPv6 namservers manually for WiFi, thus a pure IPv6 environment is not possible)

Re:Ditch ChromeOS, focus on Android

[KozmoStevnNaut]

Have you ever tried to use Android in a desktop context? I used it for a while on my netbook (in the form of Android-x86) and let me tell you, it sucked ass.

Android is made for the "singletasking one fullscreen app" paradigm of phones and tablets, with large touch-friendly controls for small-screen devices. There are a couple of Android-based laptops available, and you know what? They're not selling, because Android sucks for the desktop.

ChromeOS on the other hand, is made for the desktop paradigm of multiple simultaneous overlapping windows, with controls that are sized for mouse/touchpad usage, not direct touch usage. Sure, Chromebooks have large touchpads now for gesture controls that are kinda sorta similar to what you get on touchscreen devices, but I know I'd much rather use a touchpad than drag my grubby mitts all over the screen, leaving greasy fingerprints.

Tell us what Android does that ChromeOS currently can't do? Even the most popular apps for Android are severely limited (due to their small-scren touch interface designs), whereas ChromeOS runs the full-on Chrome browser, bells and whistles included. Everything you can do in Chrome on your Windows/Linux/Mac desktop, you can do in ChromeOS. Try that with Android.

Imagine

[kilodelta]

A responsive development team. That's pretty cool! Now if only Google would put some time into improving Gmail because their web based product sucks ass.

Re:FOSS

[Charliemopps]

Next up, after negative user response, ChromeOS to publish full source code and become free user-respecting software.

ChromeOS tends to ship on Tivoized hardware, which isn't exactly Gnu-Freedom; but, in terms of the software on top of the bootloader, what are the deficiencies? I know it ships a proprietary Flash, and whatever bullshit makes Netflix work; but is there anything else?

I'd like to hear this to. Googles been generally friendly to my FOSS concerns. Perfect? No... but we really are a tiny minority. I appreciate that they understand what we're about and are making an effort. If all you ever do when these companies offer things like this is get pissed and scream "NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!" they will eventually stop trying in the first place.

Just think

[Ol Olsoc]

If this was Microsoft instead of Google, the fanbois would be out yelling at the people who complained, telling them what idiots they were, and that no one in their right mind would ever want an external drive on their Chromebook.

Then Google would have completely ignored the complaints claiming that their research showed absolutely everyone just loved elimination of support for external drives.

We talked, they listened.

Sitting here at breakfast, happily using my little Chromebook that boots into Linux when I need it.

Nexus support for flash drives

[Stavr0]

Other android smartphones flash drives with OTG cables out of the box, why don't you?

Re:FOSS

[Khyber]

Of course we're going to rant.

Fix the old shit first before pushing something new and similarly broken upon us so we at least have something stable to fall back upon.

Quite the opposite. Acer, Samsung, HP - all unlock

[raymorris]

> ChromeOS tends to ship on Tivoized hardware

Quite the opposite. At least Acer, Dell, Samsung, HP and Lenovo Chromebooks all support developer mode, where you have full root access and can even boot any other Linux from a USB stick or SD card. Is there another manufacturer that makes a Chromebook, and locks it?

Don't Bullshit Me, Man

[TangoMargarine]

To quote Ben Goodger's comment: "Thanks for all of your feedback on this bug. We've heard you loud and clear. We plan to re-enable ext2/3/4 support in Files.app immediately. It will come back, just like it was before, and we're working to get it into the next stable channel release."

It's not a bug unless it was an accident.

Just think

[jordanjay29]

Which is exactly what happens with Android (see: microSD support debate). I'm glad the Chromebook community is nascent enough to avoid the sheeple.

Please explain the outrage??

[jordanjay29]

Even if you don't, others do. I read plenty of comments on the link in TFA where people explained their setups. Many users are using ext for its featureset, and don't need compatibility with Windows systems.

Re:at least

[CastrTroy]

I think the coming Windows laptops with Atom processors are going to obsolete the whole reason for getting a ChromeBook. When you can get a laptop that runs full Windows for $200-$250 and get's 8 hours of battery life. To make it clear, these are full Windows 8 Laptops, not Windows RT. I'm waiting for the reviews to come out to see how they will perform in real life, and how durable they are, but I'm definitely looking into getting a couple for my kids if they are decent. Even in grades 2 and 3, all their homework is done on the computer. So I either have to get them computers, or let them use mine. I'd much rather let my kid have their own computer.

Re:FOSS

[Charliemopps]

It bugs you that I said it? Or it bugs you that it's true?

Re:FOSS

[LWATCDR]

Except this is from Lockheed. While I would not stop all other research Lockheed has a history of making things that most people think is impossible possible.
First production US jet fighter.
First aircraft to fly over 70,000ft "level flight".
First US mach 2 fighter.
First Spysat.
First Mach 3 aircraft.
First stealth aircraft.
I really would not dismiss this one. It is as least very interesting.

Re:FOSS

[Rich0]

No zombified, closed-down Linux for me. I will continue to use the real thing.

Please be sure to stop using your DVR, automobile, and the other 47 Linux systems you intereact with every day which don't offer you a bash prompt. :)

I do get what you're saying, but the purpose of a Chromebook is not the same as the purpose for the general-purpose Linux distro I'm typing this on.

Re:FOSS

[LWATCDR]

Sad little person.
Spysats and spy aircraft save lives. The have prevented more wars than you can count. Sorry that that world is not all fairy farts and unicorn poop but the reality is that Lockheed's spy planes and spysats are what allowed the first arm limitation treaties and later arms reduction treaties.
Lockheed's greatest planes the U-2 and SR-71 never fired a single shot in anger.