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Chromebooks Don't Suffer From Bad User Experiences Found on Windows and Mac Computers, Google Says (aboutchromebooks.com)
Kevin C. Tofel, writing for About Chromebooks: Having worked for a Google Chrome Marketing team over an 18 month period, I never saw a project that aggressively goes after Windows and Mac computers like the one that was published today [Editor's note: the video is unlisted, but accessible]. [...] As someone who has used (and often still does use) other platforms, I can't really disagree with the point of this video. For too long, computer users have had to deal with cryptic errors, updates that can take hours to install and the dreaded blue screen of death / spinning beach ball.
Granted, some of my personal experience with those issues was when I was in corporate IT for 15 years; that career ended for me (by choice) back in 2007. And clearly, all desktop / laptop platforms have improved since then. Even so, Google is highlighting the modern approach of Chromebooks with this short video and that's an important point.
Granted, some of my personal experience with those issues was when I was in corporate IT for 15 years; that career ended for me (by choice) back in 2007. And clearly, all desktop / laptop platforms have improved since then. Even so, Google is highlighting the modern approach of Chromebooks with this short video and that's an important point.
Manufacturer says their product is good and people should buy it
News at 11, bitches!!!
With everything stored with a third party provider, I have no need to worry if my data is protected from prying eyes, as it is as protected as Google wants it to be.
No thanks... keep your Chromebooks. A netbook with Tails or even Ubuntu is a lot better on the low end.
Chromebooks suffer from lack of experience period. They are the most neutered of computers, you can't actually do anything with them.
Not having enough local storage to save your work locally all the time, and having to rely on "someone else's computer" to store your personal data. I'd say that qualifies as "bad UX."
When all you run is a browser, yeah, the software stack is quite straight forward. There's a single point of failure that all your software (and personal data) has: an internet connection. The hardware required to run a browser is quite small as well, without too many variances on mouse, keyboard, display, video driver, wireless networking, and limited storage. If ChromeOS ever tries to do more than just that basic functionality (local storage for example), it's going to have the same sorts of issues all other real computers have.
And have found no evidence of any wrongdoing.
Chromebooks are not much better than a day planner, and less functional than a cell phone.
You get email, browsing, google docs.
You want to do software development painfully? Try loading up crouton, eclipse and going full steam ahead with software development.
I can pull a coin from my pocket and flip it. I will give me a random state between heads and tails. The user experience is phenomenal, and the functionality useful. How can any football game start without one? Chromebook can't even compete!
This is Google's own version Apple's "What's a Computer?" ad. The marketing manager for Chrome is pleased you greenlit his astroturf.
I don't know what the current state of ChromeOS is, but there have been a handful of things that have made it unappealing for me.
1) The focus on web apps. I tend to want local native apps. They provide a more consistent UI when they take cues from the OS GUI instead of just being "whatever the web developer thought looked cool." Also, I don't want to figure out what I have to do to get my word processor to work when I'm in airplane mode.
2) The focus on web storage. I want my computer to generally work offline without needing to plan ahead. I generally don't want to have to think, "Oh, I'm gong offline soon, so I should make sure to sync the files I need to my local storage." I just want all my stuff to be there when I need it.
3) Being tied to Google. I have a Google account, but I don't particularly like the idea that I need a Google account just to use my computer. Thought admittedly, Apple and Microsoft have been moving in the same direction, being more aggressive to push you to use iCloud and Microsoft/Azure accounts. Still, I don't like it.
Why can't someone just make a good, reliable, modern computer that works out of the box, without trying to force any personal assistants, online services, app stores, or VR nonsense on you?
Yep, completely impartial. Published by Google, about Google, praising Google.
All I saw in that video was a bunch of no longer applicable OS shit memes. The video provided no compelling marketing. I saw nothing of interest. What was presented looked like a social media consuming toy version of a computer. I am on a Windows 10 machine with an ancient FX 8350 and 16 gigs or ram. I wait for nothing except perhaps for compressing and decompressing multi gigabyte directory structures. I have Linux on an old i5 laptop and it is as fast as it can be. For android I have an S8+. For my serious computing needs I really do need 3 machines for my work, expect for the Android. Half the time my SIM card is in an old BlackBerry Classic because it suits all my mobile needs.
Why would I want this? That is what the video should have covered.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
I had a Chromebook until I converted it to Linux. It wasn't that bad, and I would recommend it to anyone for entertainment purposes. If you want to do real work, then your mileage may vary. Even with the best Chrome plugins, MS office online functionality is not great UI (and its horrid without special plugins that normal users may not be aware of.)
If you can spend all day in a web browser, then its great. The great thing is that its easy to try out. Just try going a few weeks without using anything but Chrome on your PC.
is always the first thing I think of when I think about Android and ChromeOS ... and Windoze these days too. Can't get any lower than Windoze.
Fact check needed.
how the fuck does this even make it to the front page? (aboutchromebooks.com) authoring works for Chrome Marketing team.. jesus christ.
Amazing. A company says their products are good. Very insightful article.
#1 slashdot financier = Google is why - they "pull the purse strings" here + MANY other sites online. If they can't control your mind by pounding on it (even bad news since even BAD NEWS is news keeping you in the public eye) they lose the crowd. Lose the crowd, you lose customers. If they control your head? They control YOUR ASS!
* That's marketing in a nutshell (along w/ the 1/2 truths & LIES they use) - a mind game!
APK
P.S.=> ... & IF what I said's NOT good enough? BizX former employees can back me easily (see GlassDoor reviews of the Dubai affiliated BizX saying so in fact)... apk
What do you expect Google to say? 'Our Chromebooks are basically espionage devices that don't fully function without a network connection.'? I'll keep my Macs, thanks very much.
Company announces their product is better than competing products.
Tune in after the break when we'll be looking into the recent discovery that water is wet, and some breaking news of where bears are found to defecate.
It doesn't end with the OS either, in-fact I'd argue that the OS is not at fault, its the crappy applications venders churn out and the equally crappy support they offer while gladly billing you thousands or even tens of thousands in support contracts etc (its a joke I know, but we all can't run out and fix it with Linux and a crack team of Linux software devs and live the dream).
Next is the crappy half baked processes and systems people in the ivory towers come up and bestow (read DUMP) onto Local IT/Desktop Support to flounder around with.
Believe me I know, Ive worked at a dozen different places over 20 years from helldesk, to desktop, to systems (not even in that order either), and I'm about to jump into the glorious world of management - specifically datacenter operations and cloud infra and probably wonder why that seemed like a good idea in 6 months :-)
A chomebook which only runs a custom stripped down OS, one type of browser on a known cheap hardware configuration vastly limits what crap people can dream up compared to Windows, macOS and other fully featured operating systems. They have to make it work in a browser, one type of browser, and it has to not kill battery life. A pretty fixed and simple staring point.
Headline makes this sound like some kind of study. It's not. It's an ad.
"What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Last I read, only a Chromebook in developer mode can sideload APKs, and in developer mode, the firmware prompts the user on each boot to press keys to disable developer mode (which wipes the drive). So you'll have to end up keeping your Chromebook under lock and key in order to keep someone else from turning it on, following the prompts, and losing all your data since last backup as well as the use of the machine until you can get all your stuff reinstalled. (I wrote about this elsewhere.)
Yet...the commercial probably wan't created on a Crapbook....or Chromebook!
Since virtually everything you can do is something you can do in a browser the comparison point ought to be to firefox not an actual operating systems.
CHeomebooks barely have a user experience. Their abilities are so lightweight it's not asking much that it do it well.
Oh sure you could run them unlocked. I've done it. And I have to say the user experience is insanely painful when you switch it to "debug" mode to allow you to install anything other than the blessed browser based apps. I can tell you that the first time you forget to hold control-D down during any reboot and it wipes the disk, it's a probably the worst possible user experience you could imagine.
Try installing something. Anything from a package manager.... oh wait you can't. You get what they have and it's browser style apps. you can't use any of the other ports.
it's locked down.
So it's the perfect device for 75% of the people out there who are better off being prevented from doing stupid shit than being offered versatility. I might be underestimating that market. It's the toaster of of computers. Even android phones can do more. it's like a firestick with a keyboard.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
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With ad dollars, maximized,
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You can be one too!
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Because it's a garbage device that should not exist, on which you can barely do anything that isn't web browsing.
Fuck you Big Goog. Fuck you all day.
The windows experience has regressed not improved since 2007. Metro and the tablet focus UI blow!
I'm writing this on a Google i5 Pixel Chromebook.
The god-damn bluetooth keeps turning off. If I put it to sleep, there's a 50-50 chance than the bluetooth just turns off and a reboot is needed to get it working again.
Google do not have a fix. Lots of people have the same problem.
This is a crappy user experience.
And this thing was damn expensive as well.
"The best part? I became an ordained minister while not wearing pants." -- CleverNickName
And an iPad is way more functional than a Chromebook.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The ad told me not to buy a Chromebook; strange ad. It said "If you want a modern, which means tablet-like, laptop, with app icons on a desktop and full-screen only apps, you should buy a chromebook." Which is strange, cause I already have a tablet. And they are great for doing things. But I buy a laptop to work.
Also, I don't remember the last time I saw a blue screen of death, and I'm around a lot of computers all day. Many of those computers are run by idiots.
I'd be curious to see if the ad was successful.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
We picked up a couple where I used to work and found them to be completely unusable for any office task. Want to present something? good luck. Connect to WIDI? forget it. How about RDP? nope. RDS? Naw. Two tasks at a time? why would you want to?!?! Lets load a project file. Nope. Word? covert it first.
We ere a g-suite customer, and STILL found the time to be a complete waste of space.
Tons of hardware and power stymied by the worst excuse for a garbage OS ever conceived. No bad user experience... WTF
I've heard horror stories about how Chromebooks are supposed to be upgradable to Linux, but they aren't and then wipe your install and data. Does anyone have any idea if these will upgrade and stick?
Your ad here. Ask me how!
We throw them away and vow never to buy another Chromebook. Period
I can do the same exact thing that a chromebook does using my el-cheapo Synology NAS with my laptop, desktop, phone, etc. AND I get to keep control of my data.
Google says so. âoeSo say we all.â
Where the FUCK is the goddamn DELETE key!
I love the size, battery, performance of my 3 chromebooks, but all three keyboards have at least 3 broken keys. To replace a keyboard is $90-$120 in parts and EVERYTHING has to be removed, including the motherboard.
On a Dell 15 laptop, replacing the keyboard is 10 minutes and $23.
Where the FUCK are F11 and F12!
And the forced chromeOS patches suck. I use a chromebook for travel. It is, by far, the most secure, easy to use, travel computer available today. This is thanks to google forcing TPM in all chromebooks and doing good to keep them patched, But when I'm leaving the country for 3-6weeks, I don't want a forced OS upgrade. I should be able to stop that. Google, you're becoming like MSFT with the forced patches. Fuckers.
I want my FUCKING DELETE KEY!!!
Gee it really takes a genius to figure out a Chromebook is not the product for you. They have their uses but this isn't a one size fits all solution.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
If I were to use my Mac purely for running Safari or Chrome in full screen mode, I suspect I'd see a lot less confusing stuff that way too.
- Vincit qui patitur.
> Chromebooks Don't Suffer From Bad User Experiences Found on Windows and Mac Computers, Google Says
Right. Instead, they suffer from bad user experiences that are unique to Chromebooks.
An iPad comes with a full keyboard
Yes IF YOU WANT IT TO. You seem to hate choice. Ironic for a UNIX user.
, an SD card slot, and the ability to run Linux?
The thing about an iPad is, it actually comes usable as shipped and I would argue for 99% of people the iPad is more usable as shipped than Linux installed to a Chromebook.
The iPad actually has far vaster commercial software support.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Jeez Louise,
Any time a story about Chromebooks and ChromeOS comes up here: people whine about their Chromebooks and how they can't run their own apps, the systems don't have much local storage, the UI is limited, etc.
Shouldn't you have known all these things before you plunked your money down and bought one?
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Chromebooks can function offline and sync when Wifi is available just fine.
Provided that the web application that you are using on your Chromebook uses Service Workers to work offline. How widespread is full support for Service Workers? This topic claims that things like Amazon Cloud9 IDE don't support it.
...what dumb everything down until there's no bad experiences? how insane of them - the goal should be more lofty than that...
nothing to see here - move along
It is advertorial but it's also true. In my tiny, anecdotal experience:
Helping friends and family with keeping their Windows systems functional was horrible and occurred too frequently for everyone concerned. Non technical users have true difficulty in describing the very real problems they do definitely encounter in using traditional desktop operating systems. Sometimes the OS or applications update and new problems arise; sometimes the users explore and try stuff and encounter bugs or deeply a unhelpful UI that leaves them unable to undo changes. It's really hard to diagnose this stuff, or often even to have it demonstrated to you. I did try encouraging people to try Linux based systems (I did the installs as am not a total sadist) and, of course, the Windows issues are negated but other stuff crops up which seems just as bewildering for the user. The fact that it is much easier to fix or explain for me is totally beside the point to them.
Chromebooks have pretty much killed off these socially awkward situations. Occasionally I'm asked about a seemingly insurmountable problem and I can say clever stuff like "it's down to Chrome caching everything, even your typos when trying to log in places, just power it right down and restart." This works a mere 99% of the time. The remaining 1% is when the poor user imagines they can set up their fully functional USB printer or scanner. Hahahahahahahaha. Easy answer though: "Buy a new one that is certified to work with Chromebooks so Google can parse all your printed matter".
I don't use a Chromebook, but I definitely encourage their use by any person who I would otherwise expect to seek PC help via family/friend networks.
I reread today.
From "How to Sideload an Android App From an APK on a Chromebook" by Chris Hoffman:
I concede that this article was published two years ago. Let's try a more recent article from January 2018, "You'll Soon be Able to Sideload Android Apps on your Chromebook Without Developer Mode" by Arol Wright:
Has this gone live on non-enterprise Chrome OS yet? It appears not, as "Load apps on Chromebooks" from the official Android documentation still states as of today:
Has this gone live on non-enterprise Chrome OS yet?
Yes. The link I posted is a list of stable-channel Chromebooks that run Google Play. It's not all, they run inside some sort of virualisation so the hardware has to have a bit of grunt to do it and probably only certain instruction sets are supported. There are about 20 models on the list and any modern one probably will run it.
Chromebooks are new. If you stick within the anticipated design paradigm and use-cases, of course they deliver a good user experience! Chromebooks were specifically designed to work well in that space.
The problem is that time passes, user expectations change, new ideas happen, costs shift, and the use-cases expand. You adapt the system as best you can and usually, this works pretty well at first, but less well over time. Eventually you encounter some grating edges that you cannot just paper over.
Here's the thing. 3270 terminals delivered a "good user experience" for a long time, as did VT terminals and all the rest. Once honest-to-goodness distributed computing became available, it became clear that terminals could not adapt and meet the new user expectations. Lotus 1-2-3/M and PROFS notwithstanding.
I know everyone calls them laptops, but I thought that was a no-no when it came to marketing material?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Keyboard, Mouse, Cut n Paste, Multi Window. Classic desktop usability requirements with well known and familiar solutions These suck donkey balls on both Android and Chromebook.
Cut and paste... it's just maddening, that's the only word for it. Why do I need to hunt around for a paste option that is a menu option, different in every application if it even exists? Come on you guys, you know you hacked this thing together in a couple days back in the dim history of early Android. So spend a couple more weeks and fix it, ok?
Mouse does almost work except crappy. I'm not going to go into it, try it. While at it, try to cut and paste with the mouse. Compare to how it works in Windows or Linux.
Keyboard shortcuts... unmitigated disaster. Coordination between mouse and keyboard, even worse.
Multiwindow support, don't get me started. This is not rocket science.
Hey Google smart people: IF YOU SAY THAT CHROMEBOOK DOES NOT SUFFER FROM BAD USER EXPERIENCE THEN YOU ARE LYING AND YOU KNOW IT
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Chromebooks are perfect for people who are tech support nightmares you don't want to support. You know that guy at work who can't be trusted with the toaster. You can't even trust him with a Mac.
It's hellish for anyone who knows what they're doing though, unless all you want to do is web browse and write documents. I've tried. Way too limited.
But it's not a real computer
It's running on Android or something ffs
I really like my Chromecast and am thinking about getting a Chromebook but for real computer things I will still use my real computer.
disposable computers. 30% failure rate in an edu setting over 1 year with no point sending out for repairs. Macs have been 10% repair need over 5 years with 3/5 of those covered under Applecare.
Will a Chromebook run my niche hobby apps? No.
Will a Chromebook run my graphics apps? No.
Will a Chromebook run my websites? No.
Will a Chromebook run my CAD apps? No.
Will a Chromebook run my music apps? No.
Chromebooks are junkware aimed straight at newbies and surface level users; for anyone else, they're a waste of time and money. Furthermore, Google is a malvendor known to abandon its hardware and software and userbases(s) at the drop of a hat.
Engage with Google at your peril.
Not that I've seen - look at Affinity Photo for example, and the just released Affinity Designer.
A lot of photographers I know are replacing a laptop for use in editing and reviewing photos while traveling, with an iPad.
A lot of writers I know prefer using the iPad on airplanes because you actually have room to type and they are more durable/backup easier (since app data is backed up to iCloud automatically when an iPad connects to a WiFi network).
I use my iPad way more for creation/editing than I do to watch anything.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
trying to help people who'd bought them to make use of them. One each from Acer, Lenovo, and HP.
Things:
1) The screens are absolute crap, hard to look at. They remind me of the very first active matrix color LCD panels. Fuzzy, sparkly, unclear, low-viewing-angle, low-contrast terrible.
2) You can do three things with them, as far as I can tell. Web, email, and Google Docs. Need to open a file someone sent you? Good luck. Need to print it out? Good luck. Need to share the things that you create with someone else who's not using a Chromebook and Google's ecosystem? Good luck.
3) Mac OS does web apps better, ironically. The web apps in Chrome OS are fragile. Renderbugs, whyd-it-crashes, oh-no-a-glitches galore.
4) And there aren't very many apps of any kind that are useful in any way. As I said, basically web, email, and Google Docs.
I think you get more apps, and better mileage, and better portability, and better battery life, and a better screen, and a better experience overall, out of an Android tablet.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
Reading comprehension issue? Maybe you didn't finish reading what I wrote before you posted?
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
The whole point of the Chromebook is to be a machine people who can't properly use an actual OS can use. I'd imagine this is the same kind of market that wants to do their accounting on their iPad and finds it more comfortable to write mail and documents on their phone than on their computer.
Said nobody ever.
There are two rules for success:
1. Never tell everything you know.
They are nice for remotely emergency support for servers on the road (standby shift!) though.
Long lasting battery so you don't have to worry about finding a wall socket and you can run a shell.
They solved cryptic errors by failing without reporting any error. With no error, there is no error report and no problem to solve.
I am APK the great "LORD of HOSTS", a.k.a. AlecStaar or Alexander Peter Kowalski.
See subject & APK Hosts File Engine 2.0++ 64-bit for Linux h t t p : / / I . a m . a . f u c k i n g / a s s h o l e . r e t a r d . z i p (remove spaces between characters & download).
I am the godlike creator of various GUI front-ends for other people's configuration files.
One person stalks me as I shitpost and I dusted them on another site but in reality I am widely hated.
When people state the truth about me I get really mad and accuse them of projecting which is something I do all the time.
Don't call me out on anything as I will state that you are a webmaster and that I cut off your revenue stream.
You must be conspiring with the Jews and Soros if you disagree with me.
Mistaking mockery and parody for impersonation is how I think people flatter me because I can't possibly understand that they detest me.
See me lash out at one person for 2 weeks straight and claim everyone who mocks my retarded ass is actually them.
Bask in my greatness as I post my advertisements in discussions where they don't belong, by the way this is every discussion I post in.
I demand your age sex and location so that I can threaten to show up and kick your ass and will call you a pussycake but am actually too scared to actually do anything but be a keyboard warrior.
Watch as I claim I am world class and a winner but in reality I am a fucking loser.
Witness my descent into madness
APK
As an ancient geek retired 9+ years after a 35+ year in what you young scallywags call "IT", in which I did sysadmin and a zillion other things on OSs from RT-11, RSX-11M, VMS, Unix, GNU/Linux and (shudder) Micro$oft crap from DOS 3 to Windoze 10, I must say without reservation that updates for Micro$oft always, always was a horror story. How could Micro$oft "engineers" so arrange things that updates would take hours, when they succeeded at all, while Debian based distros take minutes, barely enough time to get the tea kettle to a boil. Heck, with a Micro$oft update, I could finish a proper, English afternoon tea complete with scones and clotted cream. Hey, you kids get offa my lawn!
1st: You're NOT me (but wish you were) & I'm NOT here to win a "popularity contest": I'm here to WIN so EVERYONE DOES & be faster/safer/more reliably connected online.
Your CRAP's what I PUT UP W/ when one's "World-Class" (like ME): STALKERS stalking u by UNIDENTIFIABLE ac (everyone sees IT constantly happening & I suspect it's INFERIOR competitors, webmasters & advertisers (mostly) & lastly malware makers (as my hosts engine affects 'em adversely & gives users of it more SPEED/SECURITY/RELIABILITY & more anonymity online)).
My "portrait" https://365songsblog.files.wor... (lol) so
* Satan GET THEE BEHIND ME!
APK
P.S.=> 3 things show I do it right:
1st = User praise my hosts engine https://tech.slashdot.org/comm...
2nd "ATTACKS" I GET (from UNIDENTIFIABLE ac as Elon Musk got https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... )
3rd BEING IMITATED = "Imitation = sincerest form of flattery" https://linux.slashdot.org/com... ... apk