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Is Chrome OS Threatening Windows? (arstechnica.com)
Ars Technica sees new $600 "premium Chromebooks" Dell, Samsung, HP, and Lenovo as a growing challenge to Windows, proving that Chrome OS is reaching beyond the education market.
These $600 machines aren't aimed at those same students. Lenovo reps told us that its new Chromebook was developed because the company was seeing demand for Chromebooks from users with a bit more disposable income. For example, new college students that had used Chrome OS at high school and families who wanted the robustness Chrome OS offers are looking for machines that are more attractive, use better materials, and are a bit faster and more powerful. The $600 machines fit that role.
And that's why Microsoft should be concerned. This demand shows a few things. Perhaps most significantly of all, it shows that Chrome OS's mix of Web applications, possibly extended with Android applications, is good enough for a growing slice of home and education users. Windows still has the application advantage overall, but the relevance of these applications is diminishing as Web applications continue to improve... Second, this demand makes clear that exposure to Chrome OS in school is creating sustained interest in, and even commitment to, the platform. High school students are wanting to retain that familiar environment as they move on. The ecosystem they're a part of isn't the Windows ecosystem. Finally, it also shows that Chrome OS's relatively clean-slate approach (sure, it's Linux underneath, but it's not really being pushed as a way of running traditional Linux software) has advantages that are appealing even to home users. The locked down, highly secure Chrome OS machines require negligible maintenance while being largely immune to most extant malware.
And that's why Microsoft should be concerned. This demand shows a few things. Perhaps most significantly of all, it shows that Chrome OS's mix of Web applications, possibly extended with Android applications, is good enough for a growing slice of home and education users. Windows still has the application advantage overall, but the relevance of these applications is diminishing as Web applications continue to improve... Second, this demand makes clear that exposure to Chrome OS in school is creating sustained interest in, and even commitment to, the platform. High school students are wanting to retain that familiar environment as they move on. The ecosystem they're a part of isn't the Windows ecosystem. Finally, it also shows that Chrome OS's relatively clean-slate approach (sure, it's Linux underneath, but it's not really being pushed as a way of running traditional Linux software) has advantages that are appealing even to home users. The locked down, highly secure Chrome OS machines require negligible maintenance while being largely immune to most extant malware.
Back in the 90s when Netscape was launched there was the talk that the browser could replace the OS. That's what caused Microsoft to push Internet Explorer so hard, to stop Netscape replacing their Windows Monopoly. Imagine an alternate future where we have NetscapeOS and Netscapebooks. I expect Microsoft to eventually crack down hard on Chromebooks, just like they stopped Linux netbooks by licensing Windows XP cheaply to OEMS on netbooks.
Windows: Pay to get observed.
Chrome OS: Get observed but get something for it. For free.
Disclaimer: I'm typing this on a Chromebook. That is basically unheard of here in Europe, especially in Germany. I wanted to test having big brother observe me all time every time at all I do to the fullest extent and see what the trade-in for that is. Since I exclusively do web development and have all my everyday stuff in the web and mostly with Google anyway the benefit is palpable. Linux is a close second, but mostly because the disto landscape is a mess and you can't get a neat ARM laptop for 450 Euros that runs 10 hours on one charge and boots in less than 10 seconds and has everything pre-installed. Everything meaning also my entire setup and history with Google. (I'm using an Acer R13 Chrombook, it has replaced my 2011 MB Air).
It's not all disadvantages that Google watches over you is my point. Right now the Google ecosystem is what I recommend to anyone who knows nothing about computers and has little or no budget. My other Chromebook costed 120 Euros and the new 11" ones from Dell come 199 Euros a pop. New and without firesale.
Add in that a n00b using big brother doesn't have to think for a second how he will get his pictures from his phone on to his laptop or the printer and wether his stuff is lost if his notebook shatters and you easyly understand why we all happyliy carry our high-end televisor around with us and even love it.
Google is your friend.
Google watches over you.
Everybody loves Google.
Trust Google.
Googles model is that of the future and MS and others are going to have long-term problems competing with that unless they somehow manage to establish a solid "Cloud brand" with their presence. Which I don't really see happing. Windows only still has some traction because office people do wee-wee in their panties if they don't get their outlook, and MS office. Other than that Google owns, by convenience and by price, many times over.
That's my impression anyway. Many an expert in my field that I know are actually using Chromebooks and enjoy the enablement that comes with going all-out cloud, surveillance be damned.
So, yes, Chrome OS is a threat to Windows. And a big one.
My 2 eurocents.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
No, that isn't correct. Many of the applications you describe are now server based with web interfaces, if not out right cloud based with web interfaces.
For the one or two legacy apps that aren't, they are accessed thru RDP or Citrix.
In my office of 200, with 160 of those not in IT, we're finishing a transition to Chromebook or iPad for everyone. The pulpit were very well and this is much easier to support.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
About a year and a half ago, I purchased a Dell Laptop (Core i5, integrated graphics, 500gb HDD) because a) my Samsung tablet had just shattered and b) I needed something to do schoolwork on that could be taken to my local 2 year college and used on their premises.
(Note that a pencil and a spiral notebook would have been just as effective for 90% of my work there...)
It cost me ~ $450 US. The Chromebooks and Android tablets that were equivalent and available were in the $300-$400 range. The laptop came with win10 preinstalled. I could not get a 'bare' laptop for less since I was taking advantage of several overlapping discounts. I never let win10 boot on it. I immediately blew it away in favor of a Mint Linux install.
The amount of computing power that laptop wields in comparison to a Chromebook or Tablet is, frankly, ridiculous and unnecessarily. Unbound by Windows idiocy, it is far more powerful than many 'enterprise server' (*gag*) class machines that I've worked with in the not-too-distant past. Not only can I be running 1080p video on the thing, I can run the IDE and development environment of my choice, including a database server, Libre Office, a real email client, Firefox *and* Chrome, simultaneously, *and* still have cycles and resources left for downloading more crap to watch.
I'm almost completely unbound by proprietary and/or closed-source software. I don't have to run any closed source software if I don't want to. I don't *have* to run any mandatory spyware. (Chromium gets launched if I'm developing against it.) I'm immune to any kind of lock-in and thanks to my IT background, feel no bonus for keeping my crap 'in the cloud'. I am not a 'sync-er'. (If it's not backed up and stored in a fireproof container, etc..., etc...)
Now a lot of that power is conditional on the fact that I understand how to install and take care of a linux desktop. I understand how to do my own backups as well as their value. I understand how to work to protect my privacy with encryption and VPNs. I understand how to troubleshoot little, niggling problems that would drive an Android or MacOS user insane. (You poor Windows guys. I just ache for you. I've been there, and I'm so very sorry there aren't more ways out for you.) I don't *have* to get nickeled and dimed to death by the 'Android Store.'
About the only places that any given Chromebook really outshines my setup is on weight and electrical power consumption... and that's not really an issue for me since there are charging stations near everywhere these days. It's also a reflection of the kind of power I'm sitting on. If a Chromebook is an electric smart-car, my Laptop is a highly-tuned muscle car, with the gas mileage to match.
Yeah, there are benefits to be had in ditching a Windows Laptop for a Chromebook. However, if you're willing to take the time to understand what you're doing, and that's NOT a little thing, you can get a WHOLE LOT MORE bang for your buck with a laptop equivalent in price to that Chromebook.
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