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.

Comments

Microsoft seen this threat before

[xack]

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.

Re:Microsoft seen this threat before

[jon3k]

just like they stopped Linux netbooks by licensing Windows XP cheaply to OEMS on netbooks.

That's not what stopped Linux-based netbooks, otherwise we'd still have Windows based netbooks. Tablets and smartphones killed the netbook.

Re:Microsoft seen this threat before

[MightyYar]

You don't have a Chromebook. I can tell because you think it only works when the internet is active. That's true if you want to collaborate (duh), and it's true if you want to play on YouTube - but the office applications work with local storage. It's not my cup of tea, but these things are wonderful if you have kids - under $200, super easy to disassemble and fix (there's nothing in them), very good battery life, and nearly impossible to bugger up the OS.

Re:Microsoft seen this threat before

[ITRambo]

MS has been trying to fend off Chromebooks in US schools for many years. They failed. Windows RT and 10 S were and are much more work to administer, and cost more in the long run for that reason. School IT departments love the ease of setup of Chromebooks. If a kid breaks his Chromebook, you just login to another one and all your stuff appears. School kids are growing up to become consumers that likely will prefer what they're used to using. That's what the Ars article is about. The future of home laptop computing is not Windows, except for people that have to run Windows specific programs and can't do what they want online, or with an Android app. Quicken comes to mind. Even tax programs are now available online.

The Microsoft Ecosystem Is A Dead End

[StevenSheeves]

Hard to believe anyone can be surprised by this news.

I am the 'computer guy' to a large number of friends, family members, and neighbors. Over the past few years every single person I've helped with their computer problems has used their Microsoft computer for nothing more than email, webbrowsing, pictures, and movies. They used their computers less and less each year with more and more of the tasks listed above on their cellphones.

Long gone are the days when almost every person needed to have Internet Explorer to do any sort of online banking. Any consumer company in 2018 is making sure that their services and content is a first class experience on Android and iOS.

Exacerbating many of the people I help is that not only do they have no use of Windows apps their Windows systems get trashed by viruses or spyware or other random problems while their cellphones just work.

All of these people would be better served by a Chromebook or something similar but almost none of them are aware of what they are. The demand would be even greater if these people understood that all of the problems they constantly are coming to me with are exactly what the Chromebook was designed to solve.