Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

[Posted September 12, 2010 by corbet]

Here's a ComputerWorld column suggesting that ChromeOS may face a difficult future. "Chrome-based notebooks are still months away from release, but it's not at all clear that when they finally arrive, people will want them. Given that Android tablets and Windows-based netbooks will be likely available at the same price as Chrome netbooks, will anyone want to buy a device that isn't designed to run local apps?" A better question might be: how will ChromeOS change so that the first official release is competitive with the alternatives?

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 12, 2010 22:14 UTC (Sun) by kragil (guest, #34373) [Link] (11 responses)

Sorry, but that article is really weak.
ChromeOS might not have apps exactly like Android or iOS, but with Air, NaCL and offline storage (and a store) web apps are more or less indistinguishable from "just downloaded once"-apps( at least that is the long term goal I guess)
Sure Android will be on cheap tablets, but if Google manages to get ChromeOS on sleek looking smartbooks that cost less than $150 then ChromeOS will have a fighting chance.

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 12, 2010 23:14 UTC (Sun) by klbrun (subscriber, #45083) [Link] (10 responses)

I thought the big selling feature of the chrome OS was internet security. Since the OS boots out of ROM and the apps run in the cloud, it will be difficult for viruses to gain a foot hold on the client machine, and a simple reboot will clear out any that do. No more need to subscribe to anti-virus packages!

Having an Android smart phone running mobile apps, and having a Chrome OS desktop for at home use, for a combined price that beats a Windows desktop, looks like a good deal. Small screens and small keyboards are a pain; I expect Chrome will move to larger boxes once the technology has been proven.

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 12, 2010 23:54 UTC (Sun) by nicooo (guest, #69134) [Link] (7 responses)

I don't think any sane person would want to use a desktop where all their apps disappear whenever they reboot. Chrome OS seems fine for a toy computer but not for serious usage.

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 13, 2010 0:00 UTC (Mon) by sfeam (subscriber, #2841) [Link] (6 responses)

In what sense do they "disappear"?

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 13, 2010 2:07 UTC (Mon) by nicooo (guest, #69134) [Link] (5 responses)

After rebooting it needs to download the apps again, unless I misunderstood how it works (I hope I did).

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 13, 2010 3:41 UTC (Mon) by Kit (guest, #55925) [Link]

From what I recall reading, only the system data is wiped on boot.

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 13, 2010 3:50 UTC (Mon) by alankila (guest, #47141) [Link] (1 responses)

You may have understood it correctly, but local cache could be used to mitigate the redownload problem.

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 13, 2010 16:13 UTC (Mon) by rillian (subscriber, #11344) [Link]

Not just 'could' but 'will', at least in the current implementation.

The idea is for devices to have a local home filesystem for each user, encrypted using the cloud authentication token. Offline login is possible against accounts cached from the cloud, and local storage of apps is definitely possible. Whether you look at that as a cache of cloud data, or local data with a backup/sync point in the cloud is up to you, but at this point local storage is essential for feasible access to the hundreds of gigabytes of media data a netbook-size device can hold.

As I understand it, the tradeoff against a Windows netbook is to run on ARM for much better battery life, and to offer better integration (like single sign-on) with web services. If you spend most of your time with a full-screened web browser anyway, ChromeOS is for you. The security model also makes the physical devices anonymous, which might be useful in institutional contexts.

See the design whitepaper at http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chromiumos-design-doc...

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 13, 2010 5:52 UTC (Mon) by Imroy (guest, #62286) [Link]

If they're web apps, presumably each 'app' is just a link on some sort of home page. On booting, the device will login to your Google account and fetch a list of "installed" apps to display. And by "installed", I mean "on your account", not "on your machine".

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 13, 2010 8:26 UTC (Mon) by macson_g (guest, #12717) [Link]

Just try playing with iGoogle and you'll see how this could be implemented.

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 13, 2010 12:21 UTC (Mon) by vonbrand (subscriber, #4458) [Link] (1 responses)

That presumes no junk can infiltrate your "in the cloud" data... and that is precisely what the attacker is targeting, not necessarily the machine.

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 14, 2010 10:17 UTC (Tue) by thinrope (guest, #59436) [Link]

Well, there certainly are enough attackers going after the individual PCs, not what is stored there. Those PCs are "sold" later to botnet operators. Or in specific cases are used as a place to attack other PCs (say in corporate networks).

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 13, 2010 7:19 UTC (Mon) by frazier (guest, #3060) [Link] (1 responses)

I can imagine Chrome seeing competition on netbooks from Android. Here's a cheap ARM Android netbook available from K-Mart (a large U.S. discount store chain):
http://liliputing.com/2010/07/augens-99-android-netbook-a...

These are available at the store in my town. About 3 months ago I saw a quite similar machine there, but it had Win CE pre-installed. I went back, the CE system was gone and the Android one was there in its place.

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 13, 2010 12:16 UTC (Mon) by pboddie (guest, #50784) [Link]

Here's a cheap ARM Android netbook available from K-Mart

After reading this related article, I wonder how long K-Mart will have them in stock before they're saying that "this product is on order from our supplier" indefinitely.

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 13, 2010 16:40 UTC (Mon) by jspaleta (subscriber, #50639) [Link]

This article is more interesting in that the assumptions its making about the market that ChromeOS will be injected into, and not about ChromeOS itself. No head nod to any other linux based competitor in the netbook space. That's telling. It's a forgone conclusion in the article that in a year's time that the only competitors of merit in low-end consumer space will be Microsoft and Google? Each dominant in a different form factor. MS on netbooks, and Google on tablets. Not so much a competition about operating systems but a competition between form factors and functionality more generally.

Not even any blatant rah-rah chearleading that I have come to expect from Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols in the linked article inside the ComputerWorld column about any other linux competitors other than Google in the not so far off future of next year.

Marketing 101

Posted Sep 13, 2010 16:54 UTC (Mon) by Doogie (guest, #59626) [Link]

Rename Chromium OS to "Android Desktop".

Y'know...

Posted Sep 13, 2010 17:21 UTC (Mon) by Baylink (guest, #755) [Link] (1 responses)

Maybe I spent too much time following the news during Hurricane Katrina.

But I have Zero Tolerance for computers that aren't, y'know, *computers*.

Sure, there are some very slim niches for network computers, but the last 20 years of history in IT, if it has taught us nothing else (and there are lots of people to whom it has taught nothing, believe you me), has proven that those niches are *very* slim, and they're not really applicable to the target market of civilian consumers.

Even if the network is working.

And, as Katrina proved, the network isn't always working, no matter how large a scale you measure that on. The Interdictor notwithstanding.

IT is still, in my not-so-humble opinion, populated by way too many futurist geeks, and not nearly enough readers of RISKS Digest.

Y'know...

Posted Sep 13, 2010 17:30 UTC (Mon) by jspaleta (subscriber, #50639) [Link]

This is because you use your computer to do useful work. A rarity even in the 9-5 workplace where solitaire and minesweeper are historically the most widely used client-side applications.

You'll feel better about a ChromeOS (and even mobile OS variants more generally) if you think of ChromeOS as a portable infotainment system.
Whether or not its a boom or a bust is sort of immaterial in the long term. It's just a small step in the march towards the inevitable Google neural implant.

Will Google's Chrome OS be dead on arrival? (ComputerWorld)

Posted Sep 14, 2010 2:52 UTC (Tue) by forlwn (guest, #63934) [Link]

Nobody knows yet exactly what H/W will it be embedded in. My opinion is that Google's Chrome OS can be an astonishing success if it come in a way that allows browsing the net through a TV set or even easy interfacing/integrating with a net capable TV.