Between the Lines

Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King

Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

By Larry Dignan | June 14, 2011, 2:35am PDT

Summary: Google Chromebook buyers—whether via Acer or Samsung’s netbook—are going to be a self-selecting bunch. And the likely buyers of the Chromebook remain businesses not consumers.

The early Google Chromebook reviews illustrate a conundrum for these devices that will play out on retail shelves and in the enterprise. How exactly will success be defined and how many of us will really pay to be beta testers?

Let’s face it. Google Chromebook buyers—whether via Acer or Samsung’s netbook—are going to be a self-selecting bunch. Consider:

CNET’s review says the Samsung hardware, battery life and start-up times are great. However, CNET won’t recommend the Chromebook “until and unless Google improves the Chrome OS.” The biggest beef is opening ZIP files, photo editing in the cloud and the need for a constant Internet connection. But here’s the problem: The Chromebook isn’t for folks that want offline capability sometimes. In other words, the Chromebook is for the consumer that’s all cloud all the time.
Engadget acknowledges that the Chrome OS has real limitations at this time. The upshot: Engadget is betting that Google will fix the OS over time.
And then there’s Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols. He’s an open source guy that’ll live in the cloud and not blink. Vaughan-Nichols liked the battery, life, hardware, keyboard and knocks naysayers complaining about being offline. After all, you can save music, documents and video to the local solid state drive. It’s not ideal, but the Chromebook isn’t a doorstop without a net connection. Bottom line for Vaughn-Nichols is that the Chromebook is a nice complement to his laptop.

Everyone agrees that the Chromebook needs to be cheaper.

In the end, consumers will vote with their dollars and I have a tough time seeing folks drop $500 on a browser-based netbook when there are shiny tablets everywhere. Of course, Google fans will be all over the Chromebook, but that’s a crowd of an undetermined size.

The real kicker here is that it really doesn’t matter what consumers think. The Chromebook could flop at retail and the only companies that will care are Samsung and Acer (and maybe Best Buy). Meanwhile, it’s possible that Samsung and Acer don’t care about consumer sales. Why? The Chromebook is an enterprise play and Samsung and Acer will happily take the business sales.

As noted before, the Chromebook will be attached to Google Apps deals. IT execs will give Chromebooks a whirl via pilots and mix and match devices. The corporate Google Apps customer is a natural audience to the Chromebook. In the end, Google doesn’t have to sell the Chromebook to the masses just to the CIO looking to minimize her desktop management costs.

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

More from “Between the Lines”

NetApp updates its OnCommand software, plugs into cloud management systems

Apple pays up, licenses patents from Nokia

Topics

Google Inc., Chromebook, Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

Full Bio
Disclosure
Contact

Vendor HotSpot

The 360° Conversation around Cloud Computing

TECH VISUALIZER brings the social conversation to life... powered by Brocade

Learn More »

Related Discussions on TechRepublic

Did you know you can take part in these discussions with your ZDNet membership?

Ask a Question Start a Discussion

Comments

Add Your Opinion

Join the conversation!

Follow via:: RSS; Email Alert

Just In

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

molecularzombie 27th Dec

I'm entering this comment using a Chromebook. I have to say, I don't get it. Some personal info I would prefer to have on my hard drive, not floating around in a 'cloud'. Also, I often have several tabs up at a time when researching things to buy or work-related topics, so the fact that a machine built for the web can't handle an enormous amount of the web at once is a bit ironic. I don't understand why anyone would want the Chromebook with this limited capability while you could have a Chrome web browser in your usual laptop with greater speed and versatility! Again, I don't get it.

View in thread

Please Select
Please Select

0 Votes

+ -

Business Case

Bondswa 14th Jun

Isn't the Google Business Case for the ChromeOS based on getting more people to use their Web Services, and so increase the amount of data they can collect and so serve more and better Ads. Does this not fly in the face of every enterprise security principle, also, how much time to enterprise workers spend on Youtube, Blogger and Picassa? Also, the nature of an IT exec is that there is quite a bit of travel, how can they rely on wireless network coverage in hotels and other customer sites? To have a ChromeBook as a light weight companion to a full notebook that has the same capabilities plus more seems counterintuitive

To say that Google and its partners aren't aiming the ChromeBook at consumers (the ones that use the Google Services) seems quite illogical.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

What

landsw 14th Jun

@Bondswa makes you think that google business works like that? You're applying the free google services to a business model.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

Bondswa 14th Jun

@landsw I understand that Google Apps for Business is a paid subscription service, And thats all good and well, Chrome OS well may encourage use of that service. But my take was that Google wanted Chrome OS to encourage use of all its online properties, including the free ones, I didn't see the enterprise as the biggest market for those offerings.

0 Votes

+ -

Free services? How much are the chargeing for Chrome OS?

Cayble 14th Jun

@landsw
I understand your position if they are charging, making a profit from Google Chrome, but if they are giving it away your argument is a wash.

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

audidiablo 14th Jun

@landsw

Because I've tested them for my business and they suck, hence why we're not using them.

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

Caffeinated85 14th Jun

@Bondswa

I think you're partially right, but also underestimating Google's market timing. The broader consumer market isn't really ready for an always connected device. The internet just doesn't have 100% coverage.

I'm assuming that Google understands that, and is focusing most of it's current Chrome OS efforts on the enterprise, since it's a controlled environment where employers can ensure there is WiFi where these devices will be used. Their non-consumer leasing deals hints at this.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

audidiablo 14th Jun

@Caffeinated85

Their market timing sucks. Also people are ready for an always connected device, this is called a Smart Phone. If they have that the few things they need at any moment that are simple is already at their fingertips by Smart Phone.

If Google understands that the internet just doesn't have 100% coverage why push a device that requires 100% of the internet? If an enterprise looses connectivity at the circuit at the street cutting all network connectivity I/O from the business... How do people get work done then? How do people communicate by email or send projects to one another if they are all in the "Cloud" outside of your business? Furthermore what happens when a group like LuLz gets around to it? Yeah bout that. Keep your critical data in house, safe and just keep your security up to date. GFail

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

Raid6 14th Jun

@Bondswa

Only fringe, one man operations, techno-geeks, penny pinchers and those "businesses" who cannot or will not afford to pay for MS or Corel Office suites would talk or consider, or even use Google Office.

Online, web based office productivity suites and services are not for business, they are fun little experiments to divert attention and increase name recognition. They do generate revenue, both directly and indirectly.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

Mah Updated - 19th Jun

@Bondswa
There are quite a number of small and medium businesses and a few large ones use Google apps for domains. The gmail for domains is brilliant - beats MS Exchange. Google Docs is fine if you are not using it as a typesetting document creator.

The real kicker is the cost saving over running your own servers for email, document sharing, and installing and maintaining the corresponding Microsoft desktop applications.

My previous employer shifted over from Microsoft based solutions to Google apps for domains. A lot of people were sceptical about it initially. There was a huge saving and improved work efficiency as a result - mainly due to easier information sharing and not requiring manual backing up to servers. Google apps for domains really is incredibly low maintenance compared to Microsoft solutions. For any small business or any business that doesn't have excessive lock-in to Microsoft products, it's a no brainer.

It is interesting that after my previous employer switched to Google Apps for domain and was very happily using it for several months, the previous Microsoft partner firm called to ask why we had not renew various Microsoft desktop app and server support licenses. His response was incredulity much like many posting here: why would someone want to use Google Docs when MS Office has more features? Geeks and technicians are so technical feature focused, that they just don't to be able to see the appeal of simplicity, ease of use, and low maintenance.

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

Mah Updated - 3rd Jul

@Bondswa
They are not aiming it at consumers at this stage, because they are offering it only online. They are offering it to schools and businesses and technical early adopters who will be able understand what they are getting in the the quantum change in usage paradigm, plus there are a few rough edges still to be ironed out and additional features to be added (in future automatic updates) before it can go to mass consumer usage. These are offline Google Docs apps, handling of zip files in the file browser, Native Client plug-ins, etc. They are also looking for customer feedback in their school and business deployments.

It is a very good consumer device however, and I am sure it will be marketed widely for the consumer market in future.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

overoll 2nd Oct

I???m impressed, I must say. Actually hardly ever do I encounter a blog that???s each educative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you've hit the nail on the head. Your idea is excellent; the difficulty is something that not enough persons are talking intelligently about. I'm very happy that I stumbled across this in my seek for one thing regarding this. kim kardashian hot

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

overoll 2nd Oct

Heya! I'm at work browsing your blog from my new iphone 4! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts! Keep up the great work! megan fox nackt

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

kidneyy 9th Oct

I'm really loving the theme/design of your web site. Do you ever run into any browser compatibility issues? A small number of my blog audience have complained about my site not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Chrome. Do you have any ideas to help fix this problem? gout diet

0 Votes

+ -

A Journey of a Thousand Miles begins with the first step

kenosha77a 14th Jun

I guess one has to start somewhere. As I recall, the first iPod model could be considered "expensive" if compared to the latest iPod Touch units.

The initial prices for these first gen units will be greater than the third or fourth gen models (if Chromebooks make it that far) and I suspect that they will.

But here's the kicker. Everyone assumes that Google will be the sole provider of Cloud based services - hence the need for Chrome OS. Microsoft and Apple are both transitioning towards Cloud based business models. Who's to say that in four years or less, Microsoft and Apple won't have their own "Chromebooks".

I have recently read online that Apple has the ability to "Restart to Safari" in the latest OS X Lion build. This feature allows unauthorized users (those without logins) of the Mac the use the computer as a web kiosk. (as reported in TUAW) This feature sort of sounds like Chrome OS to me.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

audidiablo 14th Jun

@kenosha7777

It seems like you've missed a lot of things associated with the cloud to date. Skydrive is a cloud service that has been around since 2007... That predates any of Google's offerings as well as Apple's iCloud. Apple also had MobileMe which was free online storage... Office is also available free online for all MSN, Hotmail, Live... etcetera... users which over half a billion people already use including myself. Why lose the ability to work offline? Why lose the ability to do rich full featured tasks offline and rely on a low res, ultra limited offering in the "cloud"? Cloud is a great addition but not solution. Think of your data as your children... Would you force your kids to play in traffic? Would you like some hacker group to come along and make rain?

The browser has existed for decades, nothing new. Chrome OS is just an attempt to take peoples rights away and abilities away. Why not just use your favorite web browser on your favorite platform and do all the same but preserve the ability to do things offline? Sounds like a no brainer but it seems there are many with no brains out there.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

owlnet 14th Jun

Chrome book as a enterprise tool is utter nonsense. Any exec who has a bit of self-respect won't be carrying around one of those.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

Caffeinated85 14th Jun

@owlnet

Probably not, but any exec that is interested in the Google Apps suite, might be for his/her workers. Most enterprise level companies have many more people than just an exec...

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

Ya, ...but you just don't get it.

Cayble 14th Jun

@Caffeinated85
Follow this, its easy. NO HOW NO WAY is any exec who wants to keep his job going to push this trash onto their employees, risk losing ALL productivity the first time the internet goes down.

Who wants to answer for that debacle??? Not me, not you (if your smart) not anyone.

When the net goes down, its seldom the exec's fault, if ever. Perhaps if he ordered lousy equipment, or contracted with a crap ISP, but otherwise, the occasional net outage is usually not the exec's fault.

If an exec thinks an "on the net all the time" Chrome OS laptop is the way to go and lets say orders up 5 dozen, or perhaps way more for his employees, and suddenly at some point in the not too distant future they have a very nasty net outage, well, bye-bye to all those notebooks productivity.

And that my friend would be the fault of any IDIOT who would foist these pieces of nonsense onto their workers. What year does Google think this is? 2111? Nope, its still 2011 and the world is not so ready for this yet that any self respecting exec is going to put his neck on the block for Google.

And why? Why should anyone even think this is a decent idea? This whole pie in ski cloud thing right now is a solution without a problem! Why do we need this?? Please remind me of why, WHY do I or anyone NEED to start doing everything from the cloud?

The fact is we don't. There really is no reason. None. Zero. Zippo. Nada. Look at the price for storage now. its so cheap its embarrassing! What is it about cloud computing thats going to be so much nicer?

Has Google even heard of Lulz Security?? Look it up on your search engine Google!! This has got to be the worst possible of times to even be thinking of cloud computing on a large scale unless its your specific goal in life to help Google create the largest and most interesting target possible for Lutz, or who ever is next up to bat in the hacker community.

Google blew it and I'm betting it will not be long before there is a quiet and subtle withdrawal from the market.

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

Raid6 14th Jun

@Caffeinated85

Please point to any "execs" who use or champion the use of Google Apps in their companies. If you find one then he or she does not do any accounting, does not do any spreadsheets, does not write any complex letters, does not conduct any meetings, and does not exist.

You can write simple letters, create VERY SIMPLE spreadsheets with a few columns and rows of simple data with very SIMPLE calculations, and for email....c'mon....for business GMAIL stinks!

Have you used Office with Exchange (even cloud based), it is awesome. Business also embraces Blackberry (yes they do) and increasingly iPhone. Where do these fit into the ... uh um .... Google Apps eco system?

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

TechGuyChris 14th Jun

@Caffeinated85

I'm sorry. I have to agree with Cayble. Storage is so cheapt it is embarrasing.

Im not sure why companies would want to fork out extra cash to obtain more storage on a monthly subscription or yearly subscription plan for storage they already have...

If the internet goes down, its lost revenue. Look at how much Sony lost during the Playstation network outage. They bring in $500 million from Playstaion network each year. Just do the math and you'll see how much money they lost for that one month they were down.

In todays current technology, if the internet goes down, you can continue working and everything will resume when the internet comes back up. If you move everything to the cloud, your just SOL when the internet dies until it comes back...

Still not sure how Chromebook will take off cause alot of people return the netbooks they get anyway. It also poses as privacy risk when people that are not computer savvy put their chromebooks up for sale at a later time..

TechGuyChris

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

Mah 19th Jun

@owlnet
I don't know. Chromebooks are quite cool. iPhones and iPads are quite popular with execs for this reason.

I think execs are likely to get these for themselves and pass on their old laptops to junior staff.

Chromebooks are also a much better fit for executive use than Windows laptops. Basically Chromebooks give you more time to actually do work and wasting less configuring and maintaining your computer. Execs don't want to spend time configuring Windows, troubleshooting drivers, defragging the hard drive, manually backing up files up to the cloud.

Executives also don't generally want to spend their time formatting complex word processing documents or using Photoshop - that for junior staff typists and graphics designers. Google apps is much simpler and much better suited to executive use than MS Office. Don't forget that these are guys who are used to using Blackberries as their main communicatiomns device. Plus the most the important requirement for executive devices is to stay in communication. Therefore working offline (although it will be possible once Google reinstates offline support this summer) isn't as much of a benefit to an executive as being connected, and with WiFi and 3G, that is what Chromebooks are designed to do. The long 8.5 hrs plus continuous use battery life, quick boot, and instant resume are all big pluses.

Yes you can get 10 hours advertised battery life for Windows netbooks and laptops, but if you look at reviews that actually test the battery life, you realise that the Windows battery life is measured with no applications running, and the screen brightness turned down. It you actually run typical applications, your battery life drops to 4 to 6 hours from the 10 hours advertised.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

OK...but?

facebook@... 14th Jun

When Google has their marquee customers, like the City of Los Angeles, geared up for a potential lawsuit and tepid reception of Google Apps in the enterprise space, what do you have?

Reviews, except from the most strident fan boys, are tepid. There appears to be no pent-up consumer demand. Enterprise customers that are rejecting Google apps have no incentive to adopt it. It is priced beyond the disposable toy price point. So......... who is going to buy this expensive thin client?

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

Two Words

NoAxToGrind 14th Jun

Still Born.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

Eh...

rag@... 14th Jun

This thing isn't going to make a dent. When it's all over, it will be just an asterisk in computer history.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

Google blew it. BIG TIME.

Cayble 14th Jun

I'm not saying there are not some out there who "on the net-all the time" may work perfectly for, but not the majority. No how no possible way. Not even a significant minority.

I really don't know what Google has up their sleeve on this, if anything, but if its just a simple plan to try and get people to buy one of these pieces of trash and try to usher in the era of cloud computing...they blew it about as large as they could have.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

audidiablo 14th Jun

@Cayble

I just wanted to say with your previous long winded response above... I whole heartedly agree with you 100%.

For this post, the one thing to keep in mind is that for those who are on the net all the time can always buy a netbook with WinOS that does everything as well sports a browser which allows you to access all the same features but without a monthly fee. Google is only trying to pray on the weak minded who cannot see this scam. More Ads all the time! Whooo hooo! right? I think not. You get a overpriced netbook with a browser for an OS and have to pay a monthly fee and pray the internet is up 100% of the time? GFail.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

xeptf4 14th Jun

Totally agree with the author. I like Google in general, but I really don't see people choosing $500 for browser only laptop when you can get hardware with better capability elsewhere. Google, work this out!

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

audidiablo 14th Jun

@xeptf4

Google has nothing to work out. Their incentive is to remove all abilities of the user so they can capture more of your personal information as well intellectual property on top of blasting you with stupid advertisements. You pay way too much for hardware then a monthly fee to use their crap and you are internet dependent? What is the point? What is there to work out? You can get an Asus Eee 1215N which has very nice hardware, comes with a real OS that can do everything as well as "go to the cloud" without a monthly fee! Wow sounds like a better deal if you ask me!

GFail

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

What about virtualization?

jivester 14th Jun

I think if an IT department wants to give users a laptop that requires almost no it management then this is a good alternative. It doesn't matter if they use GApps or not because soon (if not now) you will be able to use virtual hookups to a centralized infrastructure, even windows. Maybe although I am no IT expert, not even a power user happy

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

facebook@... 14th Jun

@jivester Yes, but....just about any other existing laptop can be used to present VDIs (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure).

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

nothingness 14th Jun

Let me get this right, I am essentially buying an internet terminal that cannot be modified in anyway, will have to be restricted to the Google environment, and have to pay a monthly fee on top of all that. Where is the value in all this? Why would anyone want to buy a companion to a laptop, netbook, or a tablet that can access the cloud of one's choice? Just so to say you are using Chrome OS? If this isn't nonsense, I don't know what is.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

Raid6 14th Jun

@nothingness

EXACTLY, and on top of that if you or any one else reading has support business users, road warriors, they don't only conduct business on their laptops. They watch movies (DVD or Internet such as NetFlix, HULU, etc...), listen to music, play games, read personal email, IM with Skype and others, often use soft phone software, and so much more.

Yeah, I don't think they want to give that up. It'd be like bragging about your Atari Jaguar system to an XBox 360 user.

Chrome has NO FUTURE, NONE WHAT SO EVER!!!

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

sqrrrl 14th Jun

@nothingness
1) You're not restricted to Google's cloud. You're not required to run Google Apps, use gmail, or anything like that. Run apps in your own cloud? No problem. Sure, you need a free Google account for login and backing up your profile, but that's it.
2) There is no monthly fee if you buy the hardware. Businesses can opt to lease the hardware for a monthly fee if they prefer that model.
3) They're not for everyone. I'm a developer, and cloud based IDEs and development environments have a long way to go so my CR48 hasn't been my primary workstation. But there are a growing number of knowledge workers that work entirely in the browser. For them, it's a great option with lower IT costs.

I like my CR48 for travel -- awesome battery life when I'm away from my desk for a long period of time, and bring along my iPad for offline entertainment. Chromebook + tablet (iPad or Android, take your pick ) = a great combo. Combined they're still lighter than my macbook, better battery life, and easier to use a tablet on an a plane happy

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

Scrabbler 14th Jun

A light connected device like this could be used for light-duty tasks like e-mail, web and presentations. Being light makes it travel-friendly.
However, half the time when I am doing a presentation at a customer site there is no internet connection or there is one that does not work well. There is no connection on the plane to work on that presentation either. Hotels have flaky connections too.
Chromebook will only work if it never leaves the office.
But this erases an advantage of a lightweight laptop...
Could work in an environment like a classroom or a library, but this is a rather small niche.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

LoverockDavidson 14th Jun

I can't see businesses going for this. Its going to be fun to live in the cloud but for how long? If they don't have a connection they are dead in the water. It can't run native applications that were custom built for the business. Too many things to stay away from on this Google venture.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

redhaven 14th Jun

@LoverockDavidson They can create applications specific to their business. They are called web applications. You may not be able to do heavy 3D CAD apps in the cloud yet but if you are a software company, you better be thinking about cloud versions of your software or you will be out of business in a few years.

The cloud is the way companies are going. Google may or may not be the main player to take us there but we are going, like it or not. Why? Because it is significantly cheaper and easier to manage. From what I have seen, Microsoft is going to be a huge player in the cloud game. Exchange and Sharepoint hosting is much much cheaper than hosting and managing it in the data center.

The always connected argument is a red herring. People are always connected in their offices and companies are spending millions improving their wifi infrastructure. If your company needs you to be mobile, they can pay for a mobile connection. If not, they don't care.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

sully0208 14th Jun

ChromeOS and Chromebooks for enterprise? Really? I can't see it at all. This will all be dead by this time next year.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

Gabriel Hernandez 14th Jun

This Google Chrome OS is not for Big companies, since data won't be stored on Enterprise cloud, it will be stored in public cloud which can be target of hackers, spying agencies and Google may give out information and data on any user if any government in the world requests it. Also it will bring a network nightmare for big Enterprises, imagine using Chrome OS on your LAN with 1000 users editing a document which is stored in the other part of the world, this is a waste of network resources and network admins won't be happy. Google needs to fix Chrome OS so it can be used without network connectivity and you can install software like Open Office or Libre Office, after all is built over Linux, so it should be able to work like Ubuntu does.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

Raid6 14th Jun

@Gabriel Hernandez

Oh, so your answer is to get people using an OS that business people don't already use, then use an Office Suite that is a fork of angry developers (volunteers) that may or may not continue to be supported in the future...seriously?

There is NO PLACE for this platform even of Goooooooooooooooooooogle decided to open it up to hackers. And Linux being the Kernel, what makes you think it has the layers needed to allow it to run software such as...uh um....Libre?

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

A nice complement to my what?

The Douginator 14th Jun

You gotta be kidding. Why would anyone want this to be a complement to their laptop. No thanks, no way. Wake up and in 6 months we can all look back and laugh at this.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

sohamB 15th Jun

A work in progress over time this would get better i think you would see sales increasing after a year quite like all google products which takes time to get settled in...The new things which are in progress are good ...

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

sohamB 15th Jun

Over time you would see more integration with android
and looking better this is a turtle slow and steady i belive...as there is immense potential and it seems there is a way forward unlike some overtly ambitious but dumb projects.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

RE: Google's tepid Chromebook reviews meaningless: It's all about business

dpbert 15th Jun

I wouldn't pay $500 for these -- $200 maybe. I'd rather spend a little more money and get a laptop that can run everything the Chrome browser does, plus whatever local software I want.