Take all your points, and apply them to any netbook and you can do all of that and a lot more besides. You can say it's easier to maintain, but there's nothing stopping someone selling a locked down netbook that can only surf.
So what they have their is a browser in an ugly box.
They need to rethink what their market is, and then design a proper OS for it and a proper product.
Their TV project too, I think is yuck too. First time I saw it, it has a MOUSE CURSOR, WTF??? Why did they put a mouse cursor on it?
There's a lack of visual and design UMPH there in Google. They really need to get some design gurus like Apple has in these projects early on.
Technology pundits have been all over the board on Google’s new Chrome Notebooks. They love it, they hate it, they don’t know what to do with it, they don’t know who will use it, they don’t know if the world is ready for it. The folks here at ZDNet certainly have different opinions on the matter:
Also read:
- Google’s Chrome OS netbook: The good, the bad and its prospects
- Chrome OS: Will the real (potential) user please stand up?
- Who Google has in mind for its Chrome OS users
- The PC Industry’s Forgotten Market: Grandpa
Most of them cite completely valid concerns, challenges, and prospects for Google’s operating system and the upcoming notebooks/netbooks on which it will run. I wrote last week that I expected Chrome OS to be a game-changer in terms of 1:1 computing and now, having used the demo Cr-48 that Google sent me as my primary computer for a few days now, I can say that this is the closest I’ve ever seen to an ideal student computer for secondary school 1:1 deployments.
That’s not to say it’s without caveats and you’ll notice I was quite specific in my recommendation. This little computer is not going to have me trading in my MacBook Pro. It does make me wish I’d bought a Mac Pro with a giant monitor for my creative work that could sit on my desk, leaving the Cr-48 as my primary mobile machine, but even that scenario wouldn’t always work out well (more on that later).
Before I go further, be sure to read Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols’ proposal for how he expects the Chrome notebooks will ultimately be managed in the enterprise. Not only do I think he’s right, but there are already Chrome apps that allow for a limited degree of management. It’s only a matter of time before these are fully integrated into Google Apps domains for customers who want it.
That being said, if we can look a ways into 2011 and assume that there will be some reasonable degree of administrator manageability for Chrome OS, let’s take a little more time to examine how the notebooks would work in a school. First, you need a Google account (whether consumer Gmail or Google Apps) to log into the notebook. Once in, you’re in a browser, logged into your Google account. Thus, schools that aren’t using Google Apps need not apply. The only way to ensure that everyone can consistently access their machines and leverage those manageability features that we know are on the way (including the existing Vyew virtual classroom app) is to centrally manage Google account information (as can be done in Google Apps for Education).
Within the browser, as with a desktop/standard laptop, Google Apps provides access to word processing, spreadsheets, website creation, presentations, blogging platforms, and more. The Chrome Web Store has free apps for photo editing, video production, note taking, Google Books, etc. Chrome OS, like the Chrome browser, now supports inline PDFs, leaving little need for any desktop productivity applications.
As I noted in this year’s Ed Tech predictions post, schools will have the opportunity to spend a lot more time thinking about learning platforms and a lot less time worrying about hardware. The Chrome OS lends itself to cloud-based learning tools, whether Google Apps, an LMS, or another web-based platform for collaboration and instruction. The OS is the browser, after all, so all of your students’ activities can be focused around modern collaborative tools and access to information.
You really have swallowed the thin client scam haven't you? 
