Linux and Open Source

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Dell, others tinker with ChromeOS test builds

By | December 9, 2010, 6:36am PST

Summary: While mainstream users await Google’s pilot program to begin, open source developers are creating builds with the latest ChromeOS code. One engineer from Dell built ISO image files that users can burn to USB to “take ChromeOS for a test drive,” reports Steve Pirk, a ChromeOS enthusiast and principal at Yensid, an open source company [...]

While mainstream users await Google’s pilot program to begin, open source developers are creating builds with the latest ChromeOS code.

One engineer from Dell built ISO image files that users can burn to USB to “take ChromeOS for a test drive,” reports Steve Pirk, a ChromeOS enthusiast and principal at Yensid, an open source company in Bremerton, Wash.

As Pirk tests that build, the included read.me file on that build indicates that the latest Chrome open source web operating system beta has been tested on Dell’s Mini 10v, Mini 9, Latitude 2100 and Mini 10. For the Mini 10, on which this post is being written, the Dell engineer points out in the readme.txt file that the ChromeOS graphical user interface is “very, very slow. ”

“Its overly busy - check out the CPU utilization… and thus makes the Mini 10 extremely slow,” the engineer wrote in that readme.txt file, noting, however, that the code is incompatible with the Broadcom wireless driver. “Definitely a works in progress - I’m trying to port over the open source Poulsbo driver… patience appreciated.”

Of course, Google is promoting beta testing on the Chrome OS-based Cr-48 netbook unveiled on Tuesday. Yesterday, partner Inventec reportedly began shipping some 60,000 ChromeOS-based netbooks to Google, ZDNet reported.

Google debuted its plans for the open source web operating system in November of 2009 and promised its release a year later. But it will take Google a little longer to complete the important project.

The version debuted on Tuesday is still beta. Nevertheless, the new GUI wowed users and many are waiting for Google to select and ship the ChromeOS-based Cr-48 netbook to an unknown number of users. Several hardware vendors have begun building systems based on the new operating system.

In the interim, it will be interesting to see what open source developers opt to do with the latest builds. It will also be interesting to see whether Chrome remains totally open source. Some observers have been concerned that the web browser and web operating system may evolve the way Android has — with some development behind closed doors.

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Google Inc., Web, Dell Computer Corp., Operating System, Open Source, Paula Rooney

Paula Rooney is a Boston-based writer who has followed the tech industry for almost two decades.

Disclosure

Paula Rooney

Paula Rooney owns no stock in the companies that she covers. She holds a 401K that is managed by Morgan Stanley.

Biography

Paula Rooney

Paula Rooney has covered the software and technology industry for more than 20 years, starting with semiconductor design and mini-computer systems at EDN News and later focused on PC software companies including Microsoft, Lotus, Oracle, Red Hat, Novell and other open source and commercial software companies for CRN and PCWeek. She received a silver award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors in 2005 for her profile on Linus Torvalds and edited and co-authored "Partnering With Microsoft," a book about Microsoft's channel published by CMP Publishing in 2004. Rooney graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1997. In her off time, she enjoys scuba diving, sailing, sun worshipping, running, reading, surfing (the net) and hanging out with her family. She resides on the shores of Scituate, Massachusetts.

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RE: Dell, others tinker with ChromeOS test builds
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RE: Dell, others tinker with ChromeOS test builds
dheady@... 9th Dec 2010
Commodity hardware with a commodity OS. Watch out Microsoft. OS's have converged to all resemble OS X or some earlier Mac OS. The feature set is not extensive in order to replace the leaky creaky MS creations (Including Win7) and business will look at support and installation costs and find Chrome looks better than aging XP or the OS X polished Win7. Move over Blockbuster, here comes Steve Balmer.
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RE: Dell, others tinker with ChromeOS test builds
Michael Kelly 9th Dec 2010
@dheady@...

If the operating system were the only stranglehold MS had, you'd be quite right. However too many businesses are too entrenched into the MS Office culture to be able to do without. The Office competitors do get the basics right, but the more complicated your task the more likely you'll want MS Office as your tool, and until a competitor can change that trend, any platform that does not include MS Office will struggle.

Maybe Google has something up their sleeve to answer that problem, but until they reveal it I think most businesses will still have a large need/want for MS products.
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RE: Dell, others tinker with ChromeOS test builds
aiellenon 14th Dec 2010
@Michael Kelly

Office live will most likely run on a Chrome OS netbook... now if they can get pricing in the $50 - $150 range on these netbooks they will start to take over...
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RE: Dell, others tinker with ChromeOS test builds
daboochmeister 15th Dec 2010
@Michael Kelly - most companies of any size are kicking the tires on virtualizing the desktop anyway, and with Citrix Receiver on the glidepath to availability for ChromeOS, your (completely valid) points could have a cost-effective way of being addressed.

Also, as the comment below mine notes, Office Live is supposed to work on any stds-compliant browser - I've mentioned elsewhere that it would be ironic if MS's release of Office Live actually causes the year of the Linux desktop to arrive because of that ... and ChromeOS is of course Linux based, so who knows, if it takes off in business settings ...
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RE: Dell, others tinker with ChromeOS test builds
tonymcs@... Updated - 9th Dec 2010
@dheady@...

You have seen the first screens haven't you? I'm afraid it looks like any other Google software - pretty bad. For some reason you can't distinguish between software from the early 90s and modern MS software.
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MS and the enterprise
orionds 11th Dec 2010
For the everyday user, the computing and mobile devices are evolving into many types, shapes and sizes. MS Office and Windows will by stages serve mainly the enterprise and even here, MS does not have the stage all to themselves as Linux figures heavily in the server space.

So, like it or not, MS is only one corporation in the world and try as they might, they cannot be everything for everyone everywhere in every digital device or domain.
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re: MS and the enterprise
vandamme@... 12th Dec 2010
@orionds Sic semper tyrannis!
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RE: Dell, others tinker with ChromeOS test builds
iceberg34 9th Sep
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RE: Dell, others tinker with ChromeOS test builds
seocu 13th Sep
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