When Google first started talking about Chrome OS, I thought it might be turn into a Windows killer. Well, now we know that the first commercial Chromebooks will be available in mid-June and there’s no question: Google is aiming right at the Windows business desktop market.
Can Google do what the Mac was never able to do? What the various desktop Linuxes, even the most popular ones like Ubuntu have never even come close to pulling off? I think it can. Here’s why.
1. Attractive business packaging and pricing
ZDNet Editor-in-Chief, Larry DIgnan, hit the nail on the head when he entitled his Chromebook overview: Google Chromebooks: Aimed directly at Microsoft’s PC upgrade cycle for $28 a month. Exactly so. For $28 a month you get a constantly updated operating system and, this is the killer part, Google will also automatically, with no extra charge update your Chromebook or ChromePC every three years.
Would you spend $28 a month for a PC that will never go out of date? I think I would.
What’s more important, I think a lot of businesses would as well. Indeed, many already are. Neil Levine, formerly Canonical’s VP of corporate services and founder of the new cloud analytics company Soba Labs, tells me that “Many Fortune 500 companies are already trying rent-a-laptop scenarios. It’s cheaper to throw away and replace than fix for many function.” With the Google Chrome OS model though you don’t even have to throw them away and if something goes wrong, Google will replace the dead unit.
2. Ease of use
Linux has a reputation for being hard to use. It’s non-deserved. We’re long, long way from the days when you needed to be a shell wizard to use Linux. That said, desktop Linux, whether you use KDE or GNOME, requires you to learn a new way of doing things no matter whether you come from Windows or Mac OS X. Even the new, easier-to-use Ubuntu Unity interface is quite a change from any other desktop.
With Chrome OS, though, well let me ask you a question: Can you use a Web browser? If the answer is yes-and if it’s not how are you reading this story!?–you can use Chrome OS. The interface is the Chrome Web browser and that’s it. There’s no need to learn anything new. If you know how to use a computer at all, you can use a Chromebook.
3. Lots of Applications
People have always been cranky about the perceived lack of applications for Linux. I think this is nonsense myself since there are lots of excellent open-source applications such as LibreOffice for office work, Evolution for Outlook users, Pidgin for instant-messaging and on and on. What people usually mean when they say there are no apps. for Linux is that they can’t run their favorite Windows game or business application on Linux.
Again, that’s not an issue on Chrome OS. Google has partnered with Citrix and VMWare to provide Windows business apps for Chromebooks. Both partners have been delivering Windows applications on virtual platforms and in thin-clients for years, or decades in Citrix’s case. Mind you I wouldn’t trying running Adobe Photoshop on a Chromebook unless I had an incredibly fast Internet connection, but anything else shouldn’t be a problem.
Besides, as Google is happy to point out, many of you are already running applications on the cloud already such as Google Docs or Salesforce. No, applications are not a problem for the Chromebooks.
