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This is the Google Chrome OS netbook keyboard -- Engadget

10 points by bound008 16y ago

Elepsis 16y ago
When will people learn that the right place for the power button is not right above the second-most commonly hit key on the keyboard? :/
- duck 16y ago
  To me all power buttons should have a delay hold on them (ie you have to hold it for 2 or 3 seconds), then placement doesn't really matter. I can't even count how many times I have turned off my laptop via the docking station while plugging a usb cable into it.
chancho 16y ago
I hope Chrome OS has an option to swap ctrl and search.
m0nastic 16y ago
The small part of me that was mildly curious about Chrome OS when it was announced has been completely absorbed into the remaining part that sees no use case for it. I hope I'm wrong though.
- sigzero 16y ago
  I feel the same way. Except I don't hope I am wrong. Just the first part.
- TomOfTTB 16y ago
  If you really believe there's no use case for ChromeOS I think you're interacting with a very small subset of people. I'll be the first to admit it probably isn't appropriate for power users. But most users aren't power users and those people are plagued with level upon level of complexity and bugs that inhibit their work. I'm in charge of an IT department and the 5 most common complaints are all related to issues the Chrome OS should, in theory, fix. And that's just business users. Think about home users who have to deal with virus scanners, malware, adware, errant programs running in the background, system updates and so on. Not to mention the simple cost advantage (Even academically priced Office still costs $100 in itself). Finally Microsoft hasn't maintained Windows as well as it should have. So you have a shell that's been around since 1993 that is constantly getting new stuff tacked on to it. If you deal with it for long enough you start to see these flaws very clearly. Things like Wireless connections failing for no good reason (which are fixed with a simple right click and repair) or explorer grinding to a halt simply because the user tried to access a resource that wasn't there. So there's plenty of use case here. Whether Google executes well enough is another story but there's definitely a need.
  - danudey 16y ago
    In that case, you could get an iPad (with or without a keyboard dock). Then you get all the functionality of ChromeOS (fast start, no viruses, web browsing) with all the benefits of iOS (apps, accessories, cases, portability). This is the main reason why I don't see a use for ChromeOS - it's not out yet, and it only does one thing - web browsing - which I would argue is easier on a tablet like the iPad.
  - m0nastic 16y ago
    For me, it's not about being a power user; I'm actually quite happy to see the new era of "stripped down" os's become commonplace for people to use. I just honestly don't see anything that Chrome OS does that Google couldn't already do with Android. They've stated that they think of the distinction being whether there is a keyboard (Android is for devices without a keyboard/Chrome is for ones that have one), but to me that seems arbitrary. Functionally, Android is all the functionality of Chrome OS with the added benefit of running native applications. I don't particularly like Android, but I think it's totally well-suited to the market they're trying to go after.
unshift 16y ago
cool, now when i'm typing into a text box and accidentally press caps lock, a slow and labored process will begin loading with multiple pop-ups and new tabs/windows rather than the slight annoyance of inadvertent capital letters.

10 points by bound008 16y ago

When will people learn that the right place for the power button is not right above the second-most commonly hit key on the keyboard? :/

duck 16y ago
To me all power buttons should have a delay hold on them (ie you have to hold it for 2 or 3 seconds), then placement doesn't really matter. I can't even count how many times I have turned off my laptop via the docking station while plugging a usb cable into it.

chancho 16y ago

I hope Chrome OS has an option to swap ctrl and search.

m0nastic 16y ago

The small part of me that was mildly curious about Chrome OS when it was announced has been completely absorbed into the remaining part that sees no use case for it. I hope I'm wrong though.

sigzero 16y ago
I feel the same way. Except I don't hope I am wrong. Just the first part.
TomOfTTB 16y ago
If you really believe there's no use case for ChromeOS I think you're interacting with a very small subset of people. I'll be the first to admit it probably isn't appropriate for power users. But most users aren't power users and those people are plagued with level upon level of complexity and bugs that inhibit their work. I'm in charge of an IT department and the 5 most common complaints are all related to issues the Chrome OS should, in theory, fix. And that's just business users. Think about home users who have to deal with virus scanners, malware, adware, errant programs running in the background, system updates and so on. Not to mention the simple cost advantage (Even academically priced Office still costs $100 in itself). Finally Microsoft hasn't maintained Windows as well as it should have. So you have a shell that's been around since 1993 that is constantly getting new stuff tacked on to it. If you deal with it for long enough you start to see these flaws very clearly. Things like Wireless connections failing for no good reason (which are fixed with a simple right click and repair) or explorer grinding to a halt simply because the user tried to access a resource that wasn't there. So there's plenty of use case here. Whether Google executes well enough is another story but there's definitely a need.
- danudey 16y ago
  In that case, you could get an iPad (with or without a keyboard dock). Then you get all the functionality of ChromeOS (fast start, no viruses, web browsing) with all the benefits of iOS (apps, accessories, cases, portability). This is the main reason why I don't see a use for ChromeOS - it's not out yet, and it only does one thing - web browsing - which I would argue is easier on a tablet like the iPad.
- m0nastic 16y ago
  For me, it's not about being a power user; I'm actually quite happy to see the new era of "stripped down" os's become commonplace for people to use. I just honestly don't see anything that Chrome OS does that Google couldn't already do with Android. They've stated that they think of the distinction being whether there is a keyboard (Android is for devices without a keyboard/Chrome is for ones that have one), but to me that seems arbitrary. Functionally, Android is all the functionality of Chrome OS with the added benefit of running native applications. I don't particularly like Android, but I think it's totally well-suited to the market they're trying to go after.

unshift 16y ago

cool, now when i'm typing into a text box and accidentally press caps lock, a slow and labored process will begin loading with multiple pop-ups and new tabs/windows rather than the slight annoyance of inadvertent capital letters.