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First Day Review: The Google Chrome OS Cr-48 Notebook

34 points by nicola 16y ago

roadnottaken 16y ago
Wow, surprise surprise: a Chrome netbook can not serve as a replacement workstation for a sysadmin. Were these really intended as anything but a casual computing device?
- sullivandanny 16y ago
  Yes, Google is positioning them as the future of computers and replacement devices for millions of people. Also, I'm not a sysadmin. I was just trying to write a blog post using it, actually. To get a picture from my phone and into the post, right now Google wants me to upload it from the phone to the cloud, then down to my machine. Sneakernet also works -- might be nice to support that, too. And it'll come.
  - TheAmazingIdiot 16y ago
    Google doesn't seem to be that obtuse. Example: I was syncing up my blackberry calendar with Google Calendar. Now, I wanted the phases of the moon on my phone's calendar, but did not want to type them in. I found a .ical hosted on Apple's website that did just that. However, it was zipped. Now, Google Cal has a feature of "Give it a url and we'll make it work". So, not thinking it would work, gave it the zipped URL in the form of a server call (not a direct link)... and it Just Works. I then manually sync my GCal to my blackberry cal, and it works flawlessly. If this the kind of stuff that Google people do, all the better. It just works.
- lftl 16y ago
  It does actually have a terminal and you can open up a ssh session to an outside computer, so maybe sysadmin isn't too much of a stretch :)
ddemchuk 16y ago
The vast majority of the things he was trying to do are outside of the planned usecase of this device. It's like if someone was disappointed at the lack of photoshop on the iPad...it simply wasn't designed for that.
- wvenable 16y ago
  I was surprised that these devices have atom processors and SSD drives as opposed to an ARM chipset and embedded flash because the former specs essentially put it in netbook territory. Why would anyone want a netbook with such a limited OS?
  - Florin_Andrei 16y ago
    > Why would anyone want a netbook with such a limited OS? Maybe they didn't have tablets for this pilot thing.
    - Raphael 16y ago
      Nah, Chrome OS is not designed for touchscreens. There's Android for that.
      - sullivandanny 16y ago
        Well, so Google says. That seems a convenient way to get people off their backs for having both. Google TV runs on Android, not Chrome. Google TV isn't a touchscreen. The reality is, Google has two different product teams and had no intention of telling either one to give up on their goals. And with Apple pushing both MacOS and iOS, it has no immediate need to do so, either.
        tvorryn 16y ago
        Google wants ChromeOS to eventually replace Android. It's cloud vs native, not Touch vs Keyboard and Mouse, and until cloud based becomes acceptable everywhere, which is what Google is betting on, they will continue to work on Android.
zazi 16y ago
The Google Chrome Notebook does not work like a normal desktop and is probably not supposed to. It's not surprising that he wasn't used to it. What's insightful that he expected it to work like a normal desktop and couldn't get his mind to work otherwise. This is something that google probably has to overcome. Apple's iPad did not have such teething problems probably because it looks and feels so different from a conventional laptop. No one expected the iPad to be used like a normal laptop. Google can probably take a page out of the iPad chapter to see how to manage expectations of their notebook. A simple start would probably be to name it something else other than a notebook. The Chrome webBrowser. Browserbook. webBook. ok, i'm probably not good at names, but you get the idea.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- sullivandanny 16y ago
  I could get my mind to work otherwise. I just wasn't trying to. I know there are cloud-based alternatives to what I was doing (though I have to say, the difficulty in making a simple screenshot surprised me). But agreed entirely on how if you approach this fresh, like an iPad -- that you're hitting the store, the expectations will likely be much different. Some might go "wow" and love it. But the iPad didn't look like a regular laptop. This looks like a laptopduck, but if it doesn't quack like a laptopduck, perhaps an issue for some.
Raphael_Amiard 16y ago
You can deduce two things out of this post : - First, chrome OS is still very alpha software - Second, this guy will never be the audience for such an OS. This certainly leaves the question, for who will this OS be for ? The fact of not even being able, by design, to have two windows visible at the same time is a show stopper for me. I liked the tone of the review in the end, even if it irritated me at first. The guy is really telling what is bothering him with the os. Some small things, like the screenshot thing, just tells you that this os isn't finished yet. Some other things, like the files thing, looks like a pointer to me, that google is vastly underestimating the importance of the local storage interface at the moment. Even if some people don't really grasp the folder model that well (although that seems to be true only for older people now), it doesn't imply that you can take out local storage altogether and have something functionnally equivalent by plugging the "cloud" in. The major problem i see with cloud storage at the moment is that for most people the local storage is still the link between a space of fragmented cloud storages, and that if you remove it, it really makes things harder more than easier.
- riobard 16y ago
  “The fact of not even being able, by design, to have two windows visible at the same time is a show stopper for me” You cannot have multiple windows on most mobile devices. Or TV's. People live fine with it.
  - kin 16y ago
    on the other hand, it would be really neat if chrome or some 3rd party app let you split screen two windows
  - sullivandanny 16y ago
    This isn't a mobile device. It's a laptop. If I can take a laptop right now with Chrome on it, break off two separate windows, why on earth wouldn't I be able to do that on a Chrome laptop? The answer is that they haven't implemented it yet. I expect they will.
    - 16y ago
jonknee 16y ago
It sounds like he applied without ever reading about Chrome OS... "Immediately, I realized even if I could get Twhirl to install, this was impossible with Chrome OS. There seems to be no concept of minimizing your browser, much less letting it take up less than the entire screen." He's trying to install desktop software and minimize the browser in a browser based OS. That he can't do what he wants is central to the entire strategy of the OS.
- powerje 16y ago
  Does bring up a good point though, I'd like to see growl like notifications in Chrome OS for twitter and email. With something like this I think users like him wouldn't mind not having a stand alone twitter application. Another feature that might be nice would be tiling browser tabs.
- Qz 16y ago
  Half the article seemed to be about external monitors and hard drives... uh, hello! This is not supposed to replace your desktop people!
  - sullivandanny 16y ago
    Actually, Google thinks it will, for many people. Just got off the phone with them about that, follow-up article tomorrow. But my review points out they already position this as a replacement computer for many people. External monitors increase productivity. Plenty of people use them, and use them with laptops. Right now, this can't run both the internal and external monitor. Google tells me that will change.
    - ugh 16y ago
      I have a hard time understanding how anybody could expect or position any computer of any kind to be the one and only replacement for all previous computers. Maybe Google is merely claiming that netbooks with Chrome OS can replace some computers running full-fledged operating systems? People might have owned only one computer (if any) in 1998, today it is very easy to afford many computers and computer-like devices. (You can basically buy two cheap laptops for the price of one middle of the road 1998 desktop.) Am I the only one who constantly sees some kind of laptop (the second or even third computer in the household) in all kinds of (non-techie) living rooms and kitchens? People want to be able to quickly check the weather, the news, that route, their emails and random stuff without leaving the living room. I can’t speak for other households but for my parents their cheap living room laptop is the main computer in the household. They use it constantly to go online or read emails, the nice expensive desktop in the office gets hardly ever used. Netbooks running Chrome OS and tablets (like the iPad) are perfectly capable of replacing those living room laptops. In that sense, sure, Chrome OS is a good candidate for replacing certain computers. The key word is certain.
robryan 16y ago
I assume these would work okay for bloggers/ writers in general. Sure I'm probably underestimating some of the tools professional writers use to organize things. I think the main use case is really outside work, those that just want to use things like facebook/twitter and various chat platforms. Although the netbook is really the wrong form factor, you really either want a tablet or something closer to the air. With the netbook it feels like they are giving everything you can do on a regular computer but then ripping most of it out via software.
LordLandon 16y ago
Some thoughts: It's a little odd that it wouldn't allow you to install Chrome extensions from outside of the market The external harddrives probably DID work, and would show him images if he used something that required browsing for them As much as I hate to admit it, he's right about iTunes. Who with an iP{{o,a}d,oop} would be able to use this thing alone as primary pc? How do floating pop up type windows work? I.e. clicking the pop out button on google chat, or hulu For a web-centric machine, those 3g plans seem a little towards the expensive side, with pretty low data allowances. But on the other hand, I don't really know how many bytes "regular browsing" accumulates in a month.
- sullivandanny 16y ago
  Hard drives definitely don't work. Google confirmed that with me when I talked with them after the review. The promise this will come. Extensions will work if they don't use some API thingee (that's the technical term) that Google doesn't find secure enough. Don't have my notes, but NP/API? Anyway, most of the stuff in the market they tell me should be fine -- but even there, not all of it will be, guaranteed, I was told. In short, Chrome in Chrome OS is not exactly the same as the Chrome browser. On iTunes, we'll all be using music from the cloud. Seriously -- my second day interview with them will get into this. Maybe so. But if you're into Apple devices, you're still going to need iTunes. On 3G, I have a 5GB plan that I've used for years. Never gone over my limit. But, I only use it for when I'm traveling, about 5 days or so per month. If this was your main plan, expensive. But Google positions it as something you can use if you're out and away from WiFi.

34 points by nicola 16y ago

Wow, surprise surprise: a Chrome netbook can not serve as a replacement workstation for a sysadmin. Were these really intended as anything but a casual computing device?

sullivandanny 16y ago
Yes, Google is positioning them as the future of computers and replacement devices for millions of people. Also, I'm not a sysadmin. I was just trying to write a blog post using it, actually. To get a picture from my phone and into the post, right now Google wants me to upload it from the phone to the cloud, then down to my machine. Sneakernet also works -- might be nice to support that, too. And it'll come.
- TheAmazingIdiot 16y ago
  Google doesn't seem to be that obtuse. Example: I was syncing up my blackberry calendar with Google Calendar. Now, I wanted the phases of the moon on my phone's calendar, but did not want to type them in. I found a .ical hosted on Apple's website that did just that. However, it was zipped. Now, Google Cal has a feature of "Give it a url and we'll make it work". So, not thinking it would work, gave it the zipped URL in the form of a server call (not a direct link)... and it Just Works. I then manually sync my GCal to my blackberry cal, and it works flawlessly. If this the kind of stuff that Google people do, all the better. It just works.
lftl 16y ago
It does actually have a terminal and you can open up a ssh session to an outside computer, so maybe sysadmin isn't too much of a stretch :)

ddemchuk 16y ago

The vast majority of the things he was trying to do are outside of the planned usecase of this device. It's like if someone was disappointed at the lack of photoshop on the iPad...it simply wasn't designed for that.

wvenable 16y ago
I was surprised that these devices have atom processors and SSD drives as opposed to an ARM chipset and embedded flash because the former specs essentially put it in netbook territory. Why would anyone want a netbook with such a limited OS?
- Florin_Andrei 16y ago
  > Why would anyone want a netbook with such a limited OS? Maybe they didn't have tablets for this pilot thing.
  - Raphael 16y ago
    Nah, Chrome OS is not designed for touchscreens. There's Android for that.
    - sullivandanny 16y ago
      Well, so Google says. That seems a convenient way to get people off their backs for having both. Google TV runs on Android, not Chrome. Google TV isn't a touchscreen. The reality is, Google has two different product teams and had no intention of telling either one to give up on their goals. And with Apple pushing both MacOS and iOS, it has no immediate need to do so, either.
      - tvorryn 16y ago
        Google wants ChromeOS to eventually replace Android. It's cloud vs native, not Touch vs Keyboard and Mouse, and until cloud based becomes acceptable everywhere, which is what Google is betting on, they will continue to work on Android.

zazi 16y ago

The Google Chrome Notebook does not work like a normal desktop and is probably not supposed to. It's not surprising that he wasn't used to it. What's insightful that he expected it to work like a normal desktop and couldn't get his mind to work otherwise. This is something that google probably has to overcome. Apple's iPad did not have such teething problems probably because it looks and feels so different from a conventional laptop. No one expected the iPad to be used like a normal laptop. Google can probably take a page out of the iPad chapter to see how to manage expectations of their notebook. A simple start would probably be to name it something else other than a notebook. The Chrome webBrowser. Browserbook. webBook. ok, i'm probably not good at names, but you get the idea.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
sullivandanny 16y ago
I could get my mind to work otherwise. I just wasn't trying to. I know there are cloud-based alternatives to what I was doing (though I have to say, the difficulty in making a simple screenshot surprised me). But agreed entirely on how if you approach this fresh, like an iPad -- that you're hitting the store, the expectations will likely be much different. Some might go "wow" and love it. But the iPad didn't look like a regular laptop. This looks like a laptopduck, but if it doesn't quack like a laptopduck, perhaps an issue for some.

Raphael_Amiard 16y ago

You can deduce two things out of this post : - First, chrome OS is still very alpha software - Second, this guy will never be the audience for such an OS. This certainly leaves the question, for who will this OS be for ? The fact of not even being able, by design, to have two windows visible at the same time is a show stopper for me. I liked the tone of the review in the end, even if it irritated me at first. The guy is really telling what is bothering him with the os. Some small things, like the screenshot thing, just tells you that this os isn't finished yet. Some other things, like the files thing, looks like a pointer to me, that google is vastly underestimating the importance of the local storage interface at the moment. Even if some people don't really grasp the folder model that well (although that seems to be true only for older people now), it doesn't imply that you can take out local storage altogether and have something functionnally equivalent by plugging the "cloud" in. The major problem i see with cloud storage at the moment is that for most people the local storage is still the link between a space of fragmented cloud storages, and that if you remove it, it really makes things harder more than easier.

riobard 16y ago
“The fact of not even being able, by design, to have two windows visible at the same time is a show stopper for me” You cannot have multiple windows on most mobile devices. Or TV's. People live fine with it.
- kin 16y ago
  on the other hand, it would be really neat if chrome or some 3rd party app let you split screen two windows
- sullivandanny 16y ago
  This isn't a mobile device. It's a laptop. If I can take a laptop right now with Chrome on it, break off two separate windows, why on earth wouldn't I be able to do that on a Chrome laptop? The answer is that they haven't implemented it yet. I expect they will.
  - 16y ago

jonknee 16y ago

It sounds like he applied without ever reading about Chrome OS... "Immediately, I realized even if I could get Twhirl to install, this was impossible with Chrome OS. There seems to be no concept of minimizing your browser, much less letting it take up less than the entire screen." He's trying to install desktop software and minimize the browser in a browser based OS. That he can't do what he wants is central to the entire strategy of the OS.

powerje 16y ago
Does bring up a good point though, I'd like to see growl like notifications in Chrome OS for twitter and email. With something like this I think users like him wouldn't mind not having a stand alone twitter application. Another feature that might be nice would be tiling browser tabs.
Qz 16y ago
Half the article seemed to be about external monitors and hard drives... uh, hello! This is not supposed to replace your desktop people!
- sullivandanny 16y ago
  Actually, Google thinks it will, for many people. Just got off the phone with them about that, follow-up article tomorrow. But my review points out they already position this as a replacement computer for many people. External monitors increase productivity. Plenty of people use them, and use them with laptops. Right now, this can't run both the internal and external monitor. Google tells me that will change.
  - ugh 16y ago
    I have a hard time understanding how anybody could expect or position any computer of any kind to be the one and only replacement for all previous computers. Maybe Google is merely claiming that netbooks with Chrome OS can replace some computers running full-fledged operating systems? People might have owned only one computer (if any) in 1998, today it is very easy to afford many computers and computer-like devices. (You can basically buy two cheap laptops for the price of one middle of the road 1998 desktop.) Am I the only one who constantly sees some kind of laptop (the second or even third computer in the household) in all kinds of (non-techie) living rooms and kitchens? People want to be able to quickly check the weather, the news, that route, their emails and random stuff without leaving the living room. I can’t speak for other households but for my parents their cheap living room laptop is the main computer in the household. They use it constantly to go online or read emails, the nice expensive desktop in the office gets hardly ever used. Netbooks running Chrome OS and tablets (like the iPad) are perfectly capable of replacing those living room laptops. In that sense, sure, Chrome OS is a good candidate for replacing certain computers. The key word is certain.

robryan 16y ago

I assume these would work okay for bloggers/ writers in general. Sure I'm probably underestimating some of the tools professional writers use to organize things. I think the main use case is really outside work, those that just want to use things like facebook/twitter and various chat platforms. Although the netbook is really the wrong form factor, you really either want a tablet or something closer to the air. With the netbook it feels like they are giving everything you can do on a regular computer but then ripping most of it out via software.

LordLandon 16y ago

Some thoughts: It's a little odd that it wouldn't allow you to install Chrome extensions from outside of the market The external harddrives probably DID work, and would show him images if he used something that required browsing for them As much as I hate to admit it, he's right about iTunes. Who with an iP{{o,a}d,oop} would be able to use this thing alone as primary pc? How do floating pop up type windows work? I.e. clicking the pop out button on google chat, or hulu For a web-centric machine, those 3g plans seem a little towards the expensive side, with pretty low data allowances. But on the other hand, I don't really know how many bytes "regular browsing" accumulates in a month.

sullivandanny 16y ago
Hard drives definitely don't work. Google confirmed that with me when I talked with them after the review. The promise this will come. Extensions will work if they don't use some API thingee (that's the technical term) that Google doesn't find secure enough. Don't have my notes, but NP/API? Anyway, most of the stuff in the market they tell me should be fine -- but even there, not all of it will be, guaranteed, I was told. In short, Chrome in Chrome OS is not exactly the same as the Chrome browser. On iTunes, we'll all be using music from the cloud. Seriously -- my second day interview with them will get into this. Maybe so. But if you're into Apple devices, you're still going to need iTunes. On 3G, I have a 5GB plan that I've used for years. Never gone over my limit. But, I only use it for when I'm traveling, about 5 days or so per month. If this was your main plan, expensive. But Google positions it as something you can use if you're out and away from WiFi.