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Chrome VP: No More Cr-48s, Chrome OS Devices This Summer

24 points by dcawrey 16y ago

MatthewPhillips 16y ago
I want a ChromeOS tablet, not a notebook. I'd gladly trade my iPad for a ChromeOS tablet with a touch interface and NaCl built-in.
dminor 16y ago
Headline is a bit ambiguous: there will be Chrome OS devices this summer (according to Google).
- beaumartinez 16y ago
  A semicolon instead of a comma would have made all the difference.
TomOfTTB 16y ago
I can't see many of these selling. And in saying that I’m not saying I don’t think ChromeOS will succeed. I’m saying I can’t even imagine a scenario where it does. Unless Google does several MAJOR updates in the next couple months the Chrome devices will be feature deficient to the extreme. Windows netbooks can do 99% of what a PC can do. On a smaller screen and with a weaker processor but they can still do it. ChromeOS can barely handle reading an SD Card. On the other side of the equation Windows netbooks can do everything a ChromeOS netbook can by simply installing the Chrome browser. The machine won’t come on in 6 seconds but other than that a Chrome-based netbook has no advantages. This could be overcome if Google had embraced the community and sought out advocates for web based computing (that’s how Firefox spread virally). But they haven’t done that. In fact what they did do was send a CR-48 to every hardware reviewer on the web only to have it panned over and over and over again. So instead of having ChromeOS fan sites they have Engadget and TechCrunch saying “this kind of sucks” Given all that I just don’t see these selling Edit: I forgot to mention you have HP pushing WebOS on all its computers which has a lot of the advantages of ChromeOS and a lot more features to boot.
- cryptoz 16y ago
  Google began Chrome OS long before Android really took off. They started developing two OS ecosystems that are totally different, and I think they sort of knew that eventually one would win out. I bet that Chrome OS is still in active development because Google isn't 100% sure of Android's future since it's still so young. A Chrome OS netbook can cold boot in a few seconds, has a nice hardware keyboard, excellent user switching and cloud-based data storage. Chrome OS is far ahead of Android in terms of the "ideal" cloud landscape where your settings, data, and everything else is totally 100% okay even if you set your machine on fire and smash it with a hammer. Try smashing your Windows netbook and see what happens to your documents. So I definitely think they've got a place in the market and I think they know that. But you're probably right about sales numbers...I can't see it going very far.
  - klbarry 16y ago
    I have a Cr-48, and the great thing about it is that it doesnt get slower over time like most computer, which has made non tech people want it. Most PCs start getting slower because of all the things we download into them, but my chrome OS doesn't let you do anything it. If they fix sending attachments, and a version of Adobe that's pretty good is in the cloud, and printing was easier, I would never use anything but it.
    - icefox 16y ago
      This was the argument used for years for switching to linux/mac and no matter how true it was at the end of the day people don't care that much as shown by the vast amount of XP users that are around today. You need features. Tell people that Farmville requires a mac and after a decade of XP they suddenly will have a mac.
- stcredzero 16y ago
  I can't see many of these selling. And in saying that I’m not saying I don’t think ChromeOS will succeed. I’m saying I can’t even imagine a scenario where it does. I can. I'll take the opposite bet. (Not an extravagant amount. I'm bootstrapping right now. Wanna give me odds?) Unless Google does several MAJOR updates in the next couple months the Chrome devices will be feature deficient to the extreme. Features aren't what matters. Windows netbooks can do 99% of what a PC can do. On a smaller screen and with a weaker processor but they can still do it. Yes, but how good is the netbook experience? Can Google do for a laptop-like form factor what Apple did for tablets? I think yes. In particular, Google seems to have recognized that, as far as security and cryptography infrastructure goes, the computing mainstream is in a state of poverty. As far as having workable security infrastructure in place, we are in a state analogous to pre-industrial nations physical infrastructure. (Or maybe the internet in the days when there were still BBS and AOL was up and coming.) Google gets it. They're doing something about it in a walled garden of their own making. If they succeed, they're going to revolutionize owning a computer in a way that the interstate highways changed car ownership in the US. (And no, Apple doesn't quite get this yet. They get the walled garden part, but they are still a little incompetent with security.) It's just hard to see for us right now, because we're used to the crappy way things are, just like people were used to driving on narrow, winding, poorly paved roads without seatbelts.
sroerick 16y ago
Just wait. ChromeOS netbooks are gonna be free, with a 3g contract. ChromeOS is dropping this year.
- wmf 16y ago
  Netbooks are $300-400, while the usual subsidy from a contract is $150-200. Perhaps Google is willing to make up the difference via an advertising subsidy, but I doubt a Google user is worth $100 over 2 years. Also, the idea of getting a separate $2,000 3G contract for a netbook sounds like a terrible deal.
  - joebadmo 16y ago
    Doesn't that initial $300-400 include a WinXP (albeit crippled?) install? I think especially at this price range, that could be a significant differentiator.
    - cryptoz 16y ago
      In the netbook market, I believe Microsoft started paying manufactures to install Windows. There was a fast - and from Microsoft's position, scary - rise in Linux netbooks, and to counter that I'm pretty sure that OEMs were paid to install Windows, not the other way around.
      - joebadmo 16y ago
        What a weird industry.
      - ssp 16y ago
        What I heard is that they dropped the price of XP significantly, but not below 0. I'm having a lot of trouble believing that Microsoft would sell Windows at a loss.
      - wmf 16y ago
        MS can't pay anyone to install Windows; that would probably be a violation of their antitrust consent degree. However, there is third-party crapware that pays PC vendors, and the payment for this stuff is more than the cost of an XP license, so effectively Windows is "better than free". Of course, Google kicks back money to Mozilla and Android vendors, so two can play at that game.
joebadmo 16y ago
I just hope that some of the hardware manufacturers take some design cues from the Cr-48. The logo-less minimalist matte anti-chrome (ironic) is really doing it for me.
thekevan 16y ago
(CR48 owner here.) I would not think many of these will sell either. The device does what it is supposed to do very well--let the user live in the cloud. However it doesn't let the user do much when they are not connected. Understandable given the purpose of the device, but outside of the geek-culture you are not going to find a lot of people where this is acceptable. I can see this as a popular cult item or niche item, but not something with mainstream appeal.
- patrickaljord 16y ago
  > but outside of the geek-culture you are not going to find a lot of people where this is acceptable I would say the opposite, most non-geek people I know consider computers to be useless without an internet connection, geeks can always open a terminal and do some hacking though.
  - thekevan 16y ago
    Right but many of those people will not want a computer that doesn't have Solitaire or MS Word.

24 points by dcawrey 16y ago

I want a ChromeOS tablet, not a notebook. I'd gladly trade my iPad for a ChromeOS tablet with a touch interface and NaCl built-in.

dminor 16y ago

Headline is a bit ambiguous: there will be Chrome OS devices this summer (according to Google).

beaumartinez 16y ago
A semicolon instead of a comma would have made all the difference.

TomOfTTB 16y ago

I can't see many of these selling. And in saying that I’m not saying I don’t think ChromeOS will succeed. I’m saying I can’t even imagine a scenario where it does. Unless Google does several MAJOR updates in the next couple months the Chrome devices will be feature deficient to the extreme. Windows netbooks can do 99% of what a PC can do. On a smaller screen and with a weaker processor but they can still do it. ChromeOS can barely handle reading an SD Card. On the other side of the equation Windows netbooks can do everything a ChromeOS netbook can by simply installing the Chrome browser. The machine won’t come on in 6 seconds but other than that a Chrome-based netbook has no advantages. This could be overcome if Google had embraced the community and sought out advocates for web based computing (that’s how Firefox spread virally). But they haven’t done that. In fact what they did do was send a CR-48 to every hardware reviewer on the web only to have it panned over and over and over again. So instead of having ChromeOS fan sites they have Engadget and TechCrunch saying “this kind of sucks” Given all that I just don’t see these selling Edit: I forgot to mention you have HP pushing WebOS on all its computers which has a lot of the advantages of ChromeOS and a lot more features to boot.

cryptoz 16y ago
Google began Chrome OS long before Android really took off. They started developing two OS ecosystems that are totally different, and I think they sort of knew that eventually one would win out. I bet that Chrome OS is still in active development because Google isn't 100% sure of Android's future since it's still so young. A Chrome OS netbook can cold boot in a few seconds, has a nice hardware keyboard, excellent user switching and cloud-based data storage. Chrome OS is far ahead of Android in terms of the "ideal" cloud landscape where your settings, data, and everything else is totally 100% okay even if you set your machine on fire and smash it with a hammer. Try smashing your Windows netbook and see what happens to your documents. So I definitely think they've got a place in the market and I think they know that. But you're probably right about sales numbers...I can't see it going very far.
- klbarry 16y ago
  I have a Cr-48, and the great thing about it is that it doesnt get slower over time like most computer, which has made non tech people want it. Most PCs start getting slower because of all the things we download into them, but my chrome OS doesn't let you do anything it. If they fix sending attachments, and a version of Adobe that's pretty good is in the cloud, and printing was easier, I would never use anything but it.
  - icefox 16y ago
    This was the argument used for years for switching to linux/mac and no matter how true it was at the end of the day people don't care that much as shown by the vast amount of XP users that are around today. You need features. Tell people that Farmville requires a mac and after a decade of XP they suddenly will have a mac.
stcredzero 16y ago
I can't see many of these selling. And in saying that I’m not saying I don’t think ChromeOS will succeed. I’m saying I can’t even imagine a scenario where it does. I can. I'll take the opposite bet. (Not an extravagant amount. I'm bootstrapping right now. Wanna give me odds?) Unless Google does several MAJOR updates in the next couple months the Chrome devices will be feature deficient to the extreme. Features aren't what matters. Windows netbooks can do 99% of what a PC can do. On a smaller screen and with a weaker processor but they can still do it. Yes, but how good is the netbook experience? Can Google do for a laptop-like form factor what Apple did for tablets? I think yes. In particular, Google seems to have recognized that, as far as security and cryptography infrastructure goes, the computing mainstream is in a state of poverty. As far as having workable security infrastructure in place, we are in a state analogous to pre-industrial nations physical infrastructure. (Or maybe the internet in the days when there were still BBS and AOL was up and coming.) Google gets it. They're doing something about it in a walled garden of their own making. If they succeed, they're going to revolutionize owning a computer in a way that the interstate highways changed car ownership in the US. (And no, Apple doesn't quite get this yet. They get the walled garden part, but they are still a little incompetent with security.) It's just hard to see for us right now, because we're used to the crappy way things are, just like people were used to driving on narrow, winding, poorly paved roads without seatbelts.

sroerick 16y ago

Just wait. ChromeOS netbooks are gonna be free, with a 3g contract. ChromeOS is dropping this year.

wmf 16y ago
Netbooks are $300-400, while the usual subsidy from a contract is $150-200. Perhaps Google is willing to make up the difference via an advertising subsidy, but I doubt a Google user is worth $100 over 2 years. Also, the idea of getting a separate $2,000 3G contract for a netbook sounds like a terrible deal.
- joebadmo 16y ago
  Doesn't that initial $300-400 include a WinXP (albeit crippled?) install? I think especially at this price range, that could be a significant differentiator.
  - cryptoz 16y ago
    In the netbook market, I believe Microsoft started paying manufactures to install Windows. There was a fast - and from Microsoft's position, scary - rise in Linux netbooks, and to counter that I'm pretty sure that OEMs were paid to install Windows, not the other way around.
    - joebadmo 16y ago
      What a weird industry.
    - ssp 16y ago
      What I heard is that they dropped the price of XP significantly, but not below 0. I'm having a lot of trouble believing that Microsoft would sell Windows at a loss.
    - wmf 16y ago
      MS can't pay anyone to install Windows; that would probably be a violation of their antitrust consent degree. However, there is third-party crapware that pays PC vendors, and the payment for this stuff is more than the cost of an XP license, so effectively Windows is "better than free". Of course, Google kicks back money to Mozilla and Android vendors, so two can play at that game.

joebadmo 16y ago

I just hope that some of the hardware manufacturers take some design cues from the Cr-48. The logo-less minimalist matte anti-chrome (ironic) is really doing it for me.

thekevan 16y ago

(CR48 owner here.) I would not think many of these will sell either. The device does what it is supposed to do very well--let the user live in the cloud. However it doesn't let the user do much when they are not connected. Understandable given the purpose of the device, but outside of the geek-culture you are not going to find a lot of people where this is acceptable. I can see this as a popular cult item or niche item, but not something with mainstream appeal.

patrickaljord 16y ago
> but outside of the geek-culture you are not going to find a lot of people where this is acceptable I would say the opposite, most non-geek people I know consider computers to be useless without an internet connection, geeks can always open a terminal and do some hacking though.
- thekevan 16y ago
  Right but many of those people will not want a computer that doesn't have Solitaire or MS Word.