6 ms·

I personally find the Angry Birds-Facebook-Netflix picture of the future of computing extremely depressing. Where's Google's suite of content creation apps that

I personally find the Angry Birds-Facebook-Netflix picture of the future of computing extremely depressing. Where's Google's suite of content creation apps that "non-techy" people can explore to express their creativity?

fragmede 15y ago
There's a basic paint program https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pandfibccfbjmcmnjhehkabbjkocohck?hl=en-US https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pandfibccfbjmcmnjh... And there's also a photo editor on the apps store - Picnik https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/inmnggcpelemfookhlhkdfbechcdadfp?hl=en-US https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/inmnggcpelemfookhl...
scott_s 15y ago
Most people don't create. You must be depressed by the wasted potential, because we're going from a world where most people don't create to a world where most people don't create.
- siglesias 15y ago
  Is that a cause or an effect?
  - scott_s 15y ago
    I think it's probably an independent variable. Most people work, and would have to create in their free time - but that takes sincere effort during a period most people want to unwind.
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
- kiba 15y ago
  People created too much stuff for us to enjoy anyway. All the books in the world on average probably got read several times, but all human beings never hope to read all the books.
  - ippisl 15y ago
    I sure like the huge variety that blogs offer, don't you ?
    - kiba 15y ago
      Which is why we don't need to keep encouraging people to create content. Rather, we need better way to find great content to enjoy.
  - bad_user 15y ago
    I can't imagine the pain you must feel with so many books around, it must be excruciating. Certainly you haven't lived if you haven't read them all, and even if you manage that, some college punk might release yet another novel just as you find yourself in the final moments of your stressful life; Jeez, the horror.
- arihant 15y ago
  "Most people don't create" ...and ChromeOS would change that? Availability of tools is not something that needs to immediately follow daily use. Not all my family cooks. We still have a kitchen.
  - PetrolMan 15y ago
    Basic creation tools will still be there (Google Docs) and more tools are becoming available online to replace traditional desktop tools. I was actually just taking a good look at online IDEs...
    - swah 15y ago
      Some of us will only move when Chromebooks are being used to develop the software that powers a Chromebook, otherwise we'll disregard them as toys.
  - scott_s 15y ago
    I'm confused by what your point is because I'm not sure if you understand mine. My point was that most people don't use their existing computers for creative purposes, so introducing a computer with limited creative potential won't change much.
    - arihant 15y ago
      It will. Just because most people don't cook, we start selling houses without kitchen, don't you think its a slippery and wrong slope? Look at ipad running GarageBand, thats the stuff we want. People don't create only when when creating stuff sucks. Just like I only cook when all I have to do is "add hot water". There is a quote that comes to mind: "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein.
      - scott_s 15y ago
        You're assuming that this new Chrome netbook-laptop-thingy will replace the typical desktop computer. I don't think it will. My parents love their iPads (yes, iPads, plural, they each have one because being retired means you no longer have to share) yet still bought a new desktop when their old one died.
- dkarl 15y ago
  I don't think you ever saw ordinary people let loose with the power of "Print Shop" in the 1980s or Microsoft Word in the 1990s. People made greeting cards, family newsletters, notices, party decorations.... In the visual arts, a lot of the people who do amusing Photoshop work are not professionals. Also consider MySpace in the 2000s. You might argue that MySpace isn't a good illustration of the value of giving people creative freedom, but you can't deny that a lot of people were eager to take advantage of it. Then there are the people who get into sound editing or musical arrangement. These days a kid might start with making a ringtone and then escalate. Personally, I'm the least "creative" and least musical person you'll ever meet, but even I spent a whole day trying to arrange a decent-sounding version of "Walk Like an Egyptian" using a digital music program on my Apple IIgs. Why "Walk Like an Egyptian?" I have no idea. When I was thirteen I recorded myself belching, reversed it, dropped the tone an octave or two, added an echo and made it the shutdown sound for Windows 3.1. I told my parents it was the sound of a WWII submarine preparing to submerge. (Eventually, I figured out that code was my preferred way of expressing myself. I had fun writing computer programs that made pretty mathematical patterns on the screen, among other things.) Putting content creation tools in the hands of everyone is key because you never know who's going to use them. Some kid decides to make something cute or awesome or badass or smartass and the next thing you know s/he's hooked on sound editing or what-not. Unfortunately, the model of commercial software development is to give someone a free taste, then frustrate them with limitations, and then take their credit card and charge them for the pro version. Kids are easily frustrated, may not have access to a credit card, and even if they have a card, may not be able to spend $100 or more for professional-quality software. However, I think the answer to that concern is that non-professional content creation needs will be served by free web apps.
  - svjunkie 15y ago
    Non-professional content creation apps are already available in the Chrome web store. Aviary has a suite of audio-visual tools it offers, including vector image editing (I don't work for them or anything).
  - lachenmayer 15y ago
    However, for most kids in that category, piracy is a very viable alternative. And such access to tools which would otherwise cost hundreds of dollars can, and does, foster huge amounts of creativity in kids.
- cheez 15y ago
  That doesn't sound very different.
runjake 15y ago
What are you looking for, specifically? There are a plethora of web apps for content creation available. There are also a variety of image editing & drawing apps in the Chrome Store (and a basic drawing app in GApps). Edit: If you want iMovie, you want a Mac. My family doesn't use iMovie (though I do personally, but the ChromeBook isnt't for me), they use YouTube video tools & Facebook video crap.
- siglesias 15y ago
  A video editing app, for example.
  - glhaynes 15y ago
    It's not like video editing apps are going to go away. If "limited" computers become the norm, they'll start to support video editing because users want that functionality.
    - cookiecaper 15y ago
      It's mostly a matter of not being able to correctly assume in all cases that a person is not going to need video editing, because a Chromebook is the first serious recent computer that won't allow a user to install a video editor. I'm helping an old lady in my neighborhood edit movies of her kindegarten class in iMovie, and I'd bet that most people would have said "oh, she doesn't need to edit videos", but one of her colleagues starting making montage videos of the class for the end of the year and she wanted to do it too. Since she has a MacBook, this is possible. If she had a Chromebook, she'd have to borrow someone's computer, and I don't know if she would have the courage to ask for that, especially since, like most old ladies, she is scared that she will break computer every time she does anything.
      - glhaynes 15y ago
        Very true that this first generation (and a few after) may be lacking. I was thinking in terms of the first poster whose lament about "the future of computing" I read to mean the long-term future.
Daniel14 15y ago
I doubt Google envisions this as the "future of computing", but just the logical step following more and more people using their laptop almost solely for browsing. For those, never having to worry about viruses, boot-up time, losing data or about installing updates is great. And from my own observation, that includes a large part of the population.
MatthewPhillips 15y ago
Here's an awesome music creation app for non-techy people: http://www.beatlab.com/ http://www.beatlab.com/ Here's a great photo/picture editor: http://www.pixlr.com/ http://www.pixlr.com/ Those are just off the top of my head.
- willifred 15y ago
  I can't resist plugging audiotool: http://www.audiotool.com/ http://www.audiotool.com/ It's flash, but it's mind blowingly amazing.
esmevane 15y ago
I don't feel like you've done any research on this. There is also the possibility that you are faulting Google for not making creation applications, because you don't acknowledge other participants in the venue which work very well on Chromebooks. Just off the top of my head: http://www.aviary.com/ http://www.aviary.com/
jasongullickson 15y ago
That's what this (http://www.geekosystem.com/raspberry-pi-25-dollar-pc/ http://www.geekosystem.com/raspberry-pi-25-dollar-pc/) is for, remember? If mom & pop can do their Facebook and email on the Chromebook the kid can hack away on one of these for the price of a movie and a slushy...
slowpoison 15y ago
Chromebook will sport offline versions of Google Docs, GMail and GCal.
slowpoison 15y ago
Chromebook will sport offline versions of Google Docs, GMail and GCal.
fbailey 15y ago
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dafkakmjmhfnnfclmjdfpnbmdeddkoeo https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dafkakmjmhfnnfclmj... There are some and there will be more soon enough
Tichy 15y ago
"Where's Google's suite of content creation apps that "non-techy" people can explore to express their creativity?" On the internet
zachrose 15y ago
"Non-techy" people express their creativity outside of a computer, sometimes uploading photos to websites.
corysama 15y ago
Here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore?hl=en-US&category=collection%2F43-art-design https://chrome.google.com/webstore?hl=en-US&category=col...

fragmede 15y ago

There's a basic paint program https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pandfibccfbjmcmnjhehkabbjkocohck?hl=en-US https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pandfibccfbjmcmnjh... And there's also a photo editor on the apps store - Picnik https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/inmnggcpelemfookhlhkdfbechcdadfp?hl=en-US https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/inmnggcpelemfookhl...

scott_s 15y ago

Most people don't create. You must be depressed by the wasted potential, because we're going from a world where most people don't create to a world where most people don't create.

siglesias 15y ago
Is that a cause or an effect?
- scott_s 15y ago
  I think it's probably an independent variable. Most people work, and would have to create in their free time - but that takes sincere effort during a period most people want to unwind.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
kiba 15y ago
People created too much stuff for us to enjoy anyway. All the books in the world on average probably got read several times, but all human beings never hope to read all the books.
- ippisl 15y ago
  I sure like the huge variety that blogs offer, don't you ?
  - kiba 15y ago
    Which is why we don't need to keep encouraging people to create content. Rather, we need better way to find great content to enjoy.
- bad_user 15y ago
  I can't imagine the pain you must feel with so many books around, it must be excruciating. Certainly you haven't lived if you haven't read them all, and even if you manage that, some college punk might release yet another novel just as you find yourself in the final moments of your stressful life; Jeez, the horror.
arihant 15y ago
"Most people don't create" ...and ChromeOS would change that? Availability of tools is not something that needs to immediately follow daily use. Not all my family cooks. We still have a kitchen.
- PetrolMan 15y ago
  Basic creation tools will still be there (Google Docs) and more tools are becoming available online to replace traditional desktop tools. I was actually just taking a good look at online IDEs...
  - swah 15y ago
    Some of us will only move when Chromebooks are being used to develop the software that powers a Chromebook, otherwise we'll disregard them as toys.
- scott_s 15y ago
  I'm confused by what your point is because I'm not sure if you understand mine. My point was that most people don't use their existing computers for creative purposes, so introducing a computer with limited creative potential won't change much.
  - arihant 15y ago
    It will. Just because most people don't cook, we start selling houses without kitchen, don't you think its a slippery and wrong slope? Look at ipad running GarageBand, thats the stuff we want. People don't create only when when creating stuff sucks. Just like I only cook when all I have to do is "add hot water". There is a quote that comes to mind: "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert Einstein.
    - scott_s 15y ago
      You're assuming that this new Chrome netbook-laptop-thingy will replace the typical desktop computer. I don't think it will. My parents love their iPads (yes, iPads, plural, they each have one because being retired means you no longer have to share) yet still bought a new desktop when their old one died.
dkarl 15y ago
I don't think you ever saw ordinary people let loose with the power of "Print Shop" in the 1980s or Microsoft Word in the 1990s. People made greeting cards, family newsletters, notices, party decorations.... In the visual arts, a lot of the people who do amusing Photoshop work are not professionals. Also consider MySpace in the 2000s. You might argue that MySpace isn't a good illustration of the value of giving people creative freedom, but you can't deny that a lot of people were eager to take advantage of it. Then there are the people who get into sound editing or musical arrangement. These days a kid might start with making a ringtone and then escalate. Personally, I'm the least "creative" and least musical person you'll ever meet, but even I spent a whole day trying to arrange a decent-sounding version of "Walk Like an Egyptian" using a digital music program on my Apple IIgs. Why "Walk Like an Egyptian?" I have no idea. When I was thirteen I recorded myself belching, reversed it, dropped the tone an octave or two, added an echo and made it the shutdown sound for Windows 3.1. I told my parents it was the sound of a WWII submarine preparing to submerge. (Eventually, I figured out that code was my preferred way of expressing myself. I had fun writing computer programs that made pretty mathematical patterns on the screen, among other things.) Putting content creation tools in the hands of everyone is key because you never know who's going to use them. Some kid decides to make something cute or awesome or badass or smartass and the next thing you know s/he's hooked on sound editing or what-not. Unfortunately, the model of commercial software development is to give someone a free taste, then frustrate them with limitations, and then take their credit card and charge them for the pro version. Kids are easily frustrated, may not have access to a credit card, and even if they have a card, may not be able to spend $100 or more for professional-quality software. However, I think the answer to that concern is that non-professional content creation needs will be served by free web apps.
- svjunkie 15y ago
  Non-professional content creation apps are already available in the Chrome web store. Aviary has a suite of audio-visual tools it offers, including vector image editing (I don't work for them or anything).
- lachenmayer 15y ago
  However, for most kids in that category, piracy is a very viable alternative. And such access to tools which would otherwise cost hundreds of dollars can, and does, foster huge amounts of creativity in kids.
cheez 15y ago
That doesn't sound very different.

runjake 15y ago

What are you looking for, specifically? There are a plethora of web apps for content creation available. There are also a variety of image editing & drawing apps in the Chrome Store (and a basic drawing app in GApps). Edit: If you want iMovie, you want a Mac. My family doesn't use iMovie (though I do personally, but the ChromeBook isnt't for me), they use YouTube video tools & Facebook video crap.

siglesias 15y ago
A video editing app, for example.
- glhaynes 15y ago
  It's not like video editing apps are going to go away. If "limited" computers become the norm, they'll start to support video editing because users want that functionality.
  - cookiecaper 15y ago
    It's mostly a matter of not being able to correctly assume in all cases that a person is not going to need video editing, because a Chromebook is the first serious recent computer that won't allow a user to install a video editor. I'm helping an old lady in my neighborhood edit movies of her kindegarten class in iMovie, and I'd bet that most people would have said "oh, she doesn't need to edit videos", but one of her colleagues starting making montage videos of the class for the end of the year and she wanted to do it too. Since she has a MacBook, this is possible. If she had a Chromebook, she'd have to borrow someone's computer, and I don't know if she would have the courage to ask for that, especially since, like most old ladies, she is scared that she will break computer every time she does anything.
    - glhaynes 15y ago
      Very true that this first generation (and a few after) may be lacking. I was thinking in terms of the first poster whose lament about "the future of computing" I read to mean the long-term future.

Daniel14 15y ago

I doubt Google envisions this as the "future of computing", but just the logical step following more and more people using their laptop almost solely for browsing. For those, never having to worry about viruses, boot-up time, losing data or about installing updates is great. And from my own observation, that includes a large part of the population.

MatthewPhillips 15y ago

Here's an awesome music creation app for non-techy people: http://www.beatlab.com/ http://www.beatlab.com/ Here's a great photo/picture editor: http://www.pixlr.com/ http://www.pixlr.com/ Those are just off the top of my head.

willifred 15y ago
I can't resist plugging audiotool: http://www.audiotool.com/ http://www.audiotool.com/ It's flash, but it's mind blowingly amazing.

esmevane 15y ago

I don't feel like you've done any research on this. There is also the possibility that you are faulting Google for not making creation applications, because you don't acknowledge other participants in the venue which work very well on Chromebooks. Just off the top of my head: http://www.aviary.com/ http://www.aviary.com/

jasongullickson 15y ago

That's what this (http://www.geekosystem.com/raspberry-pi-25-dollar-pc/ http://www.geekosystem.com/raspberry-pi-25-dollar-pc/) is for, remember? If mom & pop can do their Facebook and email on the Chromebook the kid can hack away on one of these for the price of a movie and a slushy...

slowpoison 15y ago

Chromebook will sport offline versions of Google Docs, GMail and GCal.

slowpoison 15y ago

Chromebook will sport offline versions of Google Docs, GMail and GCal.

fbailey 15y ago

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dafkakmjmhfnnfclmjdfpnbmdeddkoeo https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dafkakmjmhfnnfclmj... There are some and there will be more soon enough

Tichy 15y ago

"Where's Google's suite of content creation apps that "non-techy" people can explore to express their creativity?" On the internet

zachrose 15y ago

"Non-techy" people express their creativity outside of a computer, sometimes uploading photos to websites.

corysama 15y ago

Here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore?hl=en-US&category=collection%2F43-art-design https://chrome.google.com/webstore?hl=en-US&category=col...