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When I started working at Google in 2018, I got a shiny new beefed-up Chromebook to work on. See, the idea was that I'll do Google work on Google equipment, usi

When I started working at Google in 2018, I got a shiny new beefed-up Chromebook to work on. See, the idea was that I'll do Google work on Google equipment, using Google software (NIH was the religion there). Google's IDE, Cider, ran in Chrome; it integrated with version control and what not. Nobody on our team used Chromebooks - everybody got a Mac - but I thought I'll give it a go. Well it was a mistake. Having a computer that doesn't work as a computer is frustrating. Congratulations to everyone who can convince themselves they don't "need" things that computers do while using a computer. Yes, one can do a lot with a browser. But the list of things you can't do is immensely vaster. The compromise can make sense when you use a tablet or a phone, and have a specialized OS tailored to the use case. But Chromebooks are literally just laptop PCs. You get all the disadvantages of using a laptop (size, weight, etc), while getting all the disadvantages of trying to do things on a phone OS. It's a lose-lose scenario. The question here is not what the author can do with their Chromebooks, or why it works for them. The question is what someone could gain from using a Chromebook over a similarly-sized laptop running Windows/Linux/MacOS. The author claims it's "snappiness" - by comparing to Windows 10 running on absolute crap hardware. I'm not convinced, but I'll take their word. Of course, that doesn't apply if you buy non-crap, but slightly older hardware.

toast0 4y ago
> The question is what someone could gain from using a Chromebook over a similarly-sized laptop running Windows/Linux/MacOS. It's not foolproof, but these are good candidate devices for the terminally computer illiterate. Scam call centers aren't trained on ChromeOS takeovers as well as they are for Windows, but the user interface is close enough to Windows for users trained to use Windows. In case of large trouble, powerwash is easily accessible and fast. The ephemeral nature means replacing hardware doesn't require data transfer. The big downside is it's tied to a Google account, which means if you can't manage a Google account (because you like resetting your password instead of finding your password book, and writing the new password somewhere else you can't find, etc), you're going to end up with a Guest login account which is less functional.
- romwell 4y ago
  >It's not foolproof, but these are good candidate devices for the terminally computer illiterate. Point taken, but you really got to have no faither in those users. Even my 80+ year old grandparents learned Windows well enough to use for their needs. And all in all, Windows 95 has been miles ahead of Chrome OS in discoverability and UX.
  - toast0 4y ago
    Well, I'd say that Microsoft has been making Windows harder to use since then. But yeah, some people have shown me that they no longer have the capability to use a Windows computer safely, but modern life without a web browser is pretty difficult. And filling out forms on a phone is better than paper, but a browser on a computer shaped device is much better.
    - romwell 4y ago
      >Well, I'd say that Microsoft has been making Windows harder to use since then. Sadly, yes. I hope the trend to make everything look shiny (and hard to use) reverses one day. Agreeing on the rest - lack of features is a feature in this case.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    So did my mom. But every time I came home I have to clean something up. The last time she bought a printer and searched for printer drivers. The first link was third party malware. Windows 95 was even more susceptible to the 15 browser bar extension crap.

toast0 4y ago

> The question is what someone could gain from using a Chromebook over a similarly-sized laptop running Windows/Linux/MacOS. It's not foolproof, but these are good candidate devices for the terminally computer illiterate. Scam call centers aren't trained on ChromeOS takeovers as well as they are for Windows, but the user interface is close enough to Windows for users trained to use Windows. In case of large trouble, powerwash is easily accessible and fast. The ephemeral nature means replacing hardware doesn't require data transfer. The big downside is it's tied to a Google account, which means if you can't manage a Google account (because you like resetting your password instead of finding your password book, and writing the new password somewhere else you can't find, etc), you're going to end up with a Guest login account which is less functional.

romwell 4y ago
>It's not foolproof, but these are good candidate devices for the terminally computer illiterate. Point taken, but you really got to have no faither in those users. Even my 80+ year old grandparents learned Windows well enough to use for their needs. And all in all, Windows 95 has been miles ahead of Chrome OS in discoverability and UX.
- toast0 4y ago
  Well, I'd say that Microsoft has been making Windows harder to use since then. But yeah, some people have shown me that they no longer have the capability to use a Windows computer safely, but modern life without a web browser is pretty difficult. And filling out forms on a phone is better than paper, but a browser on a computer shaped device is much better.
  - romwell 4y ago
    >Well, I'd say that Microsoft has been making Windows harder to use since then. Sadly, yes. I hope the trend to make everything look shiny (and hard to use) reverses one day. Agreeing on the rest - lack of features is a feature in this case.
- scarface74 4y ago
  So did my mom. But every time I came home I have to clean something up. The last time she bought a printer and searched for printer drivers. The first link was third party malware. Windows 95 was even more susceptible to the 15 browser bar extension crap.