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Yes, YouTube does solve the problem of playing your videos. And sharing them with your friends. And archiving them, in case of disaster. If you're willing to

Yes, YouTube does solve the problem of playing your videos. And sharing them with your friends. And archiving them, in case of disaster. If you're willing to use YouTube, of course. If not, you can use Smugmug or Flickr or Vimeo or... ChromeOS is inherently an operating system that uses the internet to solve users' problems. Expecting ChromeOS to have BUILT-IN ways to do what you want to, is kind of silly, in my mind. I validate that you may reject the design idea, but you're forcing it into solving problems in a way it was inherently and intentionally NOT designed to solve them.

jlgreco 13y ago
Viewing photographs and videos is something that ChromeOS does. It is not asking too much of it to do it well. They gave it the ability to play videos and pictures offline because even they know it is absurd to expect the user to upload all their videos and pictures.. at least prior to viewing them. They just did a half-assed job of it. I tried looking for programs on ChromeOS to install to fix these things, the offerings are either universally abysmal or for once Google has completely failed at search because I failed to find anything that wasn't abysmal.
- VikingCoder 13y ago
  In the analogy, Chrome is Linux. If you want a full-fledged system, you use GNU/Linux, or probably a distro like Ubuntu. If you want a full-fledged system from Chrome, you use the Internet. You can text edit with sed, but that's not how anyone uses Linux, in real life, right?
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    One might argue that a Linux distro without vi, ex/ed, or at least nano/pico, but rather just sed is ludicrous because no user operates like that. If they included sed and intended it to be your text editor, as ChromeOS has included half-assed local picture and video playing (is this not what those things are for? Am I supposed to be using these things for stream manipulation, not picture/video viewing? Because if that is the case, their UI has failed to convey that.), then I would without hesitation assert that their distro was poorly considered.
    - VikingCoder 13y ago
      "Their distro" is the Internet. A Chromebook without the Internet is ludicrous, because no user operates like that. They might have been better off to not have the local picture and video player. They're the embarrassing "Notepad," if I want to make the analogy to Windows, again.
      - jlgreco 13y ago
        "A Chromebook without the Internet is ludicrous, because no user operates like that." I don't believe that anybody doesn't. Even android phones have better offline capabilities (Way better, and generally with less offline storage to boot) and people expect their phones to always be online.
        VikingCoder 13y ago
        "I don't believe that anybody doesn't." Here are the devices I own that are always online, when they're on: TiVo, Logitech Revue, Wii, Chromebook, Android 1, Android 2, iPhone, Desktop 1, Desktop 2, Laptop 1, Laptop 2, Laptop 3, Laptop 4, and Kindle Fire. (I might be missing a couple.) I expect my Chromebook to ALWAYS be online. Not least of which, because my Chromebook has 3G, just like my first Android phone did.
    - ised 13y ago
      I must inform you that there is a user who uses sed over all other text editors: me. I do use vi but I could easily survive without it; I have countless custom utilities that rely on sed. Surviving without sed would be difficult. Imagine a system that has pipes but where you cannot "write to disk"; where you do not have a TMPDIR for ed to use. With sed, this poses no problem.
      - VikingCoder 13y ago
        Just out of curiosity - your resume was written in sed?
sbuk 13y ago
"Expecting ChromeOS to have BUILT-IN ways to do what you want to, is kind of silly, in my mind." Why?
- VikingCoder 13y ago
  My VCR doesn't have any BUILT-IN movies. I really, honestly don't mean to be crass, but the analogy is apt to me.
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    Besides mudding the issue by confusing data with function, the Chromebook does have these features, and there is nothing about it that even indicates these features are deliberately second class citizens. In this analogy your VCR has the ability to write an input source to a cassette, all you've got to do is hit the record button on the front of it but is incapable of writing to the first or last 10 minutes of the tape. VCR company considers cassette consumption to be the primary VCR use-case and is the use-case they are concerned with. Is it reasonable to complain about the substandard record functionality that they shipped? Is it reasonable to question the market viability of a VCR so needlessly crippled?
    - VikingCoder 13y ago
      Is there anything in Notepad to indicate it's a deliberately second-class citizen? My Roku doesn't have any built-in movies, my DVD player doesn't have any built-in movies... It's not "needlessly crippled," it's brand new. Windows 3.0 would be seen as needlessly crippled if it were released today. Look, if you don't like it, that's fine. But you can't convince me that it's not a viable product for many people, in many use cases. It might not be right for you, and I'm not saying you're wrong about that.
      - jlgreco 13y ago
        Notepad doesn't need to indicate that it is second-class because standard end users don't give shits about text editing. Standard end users use word processors. Text editing is itself a second class activity; playing your videos and browsing your pictures is not. > My Roku doesn't have any built-in movies, my DVD player doesn't have any built-in movies... Yeah, I'm starting to think you are deliberately being weird. My complaint is not that my movies were not pre-installed on the thing.
WayneDB 13y ago
YouTube or any other Internet Only service does not solve the problem of playing my videos very well. Why would I want to upload gigabytes of video instead of downloading a small program to play them locally? If I care about archiving things - why would I want to archive just my video files? I don't think anyone expects ChromeOS to have many built-in ways of doing things - but I also don't expect ChromeOS to be very widely used because it's not solving users' problems very well at all. Unless of course...they add native apps ;) Then it could be something.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  Yeah, at the very least I would expect ChromeOS to be good at playing videos out of that massive 1TB Google Drive offering that the pixel gets you. I mean, what else are you going to burn up 1TB on, if not video?
- VikingCoder 13y ago
  > Why would I want to upload gigabytes of video To archive them. To share them. > If I care about archiving things - why would I want to archive just my video files? You wouldn't. You'd want to archive anything. I genuinely don't understand the point you were trying to make here. > it's not solving users' problems very well at all I disagree. It solves my problems better than most other devices. "Playing my videos," it does extremely well. Step one, I shoot them on my Android, so they're instantly uploaded. If I have a video that's not on Android, I upload it to YouTube to archive and share it. Many people in Moore, OK are shifting through rubble, looking for family photos. I think backing photos and videos up online makes a ton of sense...
  - WayneDB 13y ago
    I don't want or need to publish many of my videos or photos online. They are private; I'm a fairly private person. Also - where am I supposed to put the terabytes of legally obtained digital media that I own? Can you upload every movie you own to YouTube? Furthermore, my NAS serves things quicker than any online service. I also like a local player in case there's no Internet connection or if it's slow. I go camping in the mountains and my mobile provider has spotty coverage in remote regions. So no, it doesn't solve the problem real well. I'll keep using my NAS and online backup service and general/full operating systems such as Windows, OS X, Debian and CentOS.

jlgreco 13y ago

Viewing photographs and videos is something that ChromeOS does. It is not asking too much of it to do it well. They gave it the ability to play videos and pictures offline because even they know it is absurd to expect the user to upload all their videos and pictures.. at least prior to viewing them. They just did a half-assed job of it. I tried looking for programs on ChromeOS to install to fix these things, the offerings are either universally abysmal or for once Google has completely failed at search because I failed to find anything that wasn't abysmal.

VikingCoder 13y ago
In the analogy, Chrome is Linux. If you want a full-fledged system, you use GNU/Linux, or probably a distro like Ubuntu. If you want a full-fledged system from Chrome, you use the Internet. You can text edit with sed, but that's not how anyone uses Linux, in real life, right?
- jlgreco 13y ago
  One might argue that a Linux distro without vi, ex/ed, or at least nano/pico, but rather just sed is ludicrous because no user operates like that. If they included sed and intended it to be your text editor, as ChromeOS has included half-assed local picture and video playing (is this not what those things are for? Am I supposed to be using these things for stream manipulation, not picture/video viewing? Because if that is the case, their UI has failed to convey that.), then I would without hesitation assert that their distro was poorly considered.
  - VikingCoder 13y ago
    "Their distro" is the Internet. A Chromebook without the Internet is ludicrous, because no user operates like that. They might have been better off to not have the local picture and video player. They're the embarrassing "Notepad," if I want to make the analogy to Windows, again.
    - jlgreco 13y ago
      "A Chromebook without the Internet is ludicrous, because no user operates like that." I don't believe that anybody doesn't. Even android phones have better offline capabilities (Way better, and generally with less offline storage to boot) and people expect their phones to always be online.
      - VikingCoder 13y ago
        "I don't believe that anybody doesn't." Here are the devices I own that are always online, when they're on: TiVo, Logitech Revue, Wii, Chromebook, Android 1, Android 2, iPhone, Desktop 1, Desktop 2, Laptop 1, Laptop 2, Laptop 3, Laptop 4, and Kindle Fire. (I might be missing a couple.) I expect my Chromebook to ALWAYS be online. Not least of which, because my Chromebook has 3G, just like my first Android phone did.
  - ised 13y ago
    I must inform you that there is a user who uses sed over all other text editors: me. I do use vi but I could easily survive without it; I have countless custom utilities that rely on sed. Surviving without sed would be difficult. Imagine a system that has pipes but where you cannot "write to disk"; where you do not have a TMPDIR for ed to use. With sed, this poses no problem.
    - VikingCoder 13y ago
      Just out of curiosity - your resume was written in sed?

sbuk 13y ago

"Expecting ChromeOS to have BUILT-IN ways to do what you want to, is kind of silly, in my mind." Why?

VikingCoder 13y ago
My VCR doesn't have any BUILT-IN movies. I really, honestly don't mean to be crass, but the analogy is apt to me.
- jlgreco 13y ago
  Besides mudding the issue by confusing data with function, the Chromebook does have these features, and there is nothing about it that even indicates these features are deliberately second class citizens. In this analogy your VCR has the ability to write an input source to a cassette, all you've got to do is hit the record button on the front of it but is incapable of writing to the first or last 10 minutes of the tape. VCR company considers cassette consumption to be the primary VCR use-case and is the use-case they are concerned with. Is it reasonable to complain about the substandard record functionality that they shipped? Is it reasonable to question the market viability of a VCR so needlessly crippled?
  - VikingCoder 13y ago
    Is there anything in Notepad to indicate it's a deliberately second-class citizen? My Roku doesn't have any built-in movies, my DVD player doesn't have any built-in movies... It's not "needlessly crippled," it's brand new. Windows 3.0 would be seen as needlessly crippled if it were released today. Look, if you don't like it, that's fine. But you can't convince me that it's not a viable product for many people, in many use cases. It might not be right for you, and I'm not saying you're wrong about that.
    - jlgreco 13y ago
      Notepad doesn't need to indicate that it is second-class because standard end users don't give shits about text editing. Standard end users use word processors. Text editing is itself a second class activity; playing your videos and browsing your pictures is not. > My Roku doesn't have any built-in movies, my DVD player doesn't have any built-in movies... Yeah, I'm starting to think you are deliberately being weird. My complaint is not that my movies were not pre-installed on the thing.

WayneDB 13y ago

YouTube or any other Internet Only service does not solve the problem of playing my videos very well. Why would I want to upload gigabytes of video instead of downloading a small program to play them locally? If I care about archiving things - why would I want to archive just my video files? I don't think anyone expects ChromeOS to have many built-in ways of doing things - but I also don't expect ChromeOS to be very widely used because it's not solving users' problems very well at all. Unless of course...they add native apps ;) Then it could be something.

jlgreco 13y ago
Yeah, at the very least I would expect ChromeOS to be good at playing videos out of that massive 1TB Google Drive offering that the pixel gets you. I mean, what else are you going to burn up 1TB on, if not video?
VikingCoder 13y ago
> Why would I want to upload gigabytes of video To archive them. To share them. > If I care about archiving things - why would I want to archive just my video files? You wouldn't. You'd want to archive anything. I genuinely don't understand the point you were trying to make here. > it's not solving users' problems very well at all I disagree. It solves my problems better than most other devices. "Playing my videos," it does extremely well. Step one, I shoot them on my Android, so they're instantly uploaded. If I have a video that's not on Android, I upload it to YouTube to archive and share it. Many people in Moore, OK are shifting through rubble, looking for family photos. I think backing photos and videos up online makes a ton of sense...
- WayneDB 13y ago
  I don't want or need to publish many of my videos or photos online. They are private; I'm a fairly private person. Also - where am I supposed to put the terabytes of legally obtained digital media that I own? Can you upload every movie you own to YouTube? Furthermore, my NAS serves things quicker than any online service. I also like a local player in case there's no Internet connection or if it's slow. I go camping in the mountains and my mobile provider has spotty coverage in remote regions. So no, it doesn't solve the problem real well. I'll keep using my NAS and online backup service and general/full operating systems such as Windows, OS X, Debian and CentOS.