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> The devices had about 4 percent to 5 percent > share in the first quarter That is really quite stunning in the context of the whole laptop market. I am kind
by zmmmmm 13y ago
> The devices had about 4 percent to 5 percent
> share in the first quarter
That is really quite stunning in the context of the whole laptop market. I am kind of intrigued at how Google is pulling this off. There are so many good arguments against a Chromebook for most people. You can buy an ordinary laptop for similar price and just run Chrome and get the same thing but with more features. Even without that, this seems to violate the law that a new entrant into a market has to be not just better but compellingly better to get market share.
How is Google doing it? Are they going direct to pitch these to bulk buyers like academic, students, businesses, governments? Or are "normal" consumers actually wandering into Best Buy and choosing it over the Windows laptop right next to it?
- kunai 13y ago> How is Google doing it A bit of both approaches, to be honest. People used to argue that OS X is the far better OS because of its dead simplicity, but that's falling flat on its face now that Chromebooks have arrived. No malware PERIOD -- no code can execute without some sort of complicated exploit, and if that wasn't enough, Linux runs at its base, which adds an extra layer of security. The beauty of the Chromebook is its simplicity, and extensibility. It's practically a $249 Linux box for the power users -- load up crouton and off you go. For the consumers who never need to touch the Linux layer, they can use the top layer without ever seeing Linux, and enjoy computing nirvana. Once NaCl is mature enough that most developers use it and once the Web Store populates with offline apps, watch this start to take off. It will ride on the same merits that drove OS X for over a decade, but it will fly higher. Just you wait. This is the final redemption for desktop Linux.