Google Chrome OS

[Drave]

Originally Posted by Lenas

It really depends on how they decide to go about this.

If Google decides to run a barebones linux, with an automatic Chrome window open on launch, with apps inside of that, then it wont be a big deal.

However, if the Goog decides to make web languages an actual part of the OS framework, being able to code apps directly into the system, it could be pretty fucking cool.

I would imagine that both are sort of true, the browser IS the GUI.

After reading that last few pages, it seems like people are obsessing over and comparing mixed fruit.

Think of this "netbook" more like a larger version of a cellphone. The phone OS isn't something most people obsess over (Most people don't know or care what their cellphone OS is; in fact a few are using Linux and are oblivious to the fact).

The netbook becomes an appliance, a device that just works (like a GPS), without the bloat that's needed to run endless combinations of mixed hardware in a traditional desktop Windows machine.

Google could easily subsidize the manufacturing of these devices (it is in their interest to get more eyes to use Google products, and thus view Google advertisements... imo not a bad thing). That could bring the price of a netbook into the $50-$100 range.

Also, it seems that Google's OS will absorb Android space (to be used for both phones and netbooks), and provide the flexibility that people want out of (jail-broken) iphones -like free Google Voice service.

End result is an affordable appliance that will simply build market-share, because it's out there to take. If you can code for the web, you're in a good position for what's coming.

[Zerai]

The problem with that is that the netbook isn't really anything. All it is is a cheap laptop. Before they were 10" screens, now they are 13". It's only because they can match the same price point with the larger screen. Eventually I imagine cellphones being your small portable laptop (holographic displays perhaps?) and laptops stay as is..and the netbook is phased out.

Entelligence: Netbooks, R.I.P.

is a good op ed piece about it.

So I imagine google OS will stray towards laptops and android sticks with their phones.

[Gecko]

Originally Posted by Zerai

The problem with that is that the netbook isn't really anything. All it is is a cheap laptop..

Cheap, very portable, and easy to use. Game console's hit mainstream when the cost dropped. The same is true for Netbooks.

Most of the laptop users I know do not game. There is no reason for them to spend big bucks on a laptop. Netbooks are ideal for many of them.

Originally Posted by Zerai

Entelligence: Netbooks, R.I.P.

is a good op ed piece about it.
.

The article somewhat refutes itself. The author dislikes the term 'netbook', but his whole write up essentially says they are kicking ass. It's reminiscent of all the naysayers predicting the death of the PC over the last 20 years.

It's one of the hottest selling items in the consumer electronics market today. At a time when vendors are struggling to sell PCs, it's the one category that has been selling consistently in Amazon's top ten list of technology purchases

People will buy over 25 million netbooks this year. It's one of the few moneymakers currently.

While I agree it's about price and promotion, many other things aren't. These will continue to sell because of what they offer. They aren't a fad.

The low end portable inexpensive netbooks are going to sell well this year, next year, and for many to come. You can dislike the term or the market, but it's wise for google to try and enter there as it's a ripe entry point. The 250 dollar cost for a fully functional mobile PC replacement will push growth for it.

[Daerath]

Originally Posted by Luthair

Here it goes:
Completely irrelevant, users have no interaction with the software which runs the cloud, computers in the cloud are used to run software which act as services.

Evidently I made a mistake by speaking about developers and users in the same post. I can see why your weak little mind got confused so I'll talk slowly so you can follow along like a snot nosed 1st grader.

Product development teams will have to change their existing software to work on a cloud computing platform. We know they will do this because they want to stay employed and continue to make money. Hopefully they will make more than your parents did so their children won't be as witless as you. My next mistake was not spelling out exactly how the software will have to be changed. Obviously it isn't a simple matter of installing Word on a server and telling people, "CLICK ON THE SHORTCUT in My CLOuDDD!!1!!!!1!!!!"

POSIX. Riight. Given that the majority of software people actually use was not written to support the POSIX standard, saying, "Hey guys! POSIX makes it easy!" is fucking retarded. Sure, if everything was written with POSIX in mind it would be simple. But it wasn't. So it's not.

With respect to end-users. Obviously they don't give a shit about the actual server OS installed on the cloud computing servers. What they do care about is that their apps look the same, work the same, and any bugs they are familiar with need to either be fixed or happen in exactly the same place that they did in the non-cloud version.

This also means that they will hate the idea of not having their applications installed locally.

[Bralkan]

Did you win yet?

[Zerai]

Originally Posted by Gecko

Stuff

I think you missed the point.

Basically he's saying the term netbook is meaningless. What's exploding is cheap laptops. There is no particular feature set which defines what is and what is not a netbook. It's more a matter of price point.

So eventually you'll have 17" 'netbooks' because they fit in the price range.

You got it with your first point on cheap consoles.

But again. I eventually see the power going down to cellphone size. So smartphones become essentially netbooks. Really the biggest thing holding it back is screen-size. But with OLED paper displays, holographic (on your glasses or something), or eventual technologies this will be solved.

But the point is, people are buying these in lieu of laptops, not as well as laptops. It's the same market, not a new one.

[Gecko]

My point is he had no point. He dislikes the term.That does not make it irrelevent or make it a cheap laptop, of which there are plenty. A laptop is just a computer. Maybe that term should go away, too?

It's like someone irked the iphone isn't just called a phone or a smartphone or PDA. Those terms are relevant, regardless of if someone dismisses them.

My main point is the netbook is the perfect market for google as 'net computing with mail, docs, and RSS kept browser side, and with their streamlined Chrome platform is as good as they'll get fighting Microsoft. It's a market they can win against high priced OS software.

It's a niche, but it's accurate. If one wants a Netbook, they do not want a laptop.

[Luthair]

Originally Posted by Daerath

Evidently I made a mistake by speaking about developers and users in the same post. I can see why your weak little mind got confused so I'll talk slowly so you can follow along like a snot nosed 1st grader.

Product development teams will have to change their existing software to work on a cloud computing platform. We know they will do this because they want to stay employed and continue to make money. Hopefully they will make more than your parents did so their children won't be as witless as you. My next mistake was not spelling out exactly how the software will have to be changed. Obviously it isn't a simple matter of installing Word on a server and telling people, "CLICK ON THE SHORTCUT in My CLOuDDD!!1!!!!1!!!!"

I'm rubber you're glue?

Originally Posted by Daerath

POSIX. Riight. Given that the majority of software people actually use was not written to support the POSIX standard, saying, "Hey guys! POSIX makes it easy!" is fucking retarded. Sure, if everything was written with POSIX in mind it would be simple. But it wasn't. So it's not.

Whats your point? Most software runs on clients so obviously its going to be written for the dominate client OS. However, we aren't talking clients here, we're talking servers. Most enterprise software is written to be largely platform independant because the extra effort required is often rewarded by the minimal effort required later to port it.

Originally Posted by Daerath

With respect to end-users. Obviously they don't give a shit about the actual server OS installed on the cloud computing servers. What they do care about is that their apps look the same, work the same, and any bugs they are familiar with need to either be fixed or happen in exactly the same place that they did in the non-cloud version.

Either you've changed your mind about what you stated in the original post (Google's cloud will be Linux, Microsofts will be windows so they'll win because the users will decide!) or again you demonstrate that you don't understand the cloud. It's the client's OS (well windowing system/desktop manager) which will dictate the appearance of the application, so the relevance to what the cloud is running is irrelevant.

[Zeste]

A 10" Apple computer with a full iphone style screen (plus probably more intuitite touch features and gestures) and no keyboard, running a full OSX. Keyboard pops up on the screen like the iphone, or a wireless can be used.

[Haus]

Originally Posted by Zeste

A 10" Apple computer with a full iphone style screen (plus probably more intuitite touch features and gestures) and no keyboard, running a full OSX. Keyboard pops up on the screen like the iphone, or a wireless can be used.

That's what Apple is about to start trying to pimp out there, the problem is getting their market to accept it.

To compete with the other netbooks it will have to be in that price range. The problem is that's already what many paid for their iPhones which this device will probably obsolete. They aren't anywhere near first in the space so I suspect they won't be able to iPhone it up, as the iPhone was more of a breakthrough than this will be.

I think Google, if they're smart, will just be expanding Android to handle up to Netbooks and POOF, done. Chrome browser as your framework if you want out of the box simple, but the ability to cook up your own apps as well.

[Zerai]

Originally Posted by Haus

To compete with the other netbooks it will have to be in that price range. The problem is that's already what many paid for their iPhones which this device will probably obsolete.

There is no way a tablet will invalidate a phone. 10" tablet doesn't exactly fit in your pocket.

[Gecko]

I think the iphone design is pretty much perfect for portability. The only problem is it's on AT&Ts network solely.

Netbooks/larger portable devices/tablets are a horse of a different color.

I can see a lot of people having a Smartphone for its portability, a netbook for it's range and usefulness, then a desktop/larger laptop if needed for professional/gaming/etc non portable use.

[Bralkan]

I wouldn't be surprised to see the laptop (normal "every day" computing device) and a phone built in some kind of unified system. Its something that has been talked about for years, and they said this too, but it seems we are finally getting the scale and power to make this possible.

IE, as a student you have a device thats the main brain behind the system that sits in your backpack. You have a device, very thin, in your pocket that links to the item in the backpack but is used for phone calls and such. But it can also be used as a gui for basic tasks. Need more screenspace? Pull the laptop out and go to town. It would all be seamless. The phone wouldn't need much on board storage as it could access the laptop

Not a student? You probably have a briefcase of some kind. Same deal. Go out of range from the laptop? Your small phone would still work as a calling device but wouldn't be as full featured.

Now, this wouldn't be a device that would DESTROY ALL and replace everything. There are to many circumstances where it wouldn't make since. But then again, there are some where I think it would. If you where in some kind of environment where you wore the same coat everyday, you could have wearable computing systems as well. If technology can get to the point where we can lay circuitry into all (a majority) of clothing with little added cost, then wearable computing would be pretty easy.

I am waiting for the day that my glasses are a HUD for some device I keep around me (my "phone" in my pocket).

I mean, look at Bill Gates article today about Google OS. The terms for lots of technology devices we have are kind of breaking down. Technology is starting to shift as far as what we can do and it will mean that certain definitions and expectations we have are no longer valid. It doesn't mean that har har the iphone is junk, but it means we could (if we have entrepreneurs who have the vision) have some fundamental changes to the "presence" of technology around us (IE the direction is for technology to become more seamless. I mean, when we even use that word we think of circuity and computers and shit - but your chair is a piece of technology: how often do you think about it? Try to imagine when "hi-tech" starts to enter that same level of ubiquity. I mean, we've only had this shit for ~100 years. Its going to take some time for humanity to 1) develop this new technology 2) figure out what to do with it.

[Ayeshala]

Originally Posted by Bralkan

Now, this wouldn't be a device that would DESTROY ALL and replace everything. There are to many circumstances where it wouldn't make since.

I think we're only a few years away from smartphones like the iPhone being powerful enough on the processing/memory side for most user's needs. Once we get there and those devices can handle having to display their interface in 1080p without lag, it's just a matter of having a couple more technologies like:

Universal standards for wireless display (think HDMI...but without the cable) so your phone can display it's interface on your TV set.
USB-like standards for accessories so you can use some sort of input device at home.

Yeah that's pretty much it. Me unless Onlive and such take off I'm still going to want a "real" PC, but for most users who want to browse the web, listen to music, watch movies, chat/email/wave etc it'll be enough.

[Grooverider]

I think the real limitation in that vision is the battery power in a hand held device, not the processing power. If powering the devices magically no longer became an issue the entire handset/portable device market would change overnight.