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Forum Index : Other Stuff : New type computer?
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| VK4AYQ Guru  Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Is this an extension of a mobile phone? Beck Diefenbach Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome at Google, announces a Samsung ChromeBox running Google Chrome OS at the Google I/O Developers Conference in San Francisco. Google has hailed its new laptops as a "completely new model of computing" whereby users don't need anti-virus software, firewalls, back-ups or even to install updates. In throwing down the gauntlet to Apple and Microsoft, Google argues that the world of computers today is "broken" and that it's come up with the solution. The new web-centric PCs made by Samsung and Acer - dubbed "Chromebooks" - were announced at Google's I/O event overnight. The computers, which boot in seconds, will be available in the US and Europe next month. The search giant's Chrome operating system marks Google's latest attempt to change how consumers use their computers and analysts say it poses a threat to the dominance of Microsoft's Windows. The bare-bones operating system is essentially a web browser that steers users to use applications such as email and spreadsheets directly on the web, instead of storing software such as Outlook or Word directly on PCs. Moving day-to-day functions on to the internet removes the burden of time-consuming tasks associated with traditional PCs, such as installing software and updates, backing up files and running antivirus checks, executives said. World of computers today 'broken' Google's director of product management for Chrome, Caesar Sengupta, told Fairfax Media in a phone interview that Chrome was designed specifically for laptops, whereas its Android platform was focused on smartphones and tablets. "The world of computers today, in many ways, is broken," he said. "Users have to manage their computers, they have to deal with updates, they have to worry about viruses and security. This is something that we feel can be made much, much better." With Chrome computers, all user data, settings and apps would be stored in the online "cloud", so users can shift to new Chrome computers at any time and have all of their apps, games, photos, music, movies and documents pulled down immediately. Web apps can be launched through the browser as normal but Google has also launched a Chrome Web Store that allows users easily to find and access apps, in a similar way that Apple has implemented the Mac App Store. "All your settings, the places where you've installed your apps, the apps you've installed, the shortcuts you've placed - all these get saved to the cloud," he said. Running system updates is a thing of the past, said Mr Sengupta, as Chrome-based PCs are being constantly updated in the background by Google. He said Microsoft's model of computing was outdated, pointing out that more than 50 per cent of businesses were still running Windows XP, which was released a decade ago. "Ten years back in the IT lifecycle is a century ... that model of computing was good for that time but the world has changed since then," he said. Apps put into a "kind of a jail" Another major difference from Windows-based machines is that every application opens in a stand-alone "sandbox", meaning they do not have access to the rest of the user's machine and if they crash they don't bring anything else down with them. "Modern browsers like Chrome actually put all applications into a kind of a jail ... these are barricades that we erect around each of the applications to keep them away from each other. When you close your tab the application goes away; it can't leave viruses on your system," Mr Sengupta said. He used a bizarre child-rearing metaphor to sum up the benefits of Google's Chrome computers. "This computer just works, you don't have to worry about it breaking down, you don't have to worry about maintaining it - it's sort of like not having a baby in some sense, it's a real person who just does stuff for you," he said. Ovum analyst Craig Skinner said consumers were increasingly owning and using multiple devices and valued being able to share and access their content across devices. With Chrome OS and its online services, Google had taken advantage of this trend. "For traditional PC software developer Microsoft, this trend will threaten their revenue streams from their core Windows and Office products," he said. Samsung and Acer the first with Chromebooks Acer's Chromebook, at $US349 (NZ$495), will have an 11.6-inch display and up to six hours of battery life. Samsung's version, selling for $US429 (NZ$608) to $US499 (NZ$799), will have a 12.1-inch screen and up to 8.5 hours of battery life. Both models will have keyboards, but no hard drives for storage. The machines will be like computer terminals dependent on a connection to the internet. The laptops come with 16 gigabytes of flash memory - the kind found in smartphones, tablet computers and some iPods. They have slots to plug in other storage devices you buy separately. In an effort to get people to use Chromebooks, Google is offering three-year subscription plans to businesses and schools in the US similar to the way the mobile phone industry subsidises devices upfront and makes the money back over the life of a service contract. For a monthly cost of $US28 (NZ$39) per user in businesses and government agencies and $US20 (NZ$28) per user in schools, Google provides the laptop, tech support and a warranty for the duration. Google will replace the Chromebooks at the end of the three years. May be some time before mass market adoption Michael Garternberg, PC analyst at Gartner, said that while Google's new model of computing was innovative, it might take a while before there is mainstream adoption. "While Google is moving the computing paradigm forward, it's not clear that consumers will trade the functionality of a laptop (or tablet) for a device that looks like a laptop, has the cost of a laptop but can only run a web browser and web based applications," he said. "It will take a lot of effort on the part of Google to evangelise the consumer on this model of computing as well as some significant cost reductions before we see mass market adoption." Google clarified that some applications would work offline with Chrome OS, but many would require an internet connection. Another Gartner analyst, Ken Dulaney, said that, while students would find the Chromebooks attractive, he did not believe corporates were ready to take the risk and they would stick with Windows. "But it's a step towards an alternative. They need more work on the user interface," he said. At its I/O event, Google also announced that its Chrome web browser, which is a separate product to the Chrome OS and is designed to run on existing platforms such as Windows and Mac OS, has jumped from 70 million to 160 million active users over the past year. - with Reuters - Sydney Morning Herald Foolin Around |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Unfortunately companies like Google dont get out into the real world very often. If they did, they would realise for most of us, the internet is unreliable and expensive. While the "Cloud" is a good idea on paper, in reality it doesn't work as well as the hype. Also my dealings with Google have taught me their quality control is very lacking. Like a lot of these modern hip internet based companies, facebook especially, their relaxed work environment in my opinion leads to poor quality software. In some situations, it might be OK. Like an office environment where the staff use a few office like applications, and a web browser and email client, and thats all. But for average Jo and his/her home PC, its not going to happen. I like to play games, run 10 year old software, and ask the PC to do things "out of the box". And when my internet is down, I can still use it to do a days work. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Gizmo I think you are right, it may suit kids and city dwellers but for those with off beat applications like us it would be useless. Also in this country most internet connections would be to slow to make it a useful tool, and without a hard drive or other extended memory it has no versatility. I got a little computer that has no HD but some sort of card memory but it wont hold anything useful and runs windows CE that seems to be good for email and a bit of web and thats it. All the best Bob Foolin Around |
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