I’m writing this one as I go and not being too careful about grammar or phrasing, being more concerned about getting my point across. Please pardon the probably typo or badly constructed phrase… :)
So, the hype these days seems to be Google ChromeOS. After the last huge disappointing hype (aka Google Wave), Google finally seems to be getting somewhere. I saw the whole presentation webcast, and was very well impressed by the concept and implementation. Then I thought about it a bit more thoroughly.
ChromeOS is not much more than a thin client. These were at rage in the 90s in big companies. They allowed IT departments to have really powerful servers, and deploy thin clients everywhere in the company, that basically allowed nothing more than logging into your account, which was actually being run by the server. That meant bigger IT departments, and more money coming to their budgets. No wonder IT managers really pushed them. The server kept your files and everything you worked on, and you could easily switch work desks with someone else, and resume your work anywhere. That was bliss for IT departments and, at the time, was thought to be cost effective, as personal computers powerful enough were too expensive to buy that many.
Then PCs became really powerful and cheap. At one point, a lot of companies were declaring the death of PCs. I think they were seeing their profits going way down and got scared (PS: for an awesome, inspiring and amazingly accurate prediction, check this video of Steve Jobs, back in 2001, before announcing the iPod). PCs were cheap and powerful so the thin clients were abandoned (well, not completely, but to the degree they were being hyped, they basically did disappear).
Someone saw the light (see video mentioned in paragraph above) and decided to shift the focus of the personal computer from workstation to a digital hub. By then, the internet was becoming widespread and more and more people were getting broadband everywhere. Today, broadband and personal computers are pretty ubiquitous. In Portugal, the government made a deal with the telecoms and together they distributed computers with 3G connections to every student. Kids would get a “kiddie” computer (much like the OLPC XO) for free, and only payed the 3G connection at a discounted price. Similarly, the “grown-up” version of that program, included off-the-shelf laptops (from HP, Toshiba, etc..) for 150€ + 24-month contract for a 3G connection at ~20€/month. So, bottom line, everyone has a personal computer, that is most likely a laptop (netbooks on the rise as well). Done with the history lesson; back to ChromeOS.
Google’s focus market are people who already have a computer at home (aka another personal computer) and are looking to have an “always connected” device. Google offers that by creating an OS that stores everything on the Cloud, and has incredibly fast boot/load times. But this OS is nothing more than a beefed-up browser. It’s not much more than standard Google Chrome you can run on Windows and Mac (and Linux). So my question is: why would spend money on an extra device instead of getting a small laptop, that could do much more things like watching DVDs, syncing your iPod or phone, store your files locally (sure you can backup to the cloud… I do!), edit videos, etc? Plus, to take real advantage of a “cloud” thin client, you need to have an always-on internet connection. Nope: EDGE won’t cut it. You need 3G, which in countries like the USA (biggest target market) is still a P.I.T.A. to get…
My suggestion for those hyping about Google ChromeOS is: go get a real laptop. And while at it, get a real smartphone… My recommendation: get a Macbook and an iPhone! Then enjoy life for 3-4 years and check back on the progress of ChromeOS. Check Google Wave at that point too, maybe someone will have done something useful with it by then… :> And I promise you this: you won’t miss ChromeOS for the next 3-4+ years!
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