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HP Chromebook 11

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251–260 of 264 posts

Re: HP Chromebook 11

#251
post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are hacks and not fully endorsed by Google. Besides what is the point to pay $279 for a web browser?

If they aren't endorsed by Google, why did Google add developer mode and Portage? They could have locked it down like Windows RT

If it was endorsed by Google, you would have a user friendly way of doing that with full documentation, instead of hacks having to be explained by users via YouTube videos.

Re: HP Chromebook 11

#252
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Skype has a competitor called Google Hangouts that works just fine in the browser. Word has a competitor called Google Docs that works just fine in the browser. Desktop-only apps need to adapt or get left behind.

Gave you ever tried printing something from GDoc?

I don't recall printing anything else than boarding passes in years. Documents nowadays are written on a computer, and also shared and consumed on a computer.

And even those only when flying outside of Europe, as here we can use QR Codes on smartphone screen at the gate.

Re: HP Chromebook 11

#253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gnumeric is better...

Than LO? I'm sure there's stuff it does faster. Does it do Excel sheets more compatibly? Or do you mean better than Excel? If it's better than Excel at the sort of sheet I mean, that's important news for the people who run such sheets - they'd be moving to Linux yesterday.

Gnumeric is better than LO and Excel for calculations. You can use several scripting languages (you can use Python, I use a functional, dynamic, term-rewriting language called Pure), it has more statistical functions built in, and is more accurate than Excel.

Regardless, it shouldn't matter what OS. Gnumeric runs on Windows, and I've had Excel running on Linux w/ Wine...

Re: HP Chromebook 11

#254
post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they aren't endorsed by Google, why did Google add developer mode and Portage? They could have locked it down like Windows RT

If it was endorsed by Google, you would have a user friendly way of doing that with full documentation, instead of hacks having to be explained by users via YouTube videos.

https://sites.google.com/site/chromeoswikisite/home/what-s-n...

Google could have locked it down as much as iOS if they wanted to. They didn't. Who do you think created developer mode?

Re: HP Chromebook 11

#255
post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While most of Google's services (and most SaaS providers) are closed, the web does enable freedom, and is still generally more open than the proprietary binary blobs people install onto their computers. Chromium is open source, Firefox is open source, and as long as the web itself is being advanced, we are more 'free', not locked into MS Windows, OSX, or even Linux or BSD.

On my dictionary, giving up my rights to use an hypertext document system is not freedom.

What rights do you give up by using an OS that is almost entirely open source? (keep in mind Linux has closed source parts too, some drivers for example)

If you dislike the paradigm that's fine, but don't claim it's hurting your freedom when

a) it's open source and

b) you can modify it the way you see fit.

Heck, you can change the Chromium OS source, recompile it and throw it on a Chromebook if you want...

Re: HP Chromebook 11

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Than LO? I'm sure there's stuff it does faster. Does it do Excel sheets more compatibly? Or do you mean better than Excel? If it's better than Excel at the sort of sheet I mean, that's important news for the people who run such sheets - they'd be moving to Linux yesterday.

Gnumeric is better than LO and Excel for calculations. You can use several scripting languages (you can use Python, I use a functional, dynamic, term-rewriting language called Pure), it has more statistical functions built in, and is more accurate than Excel. Regardless, it shouldn't matter what OS. Gnumeric runs on Windows, and I've had Excel running on Linux w/ Wine...

How is it as a replacement for Excel, though? By which I mean, shove in an OOXML spreadsheet with VBA in it. That is the use case that counts as a "substitute" for Excel for the users I'm talking about.

Re: HP Chromebook 11

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you missed the point... First of all, Google Hangouts replaces Skype, WebRTC eventually will too, and Google Docs or MS Office 365 are both perfectly good Office suites. Second, the idea is simplicity. Anyone can maintain an up to date Chrome OS system. Anyone's grandmother could have an up to date, virus-free Chrome OS laptop. Native apps? Chrome has Native Client. It's up to developers to make use of it. No…

Google Hangouts is nice, but most/all of my clients use Skype and cant be bothered to switch. So while in theory not a big deal, in practice it kind of is. Even running Skype in a Linux enviroment is kind of a pain im afraid.

While the ubiquity of Skype is nice, I remember a time when people used other things. That might change someday as well. Either way, that's out of Google's hands, it's up to MS.

I've always found getting Skype running on Linux to be easy though (Ubuntu, Fedora, SUSE, Arch are all trivial)...

Re: HP Chromebook 11

#258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gnumeric is better than LO and Excel for calculations. You can use several scripting languages (you can use Python, I use a functional, dynamic, term-rewriting language called Pure), it has more statistical functions built in, and is more accurate than Excel. Regardless, it shouldn't matter what OS. Gnumeric runs on Windows, and I've had Excel running on Linux w/ Wine...

How is it as a replacement for Excel, though? By which I mean, shove in an OOXML spreadsheet with VBA in it. That is the use case that counts as a "substitute" for Excel for the users I'm talking about.

I personally think it's ridiculous that those are the terms people think in. If it's not exactly the same it's not as good, never mind the actual merits.

Thankfully the world is changing, MS products are no longer as essential as they once were. Excel really is the last holdout...

Re: HP Chromebook 11

#259
post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it was endorsed by Google, you would have a user friendly way of doing that with full documentation, instead of hacks having to be explained by users via YouTube videos.

https://sites.google.com/site/chromeoswikisite/home/what-s-n... Google could have locked it down as much as iOS if they wanted to. They didn't. Who do you think created developer mode?

You have to manually install a proper operating system following dozens of steps.

The automated scripts that ease the task were created by individuals that don't work for Google.

This is hardly proper support.

If this was a desired way of using Chromebooks, options would be available to select it in a user friendly way.

Re: HP Chromebook 11

#260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it as a replacement for Excel, though? By which I mean, shove in an OOXML spreadsheet with VBA in it. That is the use case that counts as a "substitute" for Excel for the users I'm talking about.

I personally think it's ridiculous that those are the terms people think in. If it's not exactly the same it's not as good, never mind the actual merits. Thankfully the world is changing, MS products are no longer as essential as they once were. Excel really is the last holdout...

I think it is too, but you get financials to change then we'll be talking.
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