First Day Review: The Google Chrome OS Cr-48 Notebook • Hacker News Board

Re: First Day Review: The Google Chrome OS Cr-48 Notebook

#21

Post by sullivandanny » Fri, Dec 10, 2010, 3:03 AM UTC

roadnottaken wrote: post #2

Wow, surprise surprise: a Chrome netbook can not serve as a replacement workstation for a sysadmin. Were these really intended as anything but a casual computing device?

Yes, Google is positioning them as the future of computers and replacement devices for millions of people. Also, I'm not a sysadmin. I was just trying to write a blog post using it, actually. To get a picture from my phone and into the post, right now Google wants me to upload it from the phone to the cloud, then down to my machine. Sneakernet also works -- might be nice to support that, too. And it'll come.

Re: First Day Review: The Google Chrome OS Cr-48 Notebook

#22

Post by TheAmazingIdiot » Fri, Dec 10, 2010, 3:12 AM UTC

sullivandanny wrote: post #21

roadnottaken wrote: post #2

Wow, surprise surprise: a Chrome netbook can not serve as a replacement workstation for a sysadmin. Were these really intended as anything but a casual computing device?

Yes, Google is positioning them as the future of computers and replacement devices for millions of people. Also, I'm not a sysadmin. I was just trying to write a blog post using it, actually. To get a picture from my phone and into the post, right now Google wants me to upload it from the phone to the cloud, then down to my machine. Sneakernet also works -- might be nice to support that, too. And it'll come.

Google doesn't seem to be that obtuse.

Example: I was syncing up my blackberry calendar with Google Calendar. Now, I wanted the phases of the moon on my phone's calendar, but did not want to type them in. I found a .ical hosted on Apple's website that did just that. However, it was zipped.

Now, Google Cal has a feature of "Give it a url and we'll make it work". So, not thinking it would work, gave it the zipped URL in the form of a server call (not a direct link)... and it Just Works.

I then manually sync my GCal to my blackberry cal, and it works flawlessly. If this the kind of stuff that Google people do, all the better. It just works.

Re: First Day Review: The Google Chrome OS Cr-48 Notebook

#23

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Dec 10, 2010, 3:15 AM UTC

zazi wrote: post #7

The Google Chrome Notebook does not work like a normal desktop and is probably not supposed to. It's not surprising that he wasn't used to it. What's insightful that he expected it to work like a normal desktop and couldn't get his mind to work otherwise. This is something that google probably has to overcome. Apple's iPad did not have such teething problems probably because it looks and feels so different from a con…

[deleted]

Re: First Day Review: The Google Chrome OS Cr-48 Notebook

#24

Post by sullivandanny » Fri, Dec 10, 2010, 3:20 AM UTC

zazi wrote: post #7

The Google Chrome Notebook does not work like a normal desktop and is probably not supposed to. It's not surprising that he wasn't used to it. What's insightful that he expected it to work like a normal desktop and couldn't get his mind to work otherwise. This is something that google probably has to overcome. Apple's iPad did not have such teething problems probably because it looks and feels so different from a con…

I could get my mind to work otherwise. I just wasn't trying to. I know there are cloud-based alternatives to what I was doing (though I have to say, the difficulty in making a simple screenshot surprised me).

But agreed entirely on how if you approach this fresh, like an iPad -- that you're hitting the store, the expectations will likely be much different. Some might go "wow" and love it.

But the iPad didn't look like a regular laptop. This looks like a laptopduck, but if it doesn't quack like a laptopduck, perhaps an issue for some.

Re: First Day Review: The Google Chrome OS Cr-48 Notebook

#25

Post by ugh » Fri, Dec 10, 2010, 3:53 AM UTC

sullivandanny wrote: post #19

Qz wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Half the article seemed to be about external monitors and hard drives... uh, hello! This is not supposed to replace your desktop people!

Actually, Google thinks it will, for many people. Just got off the phone with them about that, follow-up article tomorrow. But my review points out they already position this as a replacement computer for many people. External monitors increase productivity. Plenty of people use them, and use them with laptops. Right now, this can't run both the internal and external monitor. Google tells me that will change.

I have a hard time understanding how anybody could expect or position any computer of any kind to be the one and only replacement for all previous computers. Maybe Google is merely claiming that netbooks with Chrome OS can replace some computers running full-fledged operating systems?

People might have owned only one computer (if any) in 1998, today it is very easy to afford many computers and computer-like devices. (You can basically buy two cheap laptops for the price of one middle of the road 1998 desktop.) Am I the only one who constantly sees some kind of laptop (the second or even third computer in the household) in all kinds of (non-techie) living rooms and kitchens? People want to be able to quickly check the weather, the news, that route, their emails and random stuff without leaving the living room.

I can’t speak for other households but for my parents their cheap living room laptop is the main computer in the household. They use it constantly to go online or read emails, the nice expensive desktop in the office gets hardly ever used.

Netbooks running Chrome OS and tablets (like the iPad) are perfectly capable of replacing those living room laptops. In that sense, sure, Chrome OS is a good candidate for replacing certain computers. The key word is certain.

Re: First Day Review: The Google Chrome OS Cr-48 Notebook

#26

Post by jlees » Fri, Dec 10, 2010, 4:00 AM UTC

Raphael_Amiard wrote: post #9

You can deduce two things out of this post : - First, chrome OS is still very alpha software - Second, this guy will never be the audience for such an OS. This certainly leaves the question, for who will this OS be for ? The fact of not even being able, by design, to have two windows visible at the same time is a show stopper for me. I liked the tone of the review in the end, even if it irritated me at first. The guy…

Some small things, like the screenshot thing, just tells you that this os isn't finished yet.

Screenshot functionality is there, though. It's just pretty hard to discover unless you visit help.

Re: First Day Review: The Google Chrome OS Cr-48 Notebook

#27

Post by sullivandanny » Fri, Dec 10, 2010, 4:05 AM UTC

ugh wrote: post #25

sullivandanny wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, Google thinks it will, for many people. Just got off the phone with them about that, follow-up article tomorrow. But my review points out they already position this as a replacement computer for many people. External monitors increase productivity. Plenty of people use them, and use them with laptops. Right now, this can't run both the internal and external monitor. Google tells me that will change.

I have a hard time understanding how anybody could expect or position any computer of any kind to be the one and only replacement for all previous computers. Maybe Google is merely claiming that netbooks with Chrome OS can replace some computers running full-fledged operating systems? People might have owned only one computer (if any) in 1998, today it is very easy to afford many computers and computer-like devices.…

Google really, really believes the cloud is the future. Realistically, they don't think these will be an immediate replacement. Long term, absolutely. Got a nice quote from them on it. Just. need. to. recover. from today and write it up later.

Re: First Day Review: The Google Chrome OS Cr-48 Notebook

#28

Post by LordLandon » Fri, Dec 10, 2010, 4:15 AM UTC

wvenable wrote: post #4

ddemchuk wrote: post #3

The vast majority of the things he was trying to do are outside of the planned usecase of this device. It's like if someone was disappointed at the lack of photoshop on the iPad...it simply wasn't designed for that.

I was surprised that these devices have atom processors and SSD drives as opposed to an ARM chipset and embedded flash because the former specs essentially put it in netbook territory. Why would anyone want a netbook with such a limited OS?

The hardware doesn't seem very relevant for this pilot - the main point is Chrome OS. Because it's built on linux, an ARM port shouldn't be too much further than a recompile out of the way.

Re: First Day Review: The Google Chrome OS Cr-48 Notebook

#29

Post by lftl » Fri, Dec 10, 2010, 4:29 AM UTC

jlees wrote: post #26

Raphael_Amiard wrote: post #9

You can deduce two things out of this post : - First, chrome OS is still very alpha software - Second, this guy will never be the audience for such an OS. This certainly leaves the question, for who will this OS be for ? The fact of not even being able, by design, to have two windows visible at the same time is a show stopper for me. I liked the tone of the review in the end, even if it irritated me at first. The guy…

Some small things, like the screenshot thing, just tells you that this os isn't finished yet. Screenshot functionality is there, though. It's just pretty hard to discover unless you visit help.

I think the issue is that there isn't any feedback when you take a screenshot. You have to take the screenshot and then open the file browser to see it.

The other issue Danny was encountering was that Wordpress uses a flash based file upload widget. When flash opens a choose file dialog it opens a GTK-like full system browser. The standard Chrome OS file browser that comes up when you hit a HTML file input is much simpler and would've made the screenshots easier to find.

Re: First Day Review: The Google Chrome OS Cr-48 Notebook

#30

Post by LordLandon » Fri, Dec 10, 2010, 4:31 AM UTC

Some thoughts:

It's a little odd that it wouldn't allow you to install Chrome extensions from outside of the market

The external harddrives probably DID work, and would show him images if he used something that required browsing for them

As much as I hate to admit it, he's right about iTunes. Who with an iP{{o,a}d,oop} would be able to use this thing alone as primary pc?

How do floating pop up type windows work? I.e. clicking the pop out button on google chat, or hulu

For a web-centric machine, those 3g plans seem a little towards the expensive side, with pretty low data allowances. But on the other hand, I don't really know how many bytes "regular browsing" accumulates in a month.