Paul Buchheit: Chrome OS Will Perish Or “Merge” With Android • Hacker News Board

Re: Paul Buchheit: Chrome OS Will Perish Or “Merge” With Android

#21

Post by redthrowaway » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 12:53 PM UTC

axod wrote: post #18

AlexMuir wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"it's clear that tablets are huge". I agree but I'd say it's clear that the iPad is huge, and that tablets will be huge. So far there's no competitor to the iPad. I'm not sure why Google are arsing around with the Cr-48 (a netbook/laptop) - they need to get their resources behind a tablet.

Are tablets huge, or are touchscreens huge? To know, we need some decent laptops with touchscreens. It seems like the best of both worlds will clearly be a tablet that docks to the bottom half of a laptop - so we get a laptop with a tablet that can be carried around. I also think it's a fairly good long term bet. At the moment we're in this strange 'appstore' download applications era which is like being back in the…

>It seems like the best of both worlds will clearly be a tablet that docks to the bottom half of a laptop - so we get a laptop with a tablet that can be carried around

Seems a little gimmicky to me, and I don't see an OEM putting the kind of effort it would take to make it a seamless experience. Plus, when it's docked, are you going to have a trackpad with cursor? That would require a fairly major customization of Android to support. I don't see it happening.

Re: Paul Buchheit: Chrome OS Will Perish Or “Merge” With Android

#22

Post by greendestiny » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 12:59 PM UTC

paul wrote: post #8

i386 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Google started to make noise about Chrome OS I had a similar thought - what company in their right mind would want two mobile operating systems?

It was a more plausible sounding strategy before the iPad came out. Now that it's clear that tablets are huge, and that Android will be Google's tablet OS, then you start to wonder why adding a keyboard sudden switches you to a different OS (losing all of the Android apps in the process).

I think the idea of Chrome OS is to see if its a viable successor operating system for tablets and other devices. They can't seem to be anything less than 100% behind Android at the moment though.

Re: Paul Buchheit: Chrome OS Will Perish Or “Merge” With Android

#23

Post by brlewis » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 1:03 PM UTC

paul wrote: post #2

I like that the screenshot says "11 seconds ago". An idle thought while setting up my new MacBook Air became a TC post in record time!

FriendFeed (at least for me on Firefox 3.6.3/Ubuntu) doesn't update that time as the item scrolls down the screen, so the screenshot was probably taken more than 11 seconds later. But yes, it is remarkable how fast they picked it up.

(I don't especially want that time to update in real-time. I find it distracting when Facebook does it.)

I'm amused that they use the verb "tweeted" for a native FriendFeed post that happens to go to twitter.

Re: Paul Buchheit: Chrome OS Will Perish Or “Merge” With Android

#24

Post by AlexMuir » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 1:08 PM UTC

axod wrote: post #18

AlexMuir wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"it's clear that tablets are huge". I agree but I'd say it's clear that the iPad is huge, and that tablets will be huge. So far there's no competitor to the iPad. I'm not sure why Google are arsing around with the Cr-48 (a netbook/laptop) - they need to get their resources behind a tablet.

Are tablets huge, or are touchscreens huge? To know, we need some decent laptops with touchscreens. It seems like the best of both worlds will clearly be a tablet that docks to the bottom half of a laptop - so we get a laptop with a tablet that can be carried around. I also think it's a fairly good long term bet. At the moment we're in this strange 'appstore' download applications era which is like being back in the…

I think Bluetooth keyboards might take off. What you're describing sounds exactly like the iPad docked with a keyboard.

Edit: And to test it out I've just paired a keyboard to the iPad and edited this. It works a treat - I might stop rolling with a laptop when I travel now. I keep reaching for a mouse though!

Re: Paul Buchheit: Chrome OS Will Perish Or “Merge” With Android

#25

Post by someperson » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 1:11 PM UTC

Dec 13 2010: > Google co-founder Sergey Brin, however, has very recently stated that Google will likely “produce a single OS down the road”.

Linked article: "November 20, 2009 12:00 PM PST "

Not said ~1 month ago. Actually said ~13 months ago.

Re: Paul Buchheit: Chrome OS Will Perish Or “Merge” With Android

#26

Post by robinwauters » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 1:13 PM UTC

brlewis wrote: post #23

paul wrote: post #2

I like that the screenshot says "11 seconds ago". An idle thought while setting up my new MacBook Air became a TC post in record time!

FriendFeed (at least for me on Firefox 3.6.3/Ubuntu) doesn't update that time as the item scrolls down the screen, so the screenshot was probably taken more than 11 seconds later. But yes, it is remarkable how fast they picked it up. (I don't especially want that time to update in real-time. I find it distracting when Facebook does it.) I'm amused that they use the verb "tweeted" for a native FriendFeed post that hap…

You're easily amused :)

Re: Paul Buchheit: Chrome OS Will Perish Or “Merge” With Android

#27

Post by blub » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 1:14 PM UTC

ddfall wrote: post #4

To quote a friend about this story, "Man no longer at Google makes assumption"...

If Google could serve ads with assumptions, they would endorse this assumption.

Re: Paul Buchheit: Chrome OS Will Perish Or “Merge” With Android

#28

Post by stcredzero » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 1:14 PM UTC

paul wrote: post #8

i386 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Google started to make noise about Chrome OS I had a similar thought - what company in their right mind would want two mobile operating systems?

It was a more plausible sounding strategy before the iPad came out. Now that it's clear that tablets are huge, and that Android will be Google's tablet OS, then you start to wonder why adding a keyboard sudden switches you to a different OS (losing all of the Android apps in the process).

you start to wonder why adding a keyboard sudden switches you to a different OS (losing all of the Android apps in the process).

Basically, you can think of ChromeOS as a bare-bones but specially optimized Linux with just one application running on it. (Google Chrome with certain extensions)

It strikes me that "merging" this with Android would be fairly easy! (As far as OS mergers go.)

Now that it's clear that tablets are huge

Yes, but workstations are not going away. Right now, tablets are more about consumption than creation. Cloud-usage patterns are also likely to be huge. I think laptops like the Cr-48 and the Macbook Air are one future direction.

Re: Paul Buchheit: Chrome OS Will Perish Or “Merge” With Android

#29

Post by rms » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 1:18 PM UTC

Paul, I will bet 1000 HN karma at even odds on the following prediction:

Chrome OS will not be killed or merge with Android in the next year.

(if it was in the next two years, I would give 80% odds on the existence of a Google operating system not called Android that was the successor of Android+Chrome)

Re: Paul Buchheit: Chrome OS Will Perish Or “Merge” With Android

#30

Post by J3L2404 » Tue, Dec 14, 2010, 1:27 PM UTC

rms wrote: post #29

Paul, I will bet 1000 HN karma at even odds on the following prediction: Chrome OS will not be killed or merge with Android in the next year. (if it was in the next two years, I would give 80% odds on the existence of a Google operating system not called Android that was the successor of Android+Chrome)

How exactly would you "settle up"?