$600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft • Hacker News Board

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#251

Post by ChuckMcM » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 8:36 PM UTC

sarcasmic wrote: post #24

Any Chromebook more than $400 right now is just there to absorb even more disposable income from the market, because they ship with nicer finishes and faster processors, but they are anemic on memory and storage, making them subpar for intense multitasking, or getting certain types of work done. The situations in which they excel can be reliably hit by Chromebooks around a $400 price point, and even cheaper Chromeboo…

To my way of thinking, this is exactly the blind spot: ... they are anemic on memory and storage, making them subpar for intense multitasking, or getting certain types of work done.

Look at the iPad Pro, 2GB of memory, not a "laptop" class CPU. etc. It is eating into Microsoft's market for the same reason. The "big" part of the laptop wedge is people who aren't gamers, or intense multitaskers, or intense local storage users. They are people who have their stuff in the cloud, want an easy to carry package that can run the apps they need to run one, or perhaps two, at a time.

The Chromebook is anticipating the iOS based, ARM processor based Macbook air. This is also the Surface Go space.

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#252

Post by gd2 » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 8:45 PM UTC

mabbo wrote: post #5

I was an intern at Microsoft the day that ChromeOS was announced. Conveniently, a few days later the head of Windows was giving a talk to all the interns. Overall, spoke well, but during Q&A someone asked him what he thought about ChromeOS. He laughed. He said it was a joke. He made it very clear that he didn't understand what Google was even thinking. And that stuck such a sour chord on me. Here's a company well kno…

I also remember that for a few season, MS did the vaporware thing. Spreading false rumors that they would be releasing a Surface in a few months that would cost about $200, and be better real computer compared to the new Google backed toy. Then after a few delays the surface limited devices came out at nearly $500, and were soon abandoned.

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#253

Post by notananthem » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 8:58 PM UTC

I don't see it a threat, its entirely different segmentation. Microsoft eats up lower pricepoints through its OEM/ODM partners that it can direct by issuing best practice guidances in fit, finish, features, etc and captures what it likes. It does ultra-premium but occasionally dabbles in lower segments- the thing I'm most curious to see is what it considered in the Surface 3 and other slightly more budget conscious releases.

Google was crap at hardware, are they good now? They're hiring like mad right now for hardware PMs from other orgs, and that'll grab some younger talent, but they need pretty seasoned people to rebuild a whole hardware org. They have good hardware design teams but they're fractured from eng, biz, strat and more.

You can be good at a network of your ODMs but that doesn't mean the product comes out to target. Chromebooks were positioned as this cheap school thing for a bit, but then the pixel kinda overshot this by a lot.. they need clear segmentation and targeting goals.

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#254

Post by Const-me » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 9:01 PM UTC

osrec wrote: post #43

mabbo wrote: post #5

I was an intern at Microsoft the day that ChromeOS was announced. Conveniently, a few days later the head of Windows was giving a talk to all the interns. Overall, spoke well, but during Q&A someone asked him what he thought about ChromeOS. He laughed. He said it was a joke. He made it very clear that he didn't understand what Google was even thinking. And that stuck such a sour chord on me. Here's a company well kno…

If it wasn't for Office and the ecosystem around it, I don't think many firms would opt for Microsoft products. In my firm, we're purely Linux, but have Windows VMs, just for Excel. As an aside, we run a business management app called Bx ( https://usebx.com/app ) and have recently started making some money. We're putting aside some cash to fund the development of a feature-rich, cross-platform spreadsheet app (I wish…

> If it wasn't for Office and the ecosystem around it, I don't think many firms would opt for Microsoft products.

Many firms and people need Windows software, MS Office is just one example.

You want to edit pictures, Photoshop only runs on Windows and OSX. You want to build things, AutoCAD only runs on Windows. You want to produce music, Cubase only runs on Windows and OSX.

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#255

Post by jimmcslim » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 9:05 PM UTC

datguacdoh wrote: post #93

sarcasmic wrote: post #24

Any Chromebook more than $400 right now is just there to absorb even more disposable income from the market, because they ship with nicer finishes and faster processors, but they are anemic on memory and storage, making them subpar for intense multitasking, or getting certain types of work done. The situations in which they excel can be reliably hit by Chromebooks around a $400 price point, and even cheaper Chromeboo…

> On Chromebooks, Chrome's fantastic profile system is deliberately conflated with Chrome OS login sessions, which makes it harder for one user to maintain multiple independent browsing contexts than when using Chrome on other platforms. Power users on Windows can run multiple browsers, or use profile systems in browsers to keep separation, but on Chrome OS, you only get two de facto contexts (the white one and the b…

But having to set up a whole Google account for multiple profiles on a Chromebook is a lot more ponderous that simply creating another profile as is possible with Chrome running on Windows/Linux/Mac OS.

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#256

Post by bitL » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 9:05 PM UTC

badminton1 wrote: post #196

stan_rogers wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WordPerfect died for two reasons: the transition to Windows (and WP6 for DOS, which was the worst of both worlds); and its lack of a real office suite integration. Lotus 1-2-3, the other application that owned to office, lost out for much the same reason. SmartSuite was a whole lot closer to an integrated solution than bundling WP with Quattro Pro and friends was, but Ami Pro was a less-than-competent word processor…

Gimp may not have full feature parity with Photoshop but unless you are a professional graphics designer or creative worker, Gimp will provide most of the features you need.

Not at all. Its image processing algorithms are often subpar, missing the final touch that is present in Adobe products, admitting it as much as I hate their subscription model.

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#257

Post by gd2 » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 9:07 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #61

Let me just say right off the bat that I like Chromebooks and think they're fantastic for education in particular (combined with GSuite). But that being said, Chromebooks don't scale with better hardware very well. You can spend $250-350 and get 90% of the experience, and a very good experience at that. If you spend three times more you'll get more memory for Chrome and slightly more responsive tabs but hardly blows…

  Should I pay 3X's as much to get only 10% more experience, is a great question.   But if I frame the choice as, I could pay less than $0.50 / hour for better experience on something important to me, my calculus is different.

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#258

Post by ehsankia » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 9:07 PM UTC

sarcasmic wrote: post #24

Any Chromebook more than $400 right now is just there to absorb even more disposable income from the market, because they ship with nicer finishes and faster processors, but they are anemic on memory and storage, making them subpar for intense multitasking, or getting certain types of work done. The situations in which they excel can be reliably hit by Chromebooks around a $400 price point, and even cheaper Chromeboo…

https://www.engadget.com/2007/11/05/symbian-nokia-microsoft-...

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#259

Post by jimmcslim » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 9:09 PM UTC

> For now, Chrome OS's success seems limited and fairly US-centric.

Availability of Chromebooks in Australia is still very spotty (can’t get the Pixel easily for example) so the Microsoft hegemony isn’t being threatened Down Under!

Re: $600 Chromebooks are a dangerous development for Microsoft

#260

Post by reaperducer » Sat, Sep 01, 2018, 9:09 PM UTC

mattkevan wrote: post #183

isostatic wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's a Zune? It's the think starlord got at the end of guardians of the galaxy 2. Still, at least it didn't suffer like the ipod -- it had No wireless and Less space than a Nomad. It was "Lame".

But you could ‘squirt’ songs from one Zune to another. The Zune was a litany of poor decisions, but that word choice must have been the worst.

I think you are correct.

Though, I also found the word "squircle†" amusing, and still use it when the opportunity arises. The Zune was the first time I'd heard it used outside of math nerds trying to out-nerd each other.

† https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squircle