Chrome OS has stalled out • Hacker News Board

Re: Chrome OS has stalled out

#71

Post by exhilaration » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 4:21 PM UTC

therobot24 wrote: post #60

williamstein wrote: post #57

The new Pixelbook Go only comes with a low resolution display, except for the most expensive model (see [1]). This is significant change for Google, since their previous Chromebooks had 4K-ish displays. This move from high end to low end reminds me of the Pixel 3a phone [2]. I loved the idea of Chromebooks, and hoped ChromeOS was a way that Linux would finally be "mainstream" on laptops. I've bought at least 10 Chrom…

>> [2] I won't ever buy another Google phone -- I bought a Pixel 3a and it completely broke by dropping it 3 feet with a screen protector and highly protective case, due to the very cheap display tech they used. I've got a 3a and haven't experienced this. My kid has dropped my phone everywhere (from the cart at the grocery, from his high chair, his car seat, etc.) - note the phone isn't playing anything, he just like…

I have a 3A as well (I got as soon as it went on sale to replace my Pixel 1) and I'm embarrassed to admit that I drop it all the time but nothing has broken so far.

Re: Chrome OS has stalled out

#72

Post by pawelmurias » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 4:24 PM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #39

ailideex wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got one for my mom and I'm very happy with how low maintenance it is.

Are you also happy that your mum's stuff lives on Google servers? 'Cause I steer my folks away from such stuff.

Yes

Re: Chrome OS has stalled out

#73

Post by andrewmutz » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 4:25 PM UTC

I use Chrome OS daily to do my job and I think it is fantastic. IMO it is the ultimate work machine for your average knowledge worker.

At my company, all the software that we use is web-based (SaaS), with the exception of software engineers, who are using local tools to develop web based applications.

For non-engineers, the OS provides an extremely simple client to use to do their job. The OS is a slightly better web browsing experience than the Mac, and since all you need to do your job is a browser, it works great. The OS presents your google drive cleanly as a local filesystem, so you can even avoid any local storage completely. The OS is security-first, and is far more resistant to malware than a Mac or Windows machine.

For engineers, you get all of the above and a well functioning linux distribution on which you can build software. Since everything we deploy is on linux, it's closer to our production environment than the mac.

The best part of the experience is how the cloud oriented nature of the OS lets me treat my laptops like cattle rather than pets. If you lose your device, just grab another one. All your stuff is up in the cloud. Strange bug? just power wash the machine and start over.

I also think that journalists or hobbyists may have a hard time appreciating the OS. Yes, it is terrible at things like video editing, games, audio editing, etc. But for a work machine in an enterprise environment, it's fantastic.

Re: Chrome OS has stalled out

#74

Post by Redoubts » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 4:25 PM UTC

war1025 wrote: post #22

gruez wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dogfood#Verb

What the above commenters are getting at is the way the sentence is phrased, it seems to be implying something different from traditional "dogfooding". Something like table scraps does seem more appropriate in that sentence to me. Unless there is some context that I am just not picking up on.

Dunno, I can only hazard thinking ‘intentionally underpowered to force our developers to think more ‘

Re: Chrome OS has stalled out

#75

Post by FloatArtifact » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 4:28 PM UTC

It seems like to me I would be better off if chrome OS was actually part of Android. The experience of switching to a desktop could be as simple as plugging in your phone into a keyboard screen shell with a battery USB ports.

Why spend 800 bucks on your phone and laptop.

Third parties have tried to implement such systems with minimal success but I wonder what it would look like with Google backing it.

Re: Chrome OS has stalled out

#76

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 4:29 PM UTC

andrewmutz wrote: post #73

I use Chrome OS daily to do my job and I think it is fantastic. IMO it is the ultimate work machine for your average knowledge worker. At my company, all the software that we use is web-based (SaaS), with the exception of software engineers, who are using local tools to develop web based applications. For non-engineers, the OS provides an extremely simple client to use to do their job. The OS is a slightly better web…

[deleted]

Re: Chrome OS has stalled out

#77

Post by jamesfmilne » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 4:34 PM UTC

ArtWomb wrote: post #64

The counterpoint to this argument is that there are many users who want a super-lightweight OS that is not bloated, but very high performance with long batter life. I use my Samsung Chromebook 3 for gsuite, gcloud management through the web console, linux (beta) shell based development, gcloud cloud shell, putty type chrome terminal and fairly hardcore web app testing (webgl 2.0 compute, magenta, tensorflowjs). It wo…

People are already doing this. Untold Studios in London are running (almost) all their workstations in AWS and the desktops are just Intel NUCs running Teradici.

It makes sense when all your assets are also stored in the cloud.

Not sure the economics are there for everyone yet, as cloud storage requirements for digital content creation can get very expensive very quickly.

Re: Chrome OS has stalled out

#78

Post by geppetto » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 4:36 PM UTC

pgrote wrote: post #6

Since 2013 the main computer I used was the Acer C720. i3, 4 gig of RAM chromebook. Never had an issue with it. Runs as fast now as it did then. It quit receiving updates in June of 2019. Never understood the thought process behind this as supporting the machine is probably negligible given the platform. I looked at other chromebook solutions, but unless I wanted to spend close to $1000 there was nothing close perfor…

Still using mine, and it's the lower specs Celeron I bought used for 100€. Lightweight, small and with a great battery life. Bad screen. I used to carry it around everywhere cause it's cheap and secure enough but as a longtime Linux user I got quite frustrated by the platform limitations. It's now running Debian with no particular issues and I'm fine with that.

Re: Chrome OS has stalled out

#79

Post by fauigerzigerk » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 4:38 PM UTC

ArtWomb wrote: post #64

The counterpoint to this argument is that there are many users who want a super-lightweight OS that is not bloated, but very high performance with long batter life. I use my Samsung Chromebook 3 for gsuite, gcloud management through the web console, linux (beta) shell based development, gcloud cloud shell, putty type chrome terminal and fairly hardcore web app testing (webgl 2.0 compute, magenta, tensorflowjs). It wo…

>super-lightweight OS that is not bloated

That's my problem with Chrome OS. It's super bloated. It's like three operating systems in one with containers acting as duct tape.

I liked the original idea of Chrome OS. But that idea hasn't worked out or perhaps it was just abandoned too soon.

Re: Chrome OS has stalled out

#80

Post by AJ007 » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 4:39 PM UTC

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #65

williamstein wrote: post #57

The new Pixelbook Go only comes with a low resolution display, except for the most expensive model (see [1]). This is significant change for Google, since their previous Chromebooks had 4K-ish displays. This move from high end to low end reminds me of the Pixel 3a phone [2]. I loved the idea of Chromebooks, and hoped ChromeOS was a way that Linux would finally be "mainstream" on laptops. I've bought at least 10 Chrom…

What's interesting, especially with the Pixels, is that Google used to lead with the Nexus phones, which were notable in part because they were excellent phones at a very good price. My guess would be that the difference is that at some point Google decided that instead of making good developer phones (I don't think they ever really viewed the Nexus line as targeting the general public), they wanted to make their own…

I never had a Nexus phone, but I had Nexus tablets. They were great. I was shocked when I went to buy a new one and all I managed to find was a piece of shit Samsung tablet. That was a pretty defining moment for me when I realized Google had substantial structural and a management issues beyond the standard public controversies. Chrome OS users should not expect a bright future, no matter how great things are at the moment.