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About LinkBacksRead more.First independent usage figures show Chromebook use at around 0.023 per cent.
Read more.First independent usage figures show Chromebook use at around 0.023 per cent.
Chrome OS has been out for much longer, on devices that cost about half what the cheapest RT device costs.
Chrome OS has also been aggressively marketed on YouTube for quite some time. However I really doubt it will die, Google want to hedge their bets and having an OS they dominate the design of is a very good way of doing this. Myself I'd rather give up the internet completely than use Chrome OS, so maybe I'm biased.
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Couldn't agree more TheAnimus. I un-installed Google Chrome due to the way Google used it as spyware, and wouldn't even dream of giving them access to more info by using it as my OS.
Still, I am surprised both have such a small market share...
I'm going to show my ignorance here and say that I can't really see the point to either of these two "products"
- why go for ChromeOS when Android is more widely supported and seems to do the same job
- why go for WindowsRT, when Android/iPad are either the same price, or cheaper, and far better supported.
If I was asked to nominate a "raspberry" award for OS's then I think ChromeOS would get it. WindowsRT at least I can see a use for - as an introduction to touch/portable Windows8 - but I think Microsoft screwed it up royally by going for premium pricing. If the Surface had been a LOT cheaper - e.g. £200-250 - then I'm pretty sure that it'd be more widespread. What Microsoft need is an RT equivalent of the Nexus tablets (imho) - no tweaks, basic and inexpensive.
That Google were pushing ChromeOS as always-connected seemed like a major fubar to me. As someone I know pointed out - you can buy a basic netbook from Argos, flush the WindowsXP etc from it and slap something like Ubuntu or Mint on it and get a device that's quite happy to operate sans-network and has a good range of software available. And that's for less than the price of a Chromebook.
Career status: still enjoying my new career in DevOps, but it's keeping me busy...
Chromebook is fine, the Samsung Series 5 with SSD is a lovely little thing...fast on and fast off and the battery lasts a long time even keeps it's charge.
I'm kind of surprised that ChromeOS has *any* market share really, we are just not ready as a world to move back to the mainframe/terminal style of working yet, and Google apps are still years away from being even remotely as usable as Office/OpenOffice (forget features - talking usability). You are still much better off with an Android device for any of the chromeOS use-cases imo, which is also why I find it a bit strange that Google are still pushing/supporting them when they already have a suitable OS offering that is much more widespread.
Windows RT on the other hand I am slowly coming around to..i'm now using Windows 8 on my work machine day to day, and although it was originally an effort I have forced myself into using more and more of metro. I still think it's ugly and hate the "metro styling" of only showing half a word on the screen, but I am finding it more and more usable..this is without touch (for the moment - 1 month until LEAP arrives!). I use metro for all my instant messaging and calendar requirements now (Sadly the lack of outlook means I still need to use the desktop).
OK so that is the full fat windows 8, but I can certainly see the potential for RT..if the price was right. Simply put - if Microsoft released Surface at the same price as ChromeOS it would have sold bucketloads and I would certainly buy one as a companion tablet..but right now it's just too expensive for what you get. It wouldn't replace my laptop, and it wouldn't replace my iPad mini, but it would be a nice enough halfway house between the two.
Not to mention that web apps still feel about as OS integrated as a brick is to swimming. I don't think I'll ever take to it to be honest.
Originally Posted by Agent
I think Google should concentrate on turning Android into a light Desktop/laptop OS. Much more support.
No Skype on Chrome OS is what stops me from even trying it.
While I may be biased as a own a Surface RT, I do not see the purpose or benefit of Chrome OS. I personally love my Surface RT and I feel the only failure is the premium price point. Windows RT uses the same app selection & design from Windows 8. The UI is identical & being that it is ARM based the battery life is great. Sure a Core I5 processor & 4GB RAM is nice, but the added thickness & reduced battery life isn't worth the trade off for my uses and I don't need to be able to run x86 applications on a 10" tablet.
I took a look at Chrome OS at Christmas, I was in Currys/PC World looking for a new Windows 8 Laptop anyway. When I asked the sales person (with a Google Chrome T-Shirt on) what Chrome does and why I should care about it he couldn't give me a good answer.
As it turned out he was quite a nice chap and started showing me some neat things you can do on a Windows 8 laptop instead.
The fact you can do work on it in Excel, Word, PPT.
The fact that shocker, you can browse the web with flash, use the touchpad integrated in the cover for websites which don't support touch (menus that open on mouse over)........
It is easily the best tablet by a wide margin.
It just costs too much. Lacks all the esoteric apps that you get on the iPad. Also goes slow when an update is installing in the background, which it doesn't tell you about if you've got it set to auto update.
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Yep, and my old Asus Transformer (with Doc2Go) seemed to be able to do all that I'd want from a Chomebook - and at least there Docs2Go could save/load locally.
That's probably that's all that's needed on Android to turn it onto a light weight laptop OS - a decent office type suite. Asus have proved that it's possible to integrate a keyboard/touchpad into the "experience" in a seamless manner.
Career status: still enjoying my new career in DevOps, but it's keeping me busy...
Having recently plucked for a Chromebook it is good enough for my usage and suitable in an environment with a windows machine. It is replacing tablet usage. Giving tablet battery life as well Flash playback. It will do in the interim until the new intel chips are out as well as windows update. At this price point I would get a brick with 90 minutes battery life. No thanks.
For office needs I use Zoho. Whilst there isn't Skype, someone has suggested conversat.io which doesn't require user registration. You simply make a name for a room, send url to the person you want to converse with and away you go. Video conference.
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