Well, Google has a history of suddenly kicking over established markets. Remember Gmail?
That wasn't really kicking it over. They basically created a free web-based email system to act like and compete with other free web-based email systems. It took an equal amount of effort whichever way you went. Now their trying to create an OS which will probably behave substantially differently from an established, paid-for OS and require more effort from the average user. It's not going to be as simple a takeover as with Gmail.
This is going to be a huge uphill battle for Google. The reason MS pretty has monopoly on the OS market is from years and years of having deals with computer manufacturers and retailer to have their OS pre-installed on machine. Most people are too lazy to bother going out and downloading somethings that's (even if it's free) and jump through hoops to install it and make it work. People want to buy their computer, start it up, and start doing their thing. It was the same IE. Having pre-installed in Windows basically gave MS a virtual monopoly on the web browser market for a long time because people didn't want to bother installing anything else.
If Google can produce some deals to have Chrome OS pre-installed on netbooks, then it may have a shot, but with the existing contracts with MS, it may be very difficult to do, and unless they produce something that can truly blow the competition out of the water, I'd be close to calling this dead on the vine.
Sure, MS has made their fortune on a largely ignorant and lazy consumer base. But the times, they are a-changing.
Never underestimate the laziness of the average consumer.
It's really funny to see people post their ideas of the average consumer. I'm not saying you're wrong; I accidentally read the comments section of that opinion piece. There were people talking about how Google is way off because you can't do heavy video processing on a netbook, as though 95% of users want to do that.
I suspect that the average user either wouldn't know or wouldn't care about the differences of Windows from Linux from OS X, they just want to click on the internet browser, the word processor, and the IM client.
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TL DRNot at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered Userregular
This is going to be a huge uphill battle for Google. The reason MS pretty has monopoly on the OS market is from years and years of having deals with computer manufacturers and retailer to have their OS pre-installed on machine. Most people are too lazy to bother going out and downloading somethings that's (even if it's free) and jump through hoops to install it and make it work. People want to buy their computer, start it up, and start doing their thing. It was the same IE. Having pre-installed in Windows basically gave MS a virtual monopoly on the web browser market for a long time because people didn't want to bother installing anything else.
If Google can produce some deals to have Chrome OS pre-installed on netbooks, then it may have a shot, but with the existing contracts with MS, it may be very difficult to do, and unless they produce something that can truly blow the competition out of the water, I'd be close to calling this dead on the vine.
Sure, MS has made their fortune on a largely ignorant and lazy consumer base. But the times, they are a-changing.
Never underestimate the laziness of the average consumer.
It's really funny to see people post their ideas of the average consumer. I'm not saying you're wrong; I accidentally read the comments section of that opinion piece. There were people talking about how Google is way off because you can't do heavy video processing on a netbook, as though 95% of users want to do that.
I suspect that the average user either wouldn't know or wouldn't care about the differences of Windows from Linux from OS X, they just want to click on the internet browser, the word processor, and the IM client.
Right, and if the Google Netbook is on sale at Best Buy for $50 cheaper than the Windows version, and it looks easy to use, people will buy it.
This is going to be a huge uphill battle for Google. The reason MS pretty has monopoly on the OS market is from years and years of having deals with computer manufacturers and retailer to have their OS pre-installed on machine. Most people are too lazy to bother going out and downloading somethings that's (even if it's free) and jump through hoops to install it and make it work. People want to buy their computer, start it up, and start doing their thing. It was the same IE. Having pre-installed in Windows basically gave MS a virtual monopoly on the web browser market for a long time because people didn't want to bother installing anything else.
If Google can produce some deals to have Chrome OS pre-installed on netbooks, then it may have a shot, but with the existing contracts with MS, it may be very difficult to do, and unless they produce something that can truly blow the competition out of the water, I'd be close to calling this dead on the vine.
Sure, MS has made their fortune on a largely ignorant and lazy consumer base. But the times, they are a-changing.
Never underestimate the laziness of the average consumer.
It's really funny to see people post their ideas of the average consumer. I'm not saying you're wrong; I accidentally read the comments section of that opinion piece. There were people talking about how Google is way off because you can't do heavy video processing on a netbook, as though 95% of users want to do that.
I suspect that the average user either wouldn't know or wouldn't care about the differences of Windows from Linux from OS X, they just want to click on the internet browser, the word processor, and the IM client.
Right, and if the Google Netbook is on sale at Best Buy for $50 cheaper than the Windows version, and it looks easy to use, people will buy it.
"Hey my programs don't work. THIS SUCKS. *calls friend to install Windows*"
This is going to be a huge uphill battle for Google. The reason MS pretty has monopoly on the OS market is from years and years of having deals with computer manufacturers and retailer to have their OS pre-installed on machine. Most people are too lazy to bother going out and downloading somethings that's (even if it's free) and jump through hoops to install it and make it work. People want to buy their computer, start it up, and start doing their thing. It was the same IE. Having pre-installed in Windows basically gave MS a virtual monopoly on the web browser market for a long time because people didn't want to bother installing anything else.
If Google can produce some deals to have Chrome OS pre-installed on netbooks, then it may have a shot, but with the existing contracts with MS, it may be very difficult to do, and unless they produce something that can truly blow the competition out of the water, I'd be close to calling this dead on the vine.
Sure, MS has made their fortune on a largely ignorant and lazy consumer base. But the times, they are a-changing.
Never underestimate the laziness of the average consumer.
It's really funny to see people post their ideas of the average consumer. I'm not saying you're wrong; I accidentally read the comments section of that opinion piece. There were people talking about how Google is way off because you can't do heavy video processing on a netbook, as though 95% of users want to do that.
I suspect that the average user either wouldn't know or wouldn't care about the differences of Windows from Linux from OS X, they just want to click on the internet browser, the word processor, and the IM client.
Right, and if the Google Netbook is on sale at Best Buy for $50 cheaper than the Windows version, and it looks easy to use, people will buy it.
"Hey my programs don't work. THIS SUCKS. *calls friend to install Windows*"
You don't sound like the target audience for a netbook.
If Google can produce some deals to have Chrome OS pre-installed on netbooks, then it may have a shot, but with the existing contracts with MS, it may be very difficult to do, and unless they produce something that can truly blow the competition out of the water, I'd be close to calling this dead on the vine.
This is going to be a huge uphill battle for Google. The reason MS pretty has monopoly on the OS market is from years and years of having deals with computer manufacturers and retailer to have their OS pre-installed on machine. Most people are too lazy to bother going out and downloading somethings that's (even if it's free) and jump through hoops to install it and make it work. People want to buy their computer, start it up, and start doing their thing. It was the same IE. Having pre-installed in Windows basically gave MS a virtual monopoly on the web browser market for a long time because people didn't want to bother installing anything else.
If Google can produce some deals to have Chrome OS pre-installed on netbooks, then it may have a shot, but with the existing contracts with MS, it may be very difficult to do, and unless they produce something that can truly blow the competition out of the water, I'd be close to calling this dead on the vine.
Sure, MS has made their fortune on a largely ignorant and lazy consumer base. But the times, they are a-changing.
Never underestimate the laziness of the average consumer.
It's really funny to see people post their ideas of the average consumer. I'm not saying you're wrong; I accidentally read the comments section of that opinion piece. There were people talking about how Google is way off because you can't do heavy video processing on a netbook, as though 95% of users want to do that.
I suspect that the average user either wouldn't know or wouldn't care about the differences of Windows from Linux from OS X, they just want to click on the internet browser, the word processor, and the IM client.
Right, and if the Google Netbook is on sale at Best Buy for $50 cheaper than the Windows version, and it looks easy to use, people will buy it.
"Hey my programs don't work. THIS SUCKS. *calls friend to install Windows*"
You don't sound like the target audience for a netbook.
Yeah, I'm seeing Doc's position on this one. If you can type a document or maybe even make a spreadsheet and not have trouble exchanging with Windows machines, and the internet works the same, I'm betting you could have four or five big icons for office / media player / internet / etc and forgo the task bar and a lot of people wouldn't miss it.
edit: Well until they wanted to launch an application and already had something open, necessitating minimizing the window... to the taskbar that doesn't exist. Anyway, you see my point so I'm leaving this awful post as it.
This is essentially a Linux distro... with a company that will actually fucking advertise it. That is a big change.
Moreover, most of my non-techie relatives complain about my oh-so-different Linux UI until I ask them to actually fucking try to find Firefox/OpenOffice.org. Then it takes them about two seconds to recognise the logo on the panel. People are funny like that.
Also, every so often would come out that Dell, for example, would fuck over Dell Ubuntu users by making their laptop cost more than an XP equivalent, due to discounts that XP laptops would get that Ubuntu laptops wouldn't. The same went for EEE netbooks, I believe - the Linux version would have something gimped for some stupid reason, like that 1GiB memory cap the kernel had. Hopefully, that kind of bullshit won't fly with Google.
I'm also all for a Linux distro that doesn't use X11. From what I hear, it has the most labyrinthine development interface evar.
Plus Ubuntu on laptops fucking sucks. I run it on a great laptop - a Macbook Pro, and getting everything configured correctly was by no means an easy feat. For an OS that has proponents bragging about how rarely you have to restart it, you sure have to restart the front-facing half all the goddamn time. Once it's configured it's okay. Until you unplug it from the monitor you were using.
Windows: figures it out.
OS X: figures it out
Gnome, as configured out of the box anyway: fail. It still acts as though the monitor were attached.
OS X proved that you can make a beautiful UX on top of *nix. I really, really hope that Google does it again.
I'm not a Linux hater by any means. It's a great tool for some things. But as it is presented today, it's a horrible tool for consumer laptops or even desktops.
I used to use Ubuntu on my desktop, so when I got my laptop (with Vista), I decided to install Ubuntu. My six-cell battery gave me between 3 and 3.5 hours under Vista, and anywhere between 1.5 and 2 hours under Ubuntu. Not to mention the ridiculous lengths I had to go to to get wi-fi working (I know - hardware dudes' fault). Just my experience FWIW.
This is going to be a huge uphill battle for Google. The reason MS pretty has monopoly on the OS market is from years and years of having deals with computer manufacturers and retailer to have their OS pre-installed on machine. Most people are too lazy to bother going out and downloading somethings that's (even if it's free) and jump through hoops to install it and make it work. People want to buy their computer, start it up, and start doing their thing. It was the same IE. Having pre-installed in Windows basically gave MS a virtual monopoly on the web browser market for a long time because people didn't want to bother installing anything else.
If Google can produce some deals to have Chrome OS pre-installed on netbooks, then it may have a shot, but with the existing contracts with MS, it may be very difficult to do, and unless they produce something that can truly blow the competition out of the water, I'd be close to calling this dead on the vine.
Sure, MS has made their fortune on a largely ignorant and lazy consumer base. But the times, they are a-changing.
Never underestimate the laziness of the average consumer.
It's really funny to see people post their ideas of the average consumer. I'm not saying you're wrong; I accidentally read the comments section of that opinion piece. There were people talking about how Google is way off because you can't do heavy video processing on a netbook, as though 95% of users want to do that.
I suspect that the average user either wouldn't know or wouldn't care about the differences of Windows from Linux from OS X, they just want to click on the internet browser, the word processor, and the IM client.
Right, and if the Google Netbook is on sale at Best Buy for $50 cheaper than the Windows version, and it looks easy to use, people will buy it.
"Hey my programs don't work. THIS SUCKS. *calls friend to install Windows*"
You don't sound like the target audience for a netbook.
Yeah, I'm seeing Doc's position on this one. If you can type a document or maybe even make a spreadsheet and not have trouble exchanging with Windows machines, and the internet works the same, I'm betting you could have four or five big icons for office / media player / internet / etc and forgo the task bar and a lot of people wouldn't miss it.
edit: Well until they wanted to launch an application and already had something open, necessitating minimizing the window... to the taskbar that doesn't exist. Anyway, you see my point so I'm leaving this awful post as it.
My friends and parents use stuff that have only been compiled on Windows, partly because they like using, oh, I dunno, Asian and big corp software? That stuff tends to ONLY work in Windows.
"Why can't I use my QQ IM client and MSN messenger that I use to talk to all my friends back home in China?" "Why can't I use my Asian P2P program to download my Chinese songs?" "Why can't I run this Big Fish Games puzzle game you installed for me on my old computer?" "How do I transfer photos onto my computer from my camera without that nifty bundled software that only runs on Windows?" "Hey, I can't use this stock market program I use for work"
I can definitely see having these conversations with my roommates/friends/parents/relatives/landlord.
Well, maybe I am missing the point. Is the intended audience of netbooks supposed to be computer savvy people? Because if it's not Windows, it WILL cause hell for them. I think people are overestimating their computer abilities or underestimating the amount of software people actually use. Especially on a new OS that will almost certainly have hardware/install cd driver incompatibilities with whatever external device they plug into it and little to no documentation from the device's manufacturer website or a Google search.
Hell, let's take iPhones, popular amongst even non-tech people for fad purposes. Don't iPhone activations require iTunes? Is there even an iTunes for Linux? And assuming there is a way to do it on Linux, are those instructions going to be included in their iPhone quick start guide/manual?
Well, maybe I am missing the point. Is the intended audience of netbooks supposed to be computer savvy people?
You're missing the point.
Your netbook isn't supposed to be your only computer. They're marketed as a secondary computer, something you stuff in your backpack to supplement your desktop/widescreen laptop computer so you can do basic functions on the go.
Think of an iPhone with a bigger screen and a keyboard and you're on the right track.
Feral on
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
Well, maybe I am missing the point. Is the intended audience of netbooks supposed to be computer savvy people?
You're missing the point.
Your netbook isn't supposed to be your only computer. They're marketed as a secondary computer, something you stuff in your backpack to supplement your desktop/widescreen laptop computer so you can do basic functions on the go.
Think of an iPhone with a bigger screen and a keyboard and you're on the right track.
Agreed. Assuming good faith on Google's part (i.e. they're not colluding with M$ to scam antitrust regulators into the illusion of competition or whatever), they're probably betting on a fundamental shift for what the word "computer" means.
Even with current netbooks, the niche between iPhone and laptop is barely exploited. This isn't even just about cost. It's about size and portability too. There's a lot of cool emerging technology, like OLEDs, that is going to make it very easy to shrink computing to the extent that the iPhone will look clunky.
Is the iPhone a phone with computerlike functions or a computer that looks and feels like a phone? I think it's becoming more and more obvious that it's the latter. But in order for this new class of device to work, Apple had to invent an operating system that suited the size and portability needs of the device. This new OS managed to completely outflank Microsoft.
The argument that everyone is computer illiterate and MS will always be king is failing pretty hard. People are becoming more and more computer savvy, not so much the 40+ crowd, though Distros like Ubuntu certainly means they are approachable too.
This google OS will be interesting though, I am wrondering what google really can bring to the table, as the biggest problems for Linux OSs are compatability with software that doesn't want to be compatible, ie MS office formats, Itunes, and that sort of closed shit. But if they make a nice, fast OS that works well out of the box, I very well might use it, if only on my eee.
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Yepp, THE Fjafjan (who's THE fjafjan?)
- "Proving once again the deadliest animal of all ... is the Zoo Keeper" - Philip J Fry
Well, maybe I am missing the point. Is the intended audience of netbooks supposed to be computer savvy people?
You're missing the point.
Your netbook isn't supposed to be your only computer. They're marketed as a secondary computer, something you stuff in your backpack to supplement your desktop/widescreen laptop computer so you can do basic functions on the go.
Think of an iPhone with a bigger screen and a keyboard and you're on the right track.
Agreed. Assuming good faith on Google's part (i.e. they're not colluding with M$ to scam antitrust regulators into the illusion of competition or whatever), they're probably betting on a fundamental shift for what the word "computer" means.
Even with current netbooks, the niche between iPhone and laptop is barely exploited. This isn't even just about cost. It's about size and portability too. There's a lot of cool emerging technology, like OLEDs, that is going to make it very easy to shrink computing to the extent that the iPhone will look clunky.
Is the iPhone a phone with computerlike functions or a computer that looks and feels like a phone? I think it's becoming more and more obvious that it's the latter. But in order for this new class of device to work, Apple had to invent an operating system that suited the size and portability needs of the device. This new OS managed to completely outflank Microsoft.
I'm actually really looking forward to this. It could potentially push me towards something other than an Air for my next 'book purchase.
Now if they would just release Wave so I can geek out over that for a while, I'll be set.
Wave is definitely my most-anticipated Google (or any other company, I think) project right now.
Yeah. I pretty much geeked out during the entire video. I could easily find myself largely living inside Wave by the looks of it--hell, the word processor features in it look spectacular alone. Grammar & Translation aides using Google search technologies (and hopefully only proper sources and not message boards :P)? That's awesome. I could have gotten through Spanish class so much easier back in the day if I had a reliable translator.
Yeah. I pretty much geeked out during the entire video. I could easily find myself largely living inside Wave by the looks of it--hell, the word processor features in it look spectacular alone. Grammar & Translation aides using Google search technologies (and hopefully only proper sources and not message boards )? That's awesome. I could have gotten through Spanish class so much easier back in the day if I had a reliable translator.
I probably should watch the video, but the screenshot make it look like it's a bunch of different website functionality combined into one screen. Are there any advantages other than obviating the need to tab over from Gmail to Google Docs?
I probably should watch the video, but the screenshot make it look like it's a bunch of different website functionality combined into one screen. Are there any advantages other than obviating the need to tab over from Gmail to Google Docs?
it's pretty much the coolest group list serv / message board ever conceived.
I probably should watch the video, but the screenshot make it look like it's a bunch of different website functionality combined into one screen. Are there any advantages other than obviating the need to tab over from Gmail to Google Docs?
it's pretty much the coolest group list serv / message board ever conceived.
Yep. Definitely need to watch the video to get a good taste, screenshots do NOT do Wave justice.
Even with current netbooks, the niche between iPhone and laptop is barely exploited. This isn't even just about cost. It's about size and portability too. There's a lot of cool emerging technology, like OLEDs, that is going to make it very easy to shrink computing to the extent that the iPhone will look clunky.
Exactly.
I think there's a sweet spot for mobile devices in that "niche between iPhone and laptop." The iPhone is a little too small for some uses, and most laptops are a little too big to just throw in a purse or carry with you to, say, a bar or restaurant "just in case" you might need it. The UMPC form factor tried to inhabit that niche, but I think the cost has prevented them from achieving traction.
People are saying "netbooks are becoming more powerful, so who's gonna need Google Chrome?" Okay, great, they're getting more powerful - but what if they got a little smaller? A little lighter? A little cheaper? Had touchscreens? Better battery life? Maybe what I want isn't a more powerful processor, but a computer that can do more on a smaller processor.
Feral on
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
I really want something that is about the size of an iphone when its all closed up, but opens up to something bigger. Like, I use my Touch more often for gaming than my DS simply because the Touch fits easily into my pocket whereas the DS doesn't.
Unfortunately, the size of the Touch does sort of limit its ability to be used for extended periods of time and for anything advanced.
However, I'd really like to see a revolution in controlscheme technology so that smaller design could be just as robust and easy to use as a full keyboard. Unlikely, but I can dream.
However, I'd really like to see a revolution in controlscheme technology so that smaller design could be just as robust and easy to use as a full keyboard. Unlikely, but I can dream.
Yes! I think the physical reality of the keyboard is the single thing that will most hold back the progression human race. I mean, besides religion. The fact that we require a 14 x 5 inch rectangle of plastic to effectively communicate in the digital world is a huge limiting factor on our mobile interaction with this world.
I'd be okay with redoing human language so it can be quickly communicated in little magic glyph-strokes, the size of an iPhone screen. Or I guess we could all just learn Chinese.
However, I'd really like to see a revolution in controlscheme technology so that smaller design could be just as robust and easy to use as a full keyboard. Unlikely, but I can dream.
Yes! I think the physical reality of the keyboard is the single thing that will most hold back the progression human race. I mean, besides religion. The fact that we require a 14 x 5 inch rectangle of plastic to effectively communicate in the digital world is a huge limiting factor on our mobile interaction with this world.
I'd be okay with redoing human language so it can be quickly communicated in little magic glyph-strokes, the size of an iPhone screen. Or I guess we could all just learn Chinese.
You mean something like a chording keyboard . That would allow for compact a design, I would imagine it would be fairly quick once you got used to it. However the learning curve would be stupidly high and normal people wouldn't want to learn something new just to use their mobile device.
And the online generation has already begun to do that on their own--there's a reason AOLspeak came about in the first place.
Now, I love language and writing, so I definitely don't want to see it destroyed for the sake of online communication--which is the large reason I'd rather see some new sort of control scheme that allowed for full-fledged words and sentences without the hastle.
How that could happen, I'm not sure, though some of the experiments with ocular implants are pretty impressive, but that's more cutting the screen out of the equation to allow for larger input methods.
Unfortunately, I think the jump really is going to be something science fiction-ish, going from keyboards all the way to something far more complicated and invasive, simply because voice control isn't practical.
IUnfortunately, I think the jump really is going to be something science fiction-ish, going from keyboards all the way to something far more complicated and invasive, simply because voice control isn't practical.
I told my computer to say how wrong you are, but it didn't respond so maybe you are right.
(I agree to a point, I think we are going to get a mesh of technologies. Motion and voice control and some sort of implants. But nothing in the immediate future)
Well, not that voice control isn't practical as a form of control.. but could you imagine sitting in a coffee shop with everyone talking to control their micro-computers? Or trying to operate a voice-controlled micro-computer in a bar or some other loud place? Ick.
However, I'd really like to see a revolution in controlscheme technology so that smaller design could be just as robust and easy to use as a full keyboard. Unlikely, but I can dream.
Yes! I think the physical reality of the keyboard is the single thing that will most hold back the progression human race. I mean, besides religion. The fact that we require a 14 x 5 inch rectangle of plastic to effectively communicate in the digital world is a huge limiting factor on our mobile interaction with this world.
I'd be okay with redoing human language so it can be quickly communicated in little magic glyph-strokes, the size of an iPhone screen. Or I guess we could all just learn Chinese.
Better handwriting recognition.
Or we should just bring back Palm Graffiti.
Graffiti was awesome.
Feral on
every person who doesn't like an acquired taste always seems to think everyone who likes it is faking it. it should be an official fallacy.
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That wasn't really kicking it over. They basically created a free web-based email system to act like and compete with other free web-based email systems. It took an equal amount of effort whichever way you went. Now their trying to create an OS which will probably behave substantially differently from an established, paid-for OS and require more effort from the average user. It's not going to be as simple a takeover as with Gmail.
It's really funny to see people post their ideas of the average consumer. I'm not saying you're wrong; I accidentally read the comments section of that opinion piece. There were people talking about how Google is way off because you can't do heavy video processing on a netbook, as though 95% of users want to do that.
I suspect that the average user either wouldn't know or wouldn't care about the differences of Windows from Linux from OS X, they just want to click on the internet browser, the word processor, and the IM client.
Right, and if the Google Netbook is on sale at Best Buy for $50 cheaper than the Windows version, and it looks easy to use, people will buy it.
Ugh, OpenOffice on a netbook.
"Hey my programs don't work. THIS SUCKS. *calls friend to install Windows*"
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You don't sound like the target audience for a netbook.
I'm not sure about the other brands, but HP was already sticking Linux on some models of their netbooks, so this isn't too surprising.
I wonder if this is what they plan on using on their new non-SSD netbooks. Windows XP seems to be on the way out on them.
Yeah, I'm seeing Doc's position on this one. If you can type a document or maybe even make a spreadsheet and not have trouble exchanging with Windows machines, and the internet works the same, I'm betting you could have four or five big icons for office / media player / internet / etc and forgo the task bar and a lot of people wouldn't miss it.
edit: Well until they wanted to launch an application and already had something open, necessitating minimizing the window... to the taskbar that doesn't exist. Anyway, you see my point so I'm leaving this awful post as it.
I use OpenOffice on my netbook...
This is essentially a Linux distro... with a company that will actually fucking advertise it. That is a big change.
Moreover, most of my non-techie relatives complain about my oh-so-different Linux UI until I ask them to actually fucking try to find Firefox/OpenOffice.org. Then it takes them about two seconds to recognise the logo on the panel. People are funny like that.
Also, every so often would come out that Dell, for example, would fuck over Dell Ubuntu users by making their laptop cost more than an XP equivalent, due to discounts that XP laptops would get that Ubuntu laptops wouldn't. The same went for EEE netbooks, I believe - the Linux version would have something gimped for some stupid reason, like that 1GiB memory cap the kernel had. Hopefully, that kind of bullshit won't fly with Google.
I'm also all for a Linux distro that doesn't use X11. From what I hear, it has the most labyrinthine development interface evar.
Windows: figures it out.
OS X: figures it out
Gnome, as configured out of the box anyway: fail. It still acts as though the monitor were attached.
OS X proved that you can make a beautiful UX on top of *nix. I really, really hope that Google does it again.
I'm not a Linux hater by any means. It's a great tool for some things. But as it is presented today, it's a horrible tool for consumer laptops or even desktops.
My friends and parents use stuff that have only been compiled on Windows, partly because they like using, oh, I dunno, Asian and big corp software? That stuff tends to ONLY work in Windows.
"Why can't I use my QQ IM client and MSN messenger that I use to talk to all my friends back home in China?" "Why can't I use my Asian P2P program to download my Chinese songs?" "Why can't I run this Big Fish Games puzzle game you installed for me on my old computer?" "How do I transfer photos onto my computer from my camera without that nifty bundled software that only runs on Windows?" "Hey, I can't use this stock market program I use for work"
I can definitely see having these conversations with my roommates/friends/parents/relatives/landlord.
Well, maybe I am missing the point. Is the intended audience of netbooks supposed to be computer savvy people? Because if it's not Windows, it WILL cause hell for them. I think people are overestimating their computer abilities or underestimating the amount of software people actually use. Especially on a new OS that will almost certainly have hardware/install cd driver incompatibilities with whatever external device they plug into it and little to no documentation from the device's manufacturer website or a Google search.
Hell, let's take iPhones, popular amongst even non-tech people for fad purposes. Don't iPhone activations require iTunes? Is there even an iTunes for Linux? And assuming there is a way to do it on Linux, are those instructions going to be included in their iPhone quick start guide/manual?
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You're missing the point.
Your netbook isn't supposed to be your only computer. They're marketed as a secondary computer, something you stuff in your backpack to supplement your desktop/widescreen laptop computer so you can do basic functions on the go.
Think of an iPhone with a bigger screen and a keyboard and you're on the right track.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Even with current netbooks, the niche between iPhone and laptop is barely exploited. This isn't even just about cost. It's about size and portability too. There's a lot of cool emerging technology, like OLEDs, that is going to make it very easy to shrink computing to the extent that the iPhone will look clunky.
Is the iPhone a phone with computerlike functions or a computer that looks and feels like a phone? I think it's becoming more and more obvious that it's the latter. But in order for this new class of device to work, Apple had to invent an operating system that suited the size and portability needs of the device. This new OS managed to completely outflank Microsoft.
Pidgin supports QQ and MSN.
No one actually writes code using the X11 APIs. You use GTK, Qt, or one of the other half-dozen widget toolkits.
This google OS will be interesting though, I am wrondering what google really can bring to the table, as the biggest problems for Linux OSs are compatability with software that doesn't want to be compatible, ie MS office formats, Itunes, and that sort of closed shit. But if they make a nice, fast OS that works well out of the box, I very well might use it, if only on my eee.
- "Proving once again the deadliest animal of all ... is the Zoo Keeper" - Philip J Fry
Hi there:
Now if they would just release Wave so I can geek out over that for a while, I'll be set.
PSN: SAW776
Wave is definitely my most-anticipated Google (or any other company, I think) project right now.
Yeah. I pretty much geeked out during the entire video. I could easily find myself largely living inside Wave by the looks of it--hell, the word processor features in it look spectacular alone. Grammar & Translation aides using Google search technologies (and hopefully only proper sources and not message boards :P)? That's awesome. I could have gotten through Spanish class so much easier back in the day if I had a reliable translator.
PSN: SAW776
I probably should watch the video, but the screenshot make it look like it's a bunch of different website functionality combined into one screen. Are there any advantages other than obviating the need to tab over from Gmail to Google Docs?
it's pretty much the coolest group list serv / message board ever conceived.
Yep. Definitely need to watch the video to get a good taste, screenshots do NOT do Wave justice.
Exactly.
I think there's a sweet spot for mobile devices in that "niche between iPhone and laptop." The iPhone is a little too small for some uses, and most laptops are a little too big to just throw in a purse or carry with you to, say, a bar or restaurant "just in case" you might need it. The UMPC form factor tried to inhabit that niche, but I think the cost has prevented them from achieving traction.
People are saying "netbooks are becoming more powerful, so who's gonna need Google Chrome?" Okay, great, they're getting more powerful - but what if they got a little smaller? A little lighter? A little cheaper? Had touchscreens? Better battery life? Maybe what I want isn't a more powerful processor, but a computer that can do more on a smaller processor.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Unfortunately, the size of the Touch does sort of limit its ability to be used for extended periods of time and for anything advanced.
However, I'd really like to see a revolution in controlscheme technology so that smaller design could be just as robust and easy to use as a full keyboard. Unlikely, but I can dream.
PSN: SAW776
I'd be okay with redoing human language so it can be quickly communicated in little magic glyph-strokes, the size of an iPhone screen. Or I guess we could all just learn Chinese.
You mean something like a chording keyboard . That would allow for compact a design, I would imagine it would be fairly quick once you got used to it. However the learning curve would be stupidly high and normal people wouldn't want to learn something new just to use their mobile device.
I'll take brain-wave interface instead please.
So are voice recognition protocols, but neither is as reliable/effective as a keyboard and mouse.
And the online generation has already begun to do that on their own--there's a reason AOLspeak came about in the first place.
Now, I love language and writing, so I definitely don't want to see it destroyed for the sake of online communication--which is the large reason I'd rather see some new sort of control scheme that allowed for full-fledged words and sentences without the hastle.
How that could happen, I'm not sure, though some of the experiments with ocular implants are pretty impressive, but that's more cutting the screen out of the equation to allow for larger input methods.
Unfortunately, I think the jump really is going to be something science fiction-ish, going from keyboards all the way to something far more complicated and invasive, simply because voice control isn't practical.
PSN: SAW776
I told my computer to say how wrong you are, but it didn't respond so maybe you are right.
(I agree to a point, I think we are going to get a mesh of technologies. Motion and voice control and some sort of implants. But nothing in the immediate future)
PSN: SAW776
Better handwriting recognition.
Or we should just bring back Palm Graffiti.
Graffiti was awesome.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.