It is undeniable that when a new OS comes out, things get a bit foggy. It’s up to you to clear the fog. Currently, we’re investigating into certain areas – alternative OSes that run well on netbooks such as MeeGo, Chrome OS, and maybe Android. But since the Chrome OS has been all the buzz ever since its release on June 15, we decided to look into what exactly this new Google product is.
Built upon the Chrome browser, of which you can get for Windows, there are two main versions of the Chrome OS: the Chrome OS itself and Chromium. The Chrome OS is for people like you and I – end users with no interest in programming. The Chromium is for the people who give us the good stuff.
What is so special about the Chrome OS?
There are a few selling points for Chromebooks.
- Google sells them as quick-booting netbooks. Official figures state around eight seconds from a complete off to complete functionality. Google claims that these netbooks are specially made to suit the goals of the Chrome OS, so they are slightly different from regular netbooks.
- Nothing is stored locally. You work on the cloud, so basically, when you use a Chromebook, you’ll basically be safe from viruses, computer theft (or negligent loss), and freak-of-nature accidents.
- Long(er) battery life
Hmm okay. We must give it the benefit of the doubt, since the Chrome OS is still new and therefore might have some resolvable shortcomings in the future, such as Google Docs needing to be online before it works (an offline version is in the pipeline). But the biggest problem is price. If you look at Chromebooks on Amazon, the prices are just unjustifiable – $500 for a 3G netbook, or save a bit for WiFi only, which is just plain unfeasible for a device that is meant to be portable. Currently, Acer and Samsung are the only manufacturers of Chromebooks.
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