The release of
Chrome OS looms ever closer, but still there are a number of enhancements and changes being rolled in that should make for a somewhat nicer experience, and
TechCrunch has highlighted a few. Perhaps most major among those changes is the ability to browse the internet without signing in, but if you want to update your bookmarks or save any form data you'll still need a Google account. There's a new side bar that appears to give access to other apps, replacing tabs on top, and it also adds in battery and WiFi strength indicators. There's also something of a debate going on regarding whether Chrome OS should have support for compressed archives (.zip and .rar files and the like). Right now the OS has no support for those files, which, as one contributor points out, is rather unfortunate given that Gmail itself generates zip files when you click "download all attachments." Let's hope someone at the Googs finds time to add that in so that future users aren't locked out of the joys of extraction.
posted June 25th 2010 9:09AM
I'd give it a try.
@Rick Astley
i'm sure it'll never let you down
@Rick Astley Mercy my lord! i dnt wanna roll with you
@skyblaze
Why do people always write that on my comments? I don't get it.
@Rick Astley
Think about this for a second: This is an OS from an online advertising company, and the OS only functions when its online. I'll pass thank you very much, Windows 7 isn't connected to an advertising companie's servers 24/7
Mistaken identity, I'd really check out freecreditreport.com if I were you.
@Rick Astley
the world is out to rick roll you, rick... but apparently it's against the laws of the cosmos
@kid300 Just admit androids ugly
Yea Windows 7 is just connected to a botnet 24/7.
@kid300 Just admit androids ugly
And Google can pass on all the information about you and what sites you visit to the advertisers, erm no thanks
@Rick Astley
Would you ever give your current operating system up?
Chrome probably wouldn't ever let you down
Never gonna cost you a pound or two
@geekthree With Google's Android-release naming convention, they may very well dessert you.
It's just a browser!
@Rick Astley
Hmm, now why do I recognize that Black&White picture?
#Copycat
@RincewindWiz Haha thanks, I was stuck on that line :)
@Rick Astley
I second that!
@RincewindWiz
I see what you did there.
Bit limited to use as a full OS I suppose, maybe a... I don't know... teenage girl nettop?
@Simnol She would bitch about the lack of iTunes and ask where the IE icon is, Linux in all forms confuses dumb end users.
Looks nice, would go well on an iPad style device I think.
@versp
Ah, you say that as if the Joojoo was not a colossal embarrassment of a failure.
i afraid that this is going to be a another google wave tech demo with no real benefit for the daily usage.
@shizzledmg Actually wave is quite a huge leap over plain email. I actually hate using email after using it. The problem is that they didn't come up with a good way to transition people over. Its a chicken and egg problem. You may love it but won't use it because your contacts aren't using it. Your contacts aren't using it because you and their other contacts aren't using it.
@Blaque14K well as for me , wave is a tad to (small) icon and element heavy and there are a way too much links and bright colors mixed altogether, no simplicity for the eye and no contrast to provide more segmentation between subapplications or functions , and further it doesn't offer you real complementary functions to existing applications on your computer, it's just a frontend control concept to handle existing or already well known features in a google wave way.
sadly i see the same goes for chrome by now.
@Blaque14K I think if they reeeelly wanted to put it in mass usage they'll just make it standard app for all Android phones, some marketing and voala Google Wave is the new thing. And with Chrome OS it will be even easier
Will Google also be remotely deleting apps from ChromeOS like they are doing from Android?
Loving the blind fanboiis:
Blind to the fact that Android got copied 1:1 from symbian
Blind to the fact that Android was too late of a response to iPhoneOS
Blind to the fact that Google is every bit as evil as a corporation can be
And finally blind to the fact that Google is invading their fanboiis/drones privacy with them KNOWING it and LOVING it
@magadget Oh dear, just stop will you?
@magadget
Well since Android was bought up in 2005 and supposedly copies Symbian then the iPhone is a Symbian clone as well seeing as how the two are very similar.
It certainly doesn't look like Google was too late to the party since more Android devices are being sold than iPhones.
Personally I like the fact that Google can remotely delete malware from my phone if I don't know about it. Can Apple remotely give you back control of your phone once its taken over via an SMS message?
@magadget Android is not copied from Symbian. Symbian isn't (correct me if I'm wrong) built from the Linux kernel. Plus Android doesn't even use the same packages that Symbian uses. Don't know where you got that but you better check your sources, and stop being an Apple fanboy.
@magadget
here is a logical argument to you illogical argument.
"Blind to the fact that Android got copied 1:1 from symbian"
They are both based on linux. it is open and free for anyone to use. Whats your point?
"Blind to the fact that Android was too late of a response to iPhoneOS"
Android is selling 160,000 handsets a day vs. iphone's 90,000. me.Sounds like it was to late to me.
"Blind to the fact that Google is every bit as evil as a corporation can be"
Even if that is true (in fact, we kind of saw with the cyanogenmod cease and desist letter) it doesn't matter because of the open source nature of android.
"And finally blind to the fact that Google is invading their fanboiis/drones privacy with them KNOWING it and LOVING it"
That is not how you spell fanboys. Anyway, Are you talking about the google street view thing? Can you be more specific?
@magadget "Blind to the fact that Android got copied 1:1 from symbian"
Where the heck is your logic behind that one? it's not a KIRF for frickin sake
"Blind to the fact that Android was too late of a response to iPhoneOS"
OS Responses are never too late. A good example of that is OS X catching up with windows when it released in 2001. It's gained major ground since then even though OS 9 was way behind.
"Blind to the fact that Google is every bit as evil as a corporation can be"
Really? I love being their customer and I hear that being an employee there is even better. I don't understand why you think they're evil when they provide all of these free services to us and make the internet a better place to be!
"And finally blind to the fact that Google is invading their fanboiis/drones privacy with them KNOWING it and LOVING it"
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/06/apple-location-privacy-iphone-ipad.html
Every major company has some Privacy Policy issues, but not many of them are major. Just take things out of context and they can be a big issue. This Apple privacy policy about tagging your GPS location automatically is a good example. Apple will ALWAYS know where you are!
@Blaque14K Supposedly copies Symbian? haha.... which planet did you jump off of? lol.... Symbian and Android are so far apart from each other it's ridicules. For your information, Andy Rubin announced to the World Android OS in July/August 2003 and it was incorporated two months later as a ground up built, Touch Screen OS interface on the Linux kernel no less, written before Nokia got into the business. Nokia had no intention at the time, of making a Touch Screen interface nor did they have one!
This was two years before Apple hired a Touch screen engineer and begin down porting OS-X for their iPod to iPhone OS. Which was the beginning of it's 30month development cycle. They ripped off Andy's ideas in building it around "Location Awareness" and user preference awareness that Andy had touted back in 2003 for his Android's Touch Screen Interface. Apple straight up ripped him off!
But fortunately Google jumped in to buy Android in 2005. If anything iPhone OS and Android are closer matches than Symbian, which is still lost in the dark!
Chrome OS is actually more closely related to Sun's Java 3D OS project "Looking Glass". So it's pure Object Oriented Desktop Interface, running on top of Linux that still retains it's own patent base. That neither Nokia, Apple, or Sun can touch and that's the same for Android. Why do you all think Apple wants to stay as far away from Google as they can? Sue Google and Android's patents have pre-existing artwork and patents, that Google would love to have Apple come after!
Notice that Apple didn't touch HTC for Android. They went after them for Sense UI. Which also predates Apple's patents they're suing them on. But the reality is that HTC is already paying for license fees to Nokia. The same patents Nokia is suing Apple. Which is why Nokia is going to win this first IDC decision! btw... check your AAPL stock, because it's taking a dive right now! :P
Need .zip!!!!
I am boycotting Google in an attempt to thwart their plans for world domination.
@theedude I'm boycotting Microsoft and they still got world domination..
@theedude I'm boycotting Apple... wait...
If we're at the stage of debating whether this 'OS' should support zip files right now, my hopes aren't particularly high that Chrome OS will ever progress beyond the "hey, pretty cool that's technically possible, now let's get back to work" stage.
I'm still not convinced that this will amount to much, I must admit (and I'm no hater - I own GOOG stock, and an Android phone).
Finally! This is the correct direction.
We don't need full x86_64 architecture and thousands of background processes and thousands of command lines and ssh ability etc.
Someone realized that browsing web, emails, watchingvideos on youtube etc is sufficient for most of the ppl.
The era of entertainment. Not every computer and OS needs the ability to do pro stuff, encode video etc.
Just something to be on the net, while not draining too much battery and producing heat.
@iHack13
Ummm.
Isn't that exactly what netbooks are currently?
Google is great and all, but this isn't exactly a new concept.
@David V
I said no x86 architecture and no full loaded OS.
Do you see any ARM architecture or an OS which is build for netbooks currently?
@iHack13 How about Ubuntu Netbook edition.
ARM version, check.
Low Memory requirements, check.
@iHack13
I agree both with the idea that chrome could be amazing and with the notion that it's a "been there done that" netbook thing. What excites me is that google has been creating promising web aps that I'm hoping will be more integrated into the os than they are in the osx/windows browser. Google docs could be an incredible ap if it's starts to become a reliable word processor available to everyone for free. Chrome could have both offline and online support, saving your docs online when available and on your HDD or SSD simultaneously. This would be a crucial app for students who are broke and could benefit from a cheap os where they could cite wikipedia and write there paper on a cheap computer.
I"ll go meet oblivion soon , but i think it looks like ass.
Also, its a tabbed browser with a clock. Serious.
@zob Well seeing as how most of what people do now days is browse the internet with their computers it would make sense to look like a browser. Add to the fact that everybody is gunning to push apps into the cloud be it with HTML 5 or some other means it would again make sense for the OS to basically be a browser.
@Blaque14K
I've got a lot of doubts about this cloud-mania, at least for consumers.
Cloud apps are fine for email, calendar, contacts, etc.; but they're inconsistent, usually ugly, and slow.
Take a more complex app like google docs: I love it, I use it, but hey: it sucks. As much as they improve it, it is still slower and less reliable than any native counterpart.
Why giving up completely with native apps, why not just integrate native apps with the cloud? In other words, why Chrome OS and not Android?
I don't wanna be online 24/7 just to spread more information about me to get better targeted ads. I need to work offline, I need complete control over my files; and most consumers need an idiot-proof, eye-candies-rich UI.
@0110110101100100
Once again, chrome OS will be able to run native apps in a web-like way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSMWvC9p6Oc&feature=player_embedded
@0110110101100100
"why not just integrate native apps with the cloud?"
Uuu, I wonder what these mythical Save to SkyDive & Save to SharePoint features in Office 2010 are... And you say I can open it with these Office Web Apps too? Anywhere?
People are freaking morons.
This is great for thin clients. I support 200 to 300 users per day working from home. These users are running Windows XP in a regular desktop computer. The IT management for these at home workers is a bitch! An OS like this would really help me out at lot!
No offense guys, but these comments are barely better than the ones over at YouTube. I expected more...
Let me get the ball rolling: I have no doubt google will include .zip archive support in the final release. Chrome[ium] OS is slowly turning from the brunt of steve Ballmer jokes to a very real competitor for the netbook market. Windows 7 Starter is ok, but its not fast at all. Most people have accepted the fact that netbooks will be slower.... But when people see an OS that actually runs great on a netbook, then I think Chrome OS will actually play a huge role in the future of mobile computing.
That was a comment.
@brockorr for the record, i started typing my comment before the smart people came... It took me a while to get the wording right, so by the time I submitted it, there were plenty of comments far superior to youtube....
My comment is withdrawn.