Raining on Chrome OS
Not to put a damper on anyone’s fun, but doesn’t the Google Chrome OS sound a lot like this?
That’s what I was thinking. I was also thinking, “Maybe Google’s won’t be as craptastic”, followed by “Wait, never mind”.
The only way web apps could work as desktop apps would be if you gave them all the features of desktop apps; rich c&p, drag’n’drop, full control over the chrome, a native UI that does not assume that every surface is made for text and should be selectable, control over hardware features, a more desktop-like LOCAL/local-like and shared-between-apps document store, having in the os the concept of an application with several windows rather than just a bunch of windows that might be connected (think gmail and the buggy gtalk floating windows e g), … yeah, the list goes on. I’d be very pleasantly surprised if that’s what Google is aiming for, but I doubt it. They probably just want Google Apps in a full screen browser and be done with it.
Also, I don’t get a single one of the arguments they are pushing as “good” about Chrome OS. Malware? Get a Mac. Cluttered UI? Get a Mac. Startup time? Don’t shut it down when you’re done with it, just have it sleep, dammit, can’t you use a computer? Want the OS to not get unusable after half a year? Get a Mac. And learn to use a computer. Forgot to backup? Time Machine. Software and security updates? Believe me. Chrome OS will require software updates. Video drivers can’t run as web apps. Nor kernels. Nor window managers. You get the point.
Some more OS competition can do nothing but good; I’m just not buying their arguments nor their goal one iota. Maybe the presentation was bad? Hey Google, maybe you could have some concept images in your next blog post? Or maybe wait until you have something to show, and show us that.
