Chrome OS Chromebook, yes or no ?

I use Google Mail, Calendar, Chat, G+ (which I have yet to truly understand :banghead: ) and Google Drive so the Chromebook is still very appealing. "Do-it-our-way" Apple products drive me nutz and Microsoft has lost the plot with Windows 8 (the curse of the even-numbered O/S...)



Sent from another Galaxy
 
I use Google Mail, Calendar, Chat, G+ (which I have yet to truly understand :banghead: ) and Google Drive so the Chromebook is still very appealing. "Do-it-our-way" Apple products drive me nutz and Microsoft has lost the plot with Windows 8 (the curse of the even-numbered O/S...)



Sent from another Galaxy

Are you serious??? Apple "do it our way" is out? I can install Windows natively on my machine and dual boot with OSX. And I can install nearly any OS, including Chrome, in a virtual machine (Oh wait... I can't install BeOS) And I can install the applications I want. I'm not restricted in any way that I can see.... I can do it exactly the way I want. How is that "do it our way"???

I agree with your remarks about Windows 8. I downloaded the beta to see what the fuss was about and as a result have advised friends buying new machines to see if they can get Windows 7 instead, 8 is a shambles.

I don't know how flexible the Chromebook is, but I understood that you can only use Google's applications. *That* is what I call "do it our way". :p
 
I'm not defending Microsoft but I hated Windows 8 until I ran it on a tablet... then it starts to make sense. I just don't think an OS can be great and work for all types of hardware. Apple keeps it's tablet/iPhone and laptop operating systems separate.

For those who were talking about the lack of a USB port on their tablet, I'm testing a new device at work for installing medical software to our tablets. The device is a Hyperdrive IUSB. It basically takes a usb hard disk and makes it available over WiFi. I've been able to take both iPads and Android tablets and copy an SD card full of images to the hard disk. The IUSB has a rechargeable battery in it that can power he external drives. Keep in mind, that even if your Android tablet has a USB port, it probably can't power an external drive reliably. The only tablet I found that can is an older Lenovo 1838.

If you want more info: iUSBport by HyperDrive (formerly CloudFTP)

I'm going to try to get a review of this posted on my blog in the next week or two.


Gary
m43Trek.wordpress.com
 
I'm not defending Microsoft but I hated Windows 8 until I ran it on a tablet... then it starts to make sense. I just don't think an OS can be great and work for all types of hardware. Apple keeps it's tablet/iPhone and laptop operating systems separate.

For those who were talking about the lack of a USB port on their tablet, I'm testing a new device at work for installing medical software to our tablets. The device is a Hyperdrive IUSB. It basically takes a usb hard disk and makes it available over WiFi. I've been able to take both iPads and Android tablets and copy an SD card full of images to the hard disk. The IUSB has a rechargeable battery in it that can power he external drives. Keep in mind, that even if your Android tablet has a USB port, it probably can't power an external drive reliably. The only tablet I found that can is an older Lenovo 1838.

If you want more info: iUSBport by HyperDrive (formerly CloudFTP)

I'm going to try to get a review of this posted on my blog in the next week or two.


Gary
m43Trek.wordpress.com

I think you're right here. Windows 8 is best utilized and enjoyed in a mobile environment. My wife has it on her smart phone and I, a long-time Apple person, think it's pretty darn nice. If one is purchasing Windows 8 with a more full-featured computer or desktop replacement, I can't stress enough that you'll be happier with a touchscreen.
 
I think you're right here. Windows 8 is best utilized and enjoyed in a mobile environment. My wife has it on her smart phone and I, a long-time Apple person, think it's pretty darn nice. If one is purchasing Windows 8 with a more full-featured computer or desktop replacement, I can't stress enough that you'll be happier with a touchscreen.

Aren't many of the Windows 8 computers now coming with touchscreens as standard? (I still wouldnt like it on a computer, I do get "Surface" which is a whole different thing)
 
Are you serious??? Apple "do it our way" is out? ...

I am deadly serious. I detest the clunky OS, the glued-together hardware, the inbuilt obsolescence, the closed-loop "Steve's Garden" approach to apps, even to memory and batteries, the obscene prices and the rat's nest of opaque control-freakery that is iTunes. I cheered when I finally deleted iTunes from my pc for the last time. Good riddance...! :D
Sent from another Galaxy
 
It's funny, I have a Windows 8 laptop with touchscreen and never use the touchscreen. But on my Windows 8 tablet, I have a keyboard case and use the touchscreen 90% of the time. I think it has to do with the laptop having a good touchpad (which the tablet's keyboard doesn't). I really don't like the Windows 8 laptop and use my Macbook Pro most of the time (with both Mac OS and Windows 8 OS). With a good touchpad like that on the Macbook Pro, Windows 8 is usable.

Gary
 
Not at all, and I have hardly "sold myself" :D actually, my *every* experience with apple - products and corp, personally and professionally, has been negative... Today, I work for a major technology company. In my work and personal life I use win XP, 7 and 8 (the last very reluctantly on a tablet) as well as Android tablet and phone, and Google Apps on all platforms. Android simply works for me and I have no desire either to change or to bash my head against a brick wall convincing others.

At the weekend, btw, I bought my wife a new 4S. My one stipulation was that I would not provide her with "tech support" - she lost the rest of the weekend wrestling with her old 3, the new 4s and iTunes. I on the other hand was issued with a new Galaxy III the other day. I logged into my wifi, into my account, went to the play store and downloaded my apps from my app library and got on with my life, within 40 mins... ;)

Sent from another Galaxy
 
I dont understand how people wrestle with iPhones (or indeed OSX). its the simplest (dumbest, and by that I dont mean stupidest) OS available on a phone. no menu diving, what you see is what you get. As for selling oneself to google, I'm talking about your google activity and what it means to google in terms of profit and dollars. Don't anyone kid themselves that free is free. Its not.
 
Thing is, it doesn't matter. If apple products work for you, that's great. They don't do anything for me beyond making me frustrated, unproductive and miserable. But I am not here to convert anyone. The great thing for me is that as consumers we have a choice.

By the way, don't for a minute think that apple don't track what you download, buy, use, where you visit or where you go... Not to mention who you interact with. Trust me, I know - this is the area in which I make my living. The attributes of your identity are valuable, saleable gold-dust and are collected constantly without your knowledge and utilised to tailor your customer experience. ;)

Sent from another Galaxy
 
I like to get one, that's why I started this thread.

I use one every day and I love it. It's the size of a pad of paper and about as light.

But it does not replace your desktop machine with Lightroom, etc. It just does not. Nor is that the intention.

It is for light "work." Read some email, watch a video, etc. Present a "deck." For the heavy stuff I use Chrome's RDP to hit my desktop, and that works fine. The screen is small and there is no way to control resolution so it is what it is, but I can walk up to the 42" screens at work and plug in and present away.

After using this thing my recommendation for apps is Microsoft... the suite of apps available free on Skydrive. I'd say OpenOffice but the Rollapp versions behave really badly under the obviously optimized version of Chrome. Waste of time. The Microsoft apps perfrom well on fast networks and are stable on this platform.

No ****. So if it relies upon client side ****, forget it. Minecraft? Not... (I hate that game, perfect example though). I may tick some people off when I say... no great loss though, and trending to less so over the next five to ten years. **** apps are the "thick client" of this decade. Only with some serious risks. Thanks Oracle.

Chromebook User Guide (2021 Edition) - Chrome Story

woof!
 
Thing is, it doesn't matter. If apple products work for you, that's great. They don't do anything for me beyond making me frustrated, unproductive and miserable. But I am not here to convert anyone. The great thing for me is that as consumers we have a choice.

By the way, don't for a minute think that apple don't track what you download, buy, use, where you visit or where you go... Not to mention who you interact with. Trust me, I know - this is the area in which I make my living. The attributes of your identity are valuable, saleable gold-dust and are collected constantly without your knowledge and utilised to tailor your customer experience. ;)

Sent from another Galaxy

Sure, of course.

The difference is that with Apple you are not the product. They don't sell on any of the behaviour or information. They have no need to. it's not part of their business model. It is, essentially, the only reason for Google to exist. That may be fine for many. Not for me.

As Google's Schmidt put it about privacy:

When asked during an interview for CNBC's recent "Inside the Mind of Google" special about whether users should be sharing information with Google as if it were a "trusted friend," Schmidt responded, "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."
 
The difference is that with Apple you are not the product. They don't sell on any of the behaviour or information. They have no need to. it's not part of their business model. It is, essentially, the only reason for Google to exist. That may be fine for many. Not for me.

I think that's an awfully generous interpretation of Apple's business. Apple mines data and have showed their aspirational hand, simultaneously trying to move into local, maps, social, etc. At a minimum, we can say that their motivation is to lock people into their ecosystem, and I see no reason to trust that they are using the information they collect about you for good.

Google is of course the major advertising business on the web, so anything they do to make people use the web more gets them more money. Their business model is thus aligned with my interests. I want them to improve the web in an effort to make me want to use the web more. I see no reason for or evidence why they would sell on my behavior or information any more than Apple would do.

This doesn't mean I trust Google. I think it's naive to put anything on the web or even on a phone (Apple or Google) that I'd be afraid to make public. I don't trust either company, but I think if anything Google has less need to use my data in a nefarious way.

By the way, Apple is very mum about what they do with the location data they collect from iPhones, and likewise very mum about how they handle the voice data they mine from Siri. In contrast, Google will show you all the data they collect about your searches, give you easy to use options to opt out of data collection in a number of their products, and have a team dedicated to data liberation, ie making it possible for you to get your data out of Google products should you choose to move your data to somewhere else.
 
Of course you are ;)

As I said already, this is what I do for a living.

Now, my apologies to the OP - this is Waaay off-topic!

LOL:clap2:

It's not an industry of one. Just because you say it does not make it so.

I see no reason for or evidence why they would sell on my behavior or information any more than Apple would do.

Well, honestly, right back at you in terms of being generous. It's not a question of whether or not Google would sell the data - they do sell it. The advertising you tout is based on detailed tracking and is thus sold to advertisers. Who is Apple selling data to?
 
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