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Verdict On Chrome: Show Us The Hardware

Beyond specific features, what are experts saying about Google's long-awaited Chrome OS browser-based operating system and Chrome Web Store. In short, "Show us the hardware!"

Google on Tuesday said "Technologies have finally evolved to the point where a Web-based framework ... is capable enough to be a workable productivity, social, and entertainment platform for the majority of technology users," reports CNet, citing comments from Google head Eric Schmidt.

But, adds CNet, "We'll ... evaluate the hardware and the OS to see if we have, finally, reached the point where we can kiss the old software-on-operating-system model goodbye."

"The operating system looks exactly like a web browser. The notebook looks like the quirky beta product it is. And the app store looks a lot like iTunes," Business Insider reports. "So, this thing isn't winning any beauty contest. But, we'll see how it performs when we get our hands on a laptop."

Regarding Google's master plan to unseat Microsoft's Windows franchise, The Wall Street Journal writes: "The computers are designed primarily to run Web-based applications, as Google hopes to shift software development away from applications anchored to personal-computer operating systems such as Windows."

Indeed, "Google thinks that Web applications are finally ready to displace Microsoft's hegemony and businesses will buy computers that can't run programs such as Word or Excel," PCWorld writes.

Chrome, which launched two years ago, "represented a profound shift from simple web pages to a modern OS for web applications," notes The Next Web. "With a focus on speed, simplicity and security, Chrome has grown 300% since January to a total of 120 million users, worldwide."

At least in theory, "Google is throwing out the things people hate most about computers -- slow startup times, the need to update and install software, and security worries -- and offering an operating system that loads its Chrome browser instead of a desktop file system," writes InformationWeek.

Guess we'll have to wait until the second half of 2011 -- when computers running Chrome OS are slated to ship broadly -- to really find out.

Read the whole story at CNet et al »

2 comments about "Verdict On Chrome: Show Us The Hardware".
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  1. Jp Holecka from Powershifter Media Corp., December 8, 2010 at 2:54 p.m.

    Based on my experience with Google docs there are a long, long way from even coming close to unseating Microsoft as an OS. Maybe in the long run but I suspect MS will have a browser based OS by then too. I suspect that in the end Chrome OS will go the way of Google Wave. More and more duds coming out of Google these days it seems. They are falling into the conglomerate trap. Focus, focus focus.

  2. David Thurman from Aussie Rescue of Illinois, December 13, 2010 at 9:46 a.m.

    Of course MS will have something similar, innovation is not what drives them, it's trying to come to the party late and hope everyone raves about them instead.

    I think Google is much like the Apple of old, and who knows, maybe they will get the marketing right, that is were Google fails, getting the word out in a package with a pretty shiny thing.

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