David Pogue reviews his user experience with the Google Chromebook (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/technology/personaltech/16pogue.html?_r=1&ref=technology) and, not too surprisingly, was underwhelmed. The Chromebook concept is an element of the vision of Cloud computing. If everything is done in the cloud.... storage, software, etc., then the cloud access terminal doesn’t need anything but a browser and wireless access. The Chromebook laptop concept is the lightweight netbook, stripped of a hard drive and most software, that relies on constant wireless access to the cloud for its functionality. Samsung has built a Chromebook that recently went on sale for about $500.
About 18 years ago, when I was Director of Network Architecture at Ameritech, I ran into an old friend from my Bell Labs days. He was selling mainframe software and dumb terminals for customer service applications. This was an architecture already 10 years out of date, however, he emphasized that the PC had many problems when used as the vehicle for customer service, information operators, etc. The primary problems were software maintenance and network security. PC software gets out of date, corrupted and infected; users load personal software that impact PC performance and software. In addition, the PCs host malware that undermines network integrity and security. The upshot of this is high cost to maintain and fix PCs that are essentially doing no more than providing access to centralized databases. So, why not solve the problem by returning to the previous architecture of dumb terminal access to a mainframe application or applications. You can save capital costs and operational costs as well. For a variety of reasons, this concept didn’t catch on in the mid-1990s, however, there have always been a number of settings where dumb terminals have never gone away... ATM’s, POS, Lottery terminals all come to mind.
The first thing that strikes me is the cost issue... for giving up most of the functionality and flexibility of the PC, I don’t save much money. For $500 I can’t get a lightweight laptop, however, I can get a netbook or a cheap desktop PC. Pogue is most disturbed by the issue of constant wireless access. He found that when he didn’t have wireless access, the Chromebook was just a 3.3 lb paperweight. On airplanes or in hotel rooms, to do anything he was forced to cough up $7 and up for WiFi access adding insult to injury. The suite of cloud functionality and services were not enough to make up for the lost functionality of customizable PC software. He seemed particularly unhappy about the lack of compatibility with Apple products like iPod, iPhone and iPad. Finally, he just felt insecure about not having local storage for documents and pictures he most values; you never really know if the cloud will preserve and protect your family photos as well as you do.
What’s your reaction to the Chromebook? Is it the 2nd or 3rd return of the dumb terminal or just wishful cloud thinking? What would the Chromebook have to cost to justify giving up PC flexibility?
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