Because Shiny Things Are Fun - The New New Windows v Linux Thread

Originally Posted by MTK358 So apps that run natively are basically a collection of pages downloaded to your disk so that they work offline?

Some are, like the Ubuntu One and Launchpad apps. Others, however, are internal Web sites that install as Chrome extensions and run entirely internally, just as I had said.

Originally Posted by MTK358 When I said I like the feel of native apps, I didn't just mean "not served from another machine", but "runnign natively on the CPU and using a real UI toolkit, i.e. not a Web page".

Well just so you know, many apps that do run as Web pages do plenty of the things that native apps do, and it's the functionality that counts to the newbie. Sure, you may know better, but they won't.

Originally Posted by Kenny_Strawn Well just so you know, many apps that do run as Web pages do plenty of the things that native apps do, and it's the functionality that counts to the newbie. Sure, you may know better, but they won't.

I found this:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...Hk3LEA&cad=rja

so I'll try it and see.

Originally Posted by MTK358 I found this: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...Hk3LEA&cad=rja so I'll try it and see.

That thread seems pretty dated.

Originally Posted by easuter That thread seems pretty dated.

Agreed. It looks like a thread from when the Chromium source code was first released.

Originally Posted by easuter That thread seems pretty dated.

That's all I could find. Tell me if you find something else that will work in VBox.

hey Kenny_Strawn please stop advertising and speculating that Chrome Os will change at least something in the Linux world. I mean , yes, google is going to sell lots of them , but i'm also 90% sure they won't say anything about linux at all on their notebook.

Originally Posted by silvyus_06 hey Kenny_Strawn please stop advertising and speculating that Chrome Os will change at least something in the Linux world. I mean , yes, google is going to sell lots of them , but i'm also 90% sure they won't say anything about linux at all on their notebook.

But Chrome OS is Linux to begin with. It may do nothing but boot to an HTML5 Runtime Environment (a.k.a. Web browser), but it is still a fully functional Linux system at the core.

But Chrome OS is Linux to begin with. It may do nothing but boot to an HTML5 Runtime Environment (a.k.a. Web browser), but it is still a fully functional Linux system at the core.

The point silvyus_06 is trying to make is that it won't be advertised as Linux, it'll be advertised simply as Chrome OS. In other words, people won't somehow automatically know it's Linux.

Originally Posted by MrCode The point silvyus_06 is trying to make is that it won't be advertised as Linux, it'll be advertised simply as Chrome OS. In other words, people won't somehow automatically know it's Linux.

Even if it won't be advertised as Linux, it's still Linux. It still has a fully functional (albeit hidden) Linux environment outside of the GUI (and even partly in the GUI). Why? Because running underneath the Chrome browser is a fully functional X.org server, fully functional Bash shell (which is masked by crosh, but if you were able to get to a tty [outside X and Chrome] you would see it), fully functional package manager (Portage), fully functional GNU userland, fully functional Linux kernel, and fully functional GRUB. If all this doesn't say Linux I don't know what does.

How was I able to tell that X is running underneath Chrome? Because I can still use Ctrl+Shift+U to enter Unicode characters -- an X.org feature.

Originally Posted by Kenny_Strawn SigTerm: Just so you know, the Cr-48 is reference hardware. It was free for those who applied (including me).

I'm aware of that.

Originally Posted by Kenny_Strawn The first commercial Chrome OS devices will come from Acer and a few other manufacturers, and its them that will cost people.

Despite everything you said, I don't see why Chrome OS is supposed to turn the tables. IMO:
It definitely looks like a niche application - aimed at a small cluster of users that "live on the web" and waste their life in social networks. It doesn't offer anything special that would attract people - no "killer app". It doesn't offer anything that would attract me - no new dev tools I'd be interested in. It also doesn't contribute to creation of "ideal operating system". Definitely looks like hardware device with main purpose of being a browser. The price of notebook is unknown, and hardware specs are also unknown (while CR-48 doesn't even have a DVD player).

In contrast it has quite a few things I dislike: It is web-oriented, its existence contributes to attempts to make software into web-apps (I prefer when my data and software is located on device within arm's reach from me, using software via the web would make sense only if I were interfacing some kind of supercomputer to perform task that is far beyond my machine's abilities), it is based on ubuntu, and its' browser is GTK based, and according to you it is supposed to be funded by Advertising (the first thing people will do is making a Chrome fork with all ads disabled, which will probably make google upset). I.e. chrome operating system doesn't promote/use ideas I like, it promotes and uses ideas I dislike, it won't improve linux, It is oriented toward completely alien user group ("live on the web"? After spending too much time with computers I definitely prefer offline face-to-face interactions (too much is missing online), and I already know that majority of the internet isn't really different from yellow press), and it offers nothing exceptional. Also, I don't see a massive advertising chrome OS campaign being launched, which might be a sign of screwup. There is no certain data about notebook release date, no certain data about price, etc. Of course, some people will buy chrome notebook (somebody always buy new product, no matter what is it), and gadget geeks will get a new toy, but in the long run most likely it will change nothing - it doesn't offer anything that isn't present on any major platform at the moment.

As a result of this, my attitude towards OS will be mildly negative. I certainly have no reason to believe that chrome will be successful, I have no reason to think it'll change anything, and no reason to support the system or recommend it. I, however, have a few reasons to tell people to avoid the systems.

The whole debate was a tremendous waste of time with very little payoff, so the discussion is over.

Change your name to Kenny Chrome.

Well as I said before: Chrome apps *can* and *do* run offline. And there already is a version of Adblock Plus for Chrome, so all the user would have to do is install the Adblock Plus Chrome extension and be able to block ads that might otherwise nag the user.

Originally Posted by Kenny_Strawn Well as I said before: Chrome apps *can* and *do* run offline. And there already is a version of Adblock Plus for Chrome, so all the user would have to do is install the Adblock Plus Chrome extension and be able to block ads that might otherwise nag the user.

I thought you meant the ads have to be installed as part of the OS, not in web pages?

Originally Posted by MTK358 I thought you meant the ads have to be installed as part of the OS, not in web pages?

The ads could be distributed in one of four ways: through Web sites, as part of client-side apps, as client-side trialware, or as online trialware. The user can easily manage this: With trialware, the user has to just uninstall it or uninstall the shortcut to it. With Web sites and client-side apps, the user can just block the ads with extensions (like Adblock Plus).

Originally Posted by Kenny_Strawn About two months. I got it on Wednesday. Edit: And I applied before Christmas. Okay, you may be thinking it shouldn't take that long, but it just did.

Thanks Kenny. I applied for one and am hoping Good old Google sends me it.

EDIT: I applied like a week ago.