Quote:
Originally Posted by LXer
Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS.
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But because it is so heavily web-based, speed will be an issue where there is no fast internet connection available, or none at all. I was just traveling, carrying along a "netbook" and an "internet stick" (up to 3G speeds), and while the thing worked in some places well (3G areas), in some cases it was painfully slow (plain gprs or edge), and in some places it just didn't work at all because no networks were near enough (and probably the transport causing more problems due to speed and metal structure). I could use the computer, but things like email that required internet access were completely depending on luck. Having nearly all apps run through an internet connection would have prevented me from doing most of my work there.
Security is then another matter; is it secure to have your data on a remote server, or that you login through the internet, transferring your login information (even if it was encrypted) over more or less public lines? I doubt that. Whenever a computer is connected to one or more other computers, it's a risk.
Judging from the screenshots behind the link, I see no big difference from, say, Eeepc (the Xandros that comes along). The icon-based interface is very similar, and everything that comes through a browser you can in every other operating system as well. I bet Chrome OS is a handy thing if the device is squeezed into a very portable cadget and there's always a reliable and fast internet connection available (minimum a portable 3G "stick" or lots and lots of fast, free, non-secure public wireless networks). But bring it on to the rest of the world where internet still doesn't work quite as fluently as service providers would like it to, and it's not so big a hit anymore.
