Chrome OS And Chromebook

Image Courtesy : Wikipedia

Following Google's strides in smartphone technologies is Chrome OS, Google's minimalist Linux-based operating system to work primarily with web applications. While calling Chrome OS a mainstream OS wouldn't be justice to Windows and Linux, it is mainly an on-the-go server based lightweight OS. Borne out of Google's open source Chromium OS project, it went on sale featuring in Chromebooks first sold by Samsung and Acer in 2011. Chromebooks are basically lightly spec-ed personal computers that take immense care of portability, offering a small range of apps offline, as it's intended mode of usage is with an internet connection. Data storage is done mainly on the cloud, so that even if you're using a different system, the data is still there.




Chromebooks are intended at the population of users that require large battery lives along with speedy performance, but possess a high-speed internet connection. Usage of SSD storage as primary, it ensures that the flash drives wake up instantly from sleep mode, perform all your tasks without any lag but offer very low storage space off the cloud. Accidental disconnection from the internet may cause one to lose their ongoing work. But had one opted for an SSD of a storage space comparable to HDDs, they might have to fork out money enough to buy a new car rather than a new PC. The Chromebooks allow us to experience Chrome OS the way it was meant to be experienced - no slowness, no lag, no more hardware limitations holding the software back.

Google's operating system started off in December 2010 as being little more than all Chrome, all the time. Updates made since then have given Chrome OS users better file format support, faster navigation, revised menus, dramatically improved offline abilities, and a traditional-looking desktop. But if you loathe the Chrome browser, it's still highly unlikely that you'll enjoy this operating system. On the other hand, if you love Chrome, then Chrome OS is a big heaping helping of Chrome with some extra Chrome on the side and more Chrome for dessert.

Talking of Chrome OS, Google has clearly spent some serious time developing the new interface. It looks and feels like a personal computer, finally, where before it was little more than a full-screen browser. There's an actual desktop that looks a bit cribbed from Windows 7, with Chrome-the-browser pinned to the far left of the Launcher, and other apps pinned right next to it.

Being labelled as a speed merchant mainly, the Chrome OS systems power up in three to five seconds; once you type in your Google credentials, it's literally another two to three seconds before you're in a browser window, online and ready to roll. The minutes-long wait for my Windows laptop to boot up and be ready to use has never felt more archaic. Startup speed aside, the Chrome OS systems make a lot of things about traditional computing environments feel outdated: the cumbersome setup and installation procedures; the annoying and time-consuming OS upgrades; the need to manually update applications over time; the need to use antivirus software (and the accompanying likelihood and potential consequences of infection); the reliance on complicated drivers; and the inevitable bogged-down, slowed-down effect that always seems to happen to PCs after you've had them for a few months.

Chrome OS doesn't have any of those hassles. It's just about getting online and getting stuff done, plain and simple. Most of the annoyances that have long accompanied computer use are nowhere to be found. However, for all its positives, Chrome OS isn't going to be the right setup for everyone. If you rely on a lot of resource-intensive local programs -- or if you have specific desktop utilities you just adore -- you may find Chrome OS frustrating to use. While there are plenty of cloud-based apps available for most purposes, the experience using them isn't always as good or as complete as what you find on their PC-based equivalents.

Chrome OS powered Chromebooks are great, low cost alternatives to users who bank on cloud computing and online usage, but for the general public, it still remains with several rough edges. But the interface is a joy to use and if it ever happens that Chrome OS turns in to a mainstream OS someday, I will happily throw my Windows 8 in the trash and install Chrome OS, as it's totally worth it.