It’s little wonder the Chromebook never really took off in India. I mean, I’ve done an online search for one just now, and there’s just no solid result. But hold on, what’s a Chromebook, you ask? Simple — it’s Google’s answer to the ever-burgeoning tyranny of slow, bloated Windows PCs, which aims to deliver fast and easy computing to anyone who lives only on for the internet. And how do they achieve it? They get rid of everything but the Chrome browser, call it Chrome OS, slap it inside a plastic box with a keyboard and sell it to you for a somewhat modest price of ₹16,000. I can almost guess what you're thinking now. Which wasteful addle-head would ever want to buy a boxed web browser that’s already free to begin with for that much money?
In college, I wanted a Chromebook quite badly. Despite owning a couple of computers that worked just fine, I ached for a computing experience that was free of Windows and its cursed Blue Screen of Death. I also longed to be a member of that exclusive Anti-Windows club who always used something special, and something quirky, like a pre-release Linux distro no one had ever heard of, or at least a Macintosh. Obviously, I couldn’t get myself a Macintosh; I valued my kidneys far too much. But I’d seen that club of avant-garde users, yes, and had felt what they felt. They were the ones who sneered at the very sight of a Windows computer, and if ever they had to use one, they did so only with their left hands and reserved the choicest of expletives for when it behaved badly. OK, I’m overstating that now.
Happily, I never bought one because I knew deep down I’d never be able to rationalise a purchase so impractical. But the Chromebook really isn’t all that impractical — it’s just you and the internet, without any hindrances. There’s no antivirus program demanding you to scan drives and renew your subscription, or Windows Update forcing you to quit doing whatever you’re doing to install critical updates, or Internet Explorer haranguing you over some worthless add-ons.
The fact of the matter is that the Chromebook is just here at the wrong time and has no definite, targeted customer. You see, in the western world, getting a Chromebook over a Windows PC can actually be a good idea because it’s far cheaper there than it is in India; it starts at about ₹10,000. A majority of the American schools and colleges are already using Chromebook as their preferred classroom device because it’s easier to configure and deploy. Also, a Chromebook sold in India won’t feature cellular connectivity, and is likely to have only two gigabytes of memory, as opposed to a global model that might have four. With the memory halved, and with only WiFi to connect through, the Chromebook becomes a seriously limited device. And when was the last time you went to an eatery with a proper, working wireless internet connection? See?
A couple of weeks ago, I found another way to whet my old curiosity. I came across something called CloudReady, an open-source operating system based on Chromium OS, which uses the same architecture as Chrome OS. To spare you the confusion, I’ll just call Chromium OS the same as Chrome OS, but without all the colourful makeup that its rich daddy Google buys it. In other words, Chrome would be Dudley Dursley, the chubby, attention-grabbing blowhard of a kid, and Chromium, the other cupboard-dwelling boy who no one ever knew existed. Anyhow, when I went through CloudReady’s documentation, I was glad to know that it had certified support for a model I happened to have lying around at home — a ThinkPad T60. This ten-year old IBM machine was a great companion through college, but was now reduced to being an email-checking machine on a slow Sunday. I just had to do it; I just had to turn it into a Chromium-book.
The CloudReady installation went well, and since then, my dad and I have been taking turns toying with it. I’m happy to report that the experience has been very agreeable so far. Cold boots happen in under ten seconds, all the drivers seem to work flawlessly, the battery lasts a good two hours, and switching users is a cinch. Surprisingly, it’s almost completely free of bugs. Casting the entire screen to a TV seems to get it though, but it’s a minor glitch I can overlook. On the whole, it’s a very good setup for a browser that’s been turned into an operating system.
Would I ever buy a Chromebook, now that I’ve got a glimpse of it through my quasi-Chromebook? Oh heavens, no, I am very much over the Chromebook. Windows may be ridiculously complicated and thick at times, but I simply cannot live without my favourite applications, like Dropbox, iTunes, f.lux, and WordWeb. Here’s what Google could do though — release the Chrome OS officially, as a standalone operating system, so old computers like the T60 can earn a new lease of life. But I know that's never going to happen. I mean, would the Dursleys ever let their Ickle Diddykins get a bad name because a large snake escaped the zoo during their visit? Oh no, they'd have Harry to blame for it.
Until next time...
Vignesh
In college, I wanted a Chromebook quite badly. Despite owning a couple of computers that worked just fine, I ached for a computing experience that was free of Windows and its cursed Blue Screen of Death. I also longed to be a member of that exclusive Anti-Windows club who always used something special, and something quirky, like a pre-release Linux distro no one had ever heard of, or at least a Macintosh. Obviously, I couldn’t get myself a Macintosh; I valued my kidneys far too much. But I’d seen that club of avant-garde users, yes, and had felt what they felt. They were the ones who sneered at the very sight of a Windows computer, and if ever they had to use one, they did so only with their left hands and reserved the choicest of expletives for when it behaved badly. OK, I’m overstating that now.
Happily, I never bought one because I knew deep down I’d never be able to rationalise a purchase so impractical. But the Chromebook really isn’t all that impractical — it’s just you and the internet, without any hindrances. There’s no antivirus program demanding you to scan drives and renew your subscription, or Windows Update forcing you to quit doing whatever you’re doing to install critical updates, or Internet Explorer haranguing you over some worthless add-ons.
The fact of the matter is that the Chromebook is just here at the wrong time and has no definite, targeted customer. You see, in the western world, getting a Chromebook over a Windows PC can actually be a good idea because it’s far cheaper there than it is in India; it starts at about ₹10,000. A majority of the American schools and colleges are already using Chromebook as their preferred classroom device because it’s easier to configure and deploy. Also, a Chromebook sold in India won’t feature cellular connectivity, and is likely to have only two gigabytes of memory, as opposed to a global model that might have four. With the memory halved, and with only WiFi to connect through, the Chromebook becomes a seriously limited device. And when was the last time you went to an eatery with a proper, working wireless internet connection? See?
A couple of weeks ago, I found another way to whet my old curiosity. I came across something called CloudReady, an open-source operating system based on Chromium OS, which uses the same architecture as Chrome OS. To spare you the confusion, I’ll just call Chromium OS the same as Chrome OS, but without all the colourful makeup that its rich daddy Google buys it. In other words, Chrome would be Dudley Dursley, the chubby, attention-grabbing blowhard of a kid, and Chromium, the other cupboard-dwelling boy who no one ever knew existed. Anyhow, when I went through CloudReady’s documentation, I was glad to know that it had certified support for a model I happened to have lying around at home — a ThinkPad T60. This ten-year old IBM machine was a great companion through college, but was now reduced to being an email-checking machine on a slow Sunday. I just had to do it; I just had to turn it into a Chromium-book.
The CloudReady installation went well, and since then, my dad and I have been taking turns toying with it. I’m happy to report that the experience has been very agreeable so far. Cold boots happen in under ten seconds, all the drivers seem to work flawlessly, the battery lasts a good two hours, and switching users is a cinch. Surprisingly, it’s almost completely free of bugs. Casting the entire screen to a TV seems to get it though, but it’s a minor glitch I can overlook. On the whole, it’s a very good setup for a browser that’s been turned into an operating system.
Would I ever buy a Chromebook, now that I’ve got a glimpse of it through my quasi-Chromebook? Oh heavens, no, I am very much over the Chromebook. Windows may be ridiculously complicated and thick at times, but I simply cannot live without my favourite applications, like Dropbox, iTunes, f.lux, and WordWeb. Here’s what Google could do though — release the Chrome OS officially, as a standalone operating system, so old computers like the T60 can earn a new lease of life. But I know that's never going to happen. I mean, would the Dursleys ever let their Ickle Diddykins get a bad name because a large snake escaped the zoo during their visit? Oh no, they'd have Harry to blame for it.
Until next time...
Vignesh
Good one! In the past, I had been sceptical about Chromebooks because of their dependance on internet. In our towns, if you are not at home with a good WiFi connection, the Chromebooks would be a nightmare to use. On the positive side, Google is making available the Android apps on Chromebooks through their Play store. You will get all the apps needed if the model is supported by Google
ReplyDeleteI think thee was an attempt at something similar by Firefox too. You rightly pointed out the real challenges with all such efforts: (a) How low the cost can go? 16K is not low considering that my Lenovo S-20 costed only 2K more. (b) Whether app developers are going to spend time to develop something and if so what is the marketing mechanism. But the most important issue is in understanding the market segment of users and how it will be used. Clearly it never sounded like an alternative for Windows. Is it an alternative for iPad? I so why are they targeting PC architecture to run it? But these are difficult questions to answer and that is why there will continue to be many such attempts before something clicks (for some time).
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to say. I guess Google expected the concept of Web apps to catch up. It surely can't be an alternative to Windows, but with a minimalist OS and a cheap price tag, it can be a faster and cheaper PC for anyone doing things only on the internet. And in India, that's a bad idea at the moment.
ReplyDeleteThe chormium is new age laptop of the Google which have all the app and OS by the Google. But something wee need to know that chrome and chromium is two different browsers. There is and Difference between chromium vs Chrome .
ReplyDelete