Chromebook – everything lives on the web. Crazy?

Yes it is finally here. Are you ready for it though?

The new PC Operating System from Google which will be made available later this year via PCs called ChromeBooks is Google’s attempt to redesign the PC market.

ChromeBook is a PC that lives on the web, well everything inside it does not the physical PC itself. What does this mean?

It means that software doesn’t reside on the PC anymore, it all lives online and is accessed on the net. With a very light operating system and with applications living offline there isn’t much for a virus to latch onto, therefore no need for antivirus software.

The actual ChromeBook also comes with a very light hard drive so there isn’t an incentive to save much locally. Your data lives on the web, yes in that big cloud that we talk about. Your emails, your word documents, your spreadsheets, your photos, they are all up there, being securely stored for you.

It’s new, well it is an extension of the Chrome web browser as a thin desktop operating system.

What is also interesting is the deal for Government, Not For Profit and Business, where Chrome is looking to lease these notebooks out and then manage them on behalf of these users.

It will rent these laptops in bulk to businesses with the rental including tech support, rapid hardware replacement, automatic background updates, a Web-based management console for IT professionals (for managing users, apps, and policies) and a hardware refresh every three years. ZDNet

“The Google Chrome notebooks are almost effortless to manage. Staging, imaging, updating and repairing software problems are almost non-existent issues at this point. Replacement is as simple as handing out a new device with no IT involvement necessary.”

If these experiences by business are real and not PR then it will be attractive for many businesses as they look at ways to reduce their IT overheads and the ache of ongoing PC management. It certainly isn’t for everyone nor every business but there is a market for it.

Can you come to terms with having everything in the cloud? Having Google collect and protect your information for you. Protect you and your internet and digital experience, because it knows best.

Bare in mind, sharing it all with Google means you are sharing it overseas, not locally unless it decides to create local data centres.

It is all very new but not entirely new as we have all heard this stuff before but never has a big player brought to the market. Yet how successful will Google be at commercialising it? They are not the marketing machine that Apple is, far from it. In the business and Govt sectors they are trying to gain market share with the Apps and Gmail products. Long way to go though but they are making some in-roads.

I personally trust my backups to the cloud, I trust my email to the cloud but I also want them with me, somewhere locally. I would be ready to have a 2nd or third PC at home live on the cloud. I think it could work. I could get used to it.