Google Chrome OS

**MK27** · 07-10-2009

Originally Posted by ಠ_ಠ

no, it's because of this.

That was before; "Rickrolling" is the past. The future is the Kool Keith Kut-in, altho on this one Ice-T is a guilty partner. Very smart IMO.

ps. key issue: technically linux refers only to the kernel. The rest of the OS with which you may be familiar is by GNU. So Chrome will use some variant of the linux kernel...

**ಠ_ಠ** · 07-10-2009

Originally Posted by MK27

That was before; "Rickrolling" is the past. The future is the Kool Keith Kut-in, altho on this one Ice-T is a guilty partner. Very smart IMO.

let me introduce you to YouTube - Crazy Indian Video... Buffalaxed!

**MK27** · 07-10-2009

Originally Posted by Mario F.

But for my wife, she couldn't tell which is which... and why.

I wonder what she'd have to say about this

Originally Posted by ಠ_ಠ

let me introduce you to YouTube - Crazy Indian Video... Buffalaxed!

It is only a matter of time before those people get arrested.

**Mario F.** · 07-10-2009

Originally Posted by MK27

ps. key issue: technically linux refers only to the kernel. The rest of the OS with which you may be familiar is by GNU.

Is that so?
I think there's Stallman T-Shirts over there somewhere. Go grab yourself one and wait in line for the hand kissing.

**ಠ_ಠ** · 07-10-2009

Originally Posted by Mario F.

Is that so?
I think there's Stallman T-Shirts over there somewhere. Go grab yourself one and wait in line for the hand kissing.

They are out of T-Shirts, all that remain are panties

**MK27** · 07-10-2009

Originally Posted by Mario F.

Is that so?
I think there's Stallman T-Shirts over there somewhere. Go grab yourself one and wait in line for the hand kissing.

Been there, done that. He actually gives hugs and tried to share some "reefer"

**cyberfish** · 07-11-2009

What I meant is, I don't think Linux will become mainstream, just because of the development model. Linux is developed mostly by people who use it, while commercial OSes use a more traditional "commercial" model (sorry I don't know any better terminology) - of separate suppliers and consumers. Suppliers need to make sure things work on the consumer's computers, because they are paid. It's not like that for open source software. Open source developers are not responsible for their programs. As a result, users need to be a bit more proactive, which usually means the user must be willing to spend more time and effort on their own. Most don't (either computers don't interest them, or...). That's why I said Linux will never become mainstream. It's like this outside of the realm of computers, too. Paying for convenience is nothing new. If you don't want to walk and don't want to take the bus to school, drive and park inside your university, but it will cost you. If you don't want to clean your house, pay someone else to do it. If you don't want to figure out how programs on your computer work, pay for Microsoft to write a prettily formatted step-by-step click-there-then-click-here manual for you (and someone on the phone to answer your questions 24/7).

Again you are reverting back to an argument for non average users. Ubuntu repositories may work for you. But for my wife, she couldn't tell which is which... and why.

For Ubuntu, I believe there are 4 - main (supported free programs), restricted (supported non-open source programs), universe (unsupported free programs), and multiverse (unsupported non-free programs). I think it's quite easy to understand, after about 1 minute of explaining (or reading). For Debian there's just free and non-free (pretty self explanatory?) IIRC. If you really don't want to understand it, the default "just works", too.

the most newbie friendly versions of Linux expect a higher level of understanding from its end-user in the process of upgrading, updating, and maintaining the operating system. Perhaps at levels that the mainstream community might not be willing to adopt.

I'm not sure I agree with that assertion. If you are talking about people who already know how to use Windows, then sure. But how fair is that?

To make it a controlled experiment, we would need to find people who use Windows, and tell them to learn Linux, and people who only use Linux, and tell them to learn Windows (hard to find).

I personally spent a lot less time learning Linux than Windows, but I was also learning about the general concept of "computers" when I was learning Windows (and I was a lot younger at that time), so that's not too fair either.

It's like in those ads where Microsoft tries to convince people that the TCO for Linux servers is higher than Windows. They include a "admins re-training" cost for the Linux side. What if they only already knew UNIX? I found that pretty funny.

Assuming people already know Windows, of course Linux will be harder to learn than Windows.

**MK27** · 07-11-2009

Originally Posted by cyberfish

Paying for convenience is nothing new.

"Convenience" is also a multi-faceted concept; I much much prefer driving standard to automatic because to me it seems more convenient, but in conventional terms, an automatic transmission is a convenience you pay more for.

Originally Posted by cyberfish

I personally spent a lot less time learning Linux than Windows, but I was also learning about the general concept of "computers" when I was learning Windows (and I was a lot younger at that time), so that's not too fair either.

I remember I had a Vic 20 then a C64 when I was really young, like 11 or 12, and for whatever crazy reason (maybe Amiga encouraged that? for sure I was a little jealous of my friends who had Atari game machines, which my parents wouldn't go for) I started writing programs in BASIC to produce "sprite" versions of cartoon characters I had drawn.

Eventually I forgot that, I guess, and much later when PC's started appearing in the house I didn't have much interest in computers. I bought one in university to write essays on and that's when the WWW appeared, which was of course very absorbing. Some crazy crazy stuff on the WWW in the early days! They didn't have that in my hometown library!

But it wasn't until after I finished school and I still had this computer and decided to try linux that I took any interest in "computing concepts". To be honest, I had at least one close long-term CS friend in university and she did not seem interested in (the applied side of available) hardware or software to me AND she was like close to a 4.0 GPA; I knew a few more casually and they mostly seemed absorbed with analytical philosophy and linguistics. The one guy I knew from high school who ran a BBS (and now makes his living doing sys admin) did an anthropology degree.

**Elysia** · 07-14-2009

Hehe, I found this little video about Chrome OS, and although it's biased, I do think it has a few good points.
YouTube - Mike Arrington is wrong: Chrome OS won't matter.

**nvoigt** · 07-14-2009

Masseuse comes by every Monday afternoon.

Anyone have a preorder link? Invite me to beta please!

**mike_g** · 07-14-2009

Whoa... hang on. He didn't say he had trouble installing Linux, he said the average user can't be bothered to learn how to install Linux and I completely agree. What's the difficulty in realizing that the average person doesn't care to dedicate the time to learning computers that you have? The average computer user couldn't read this response that I'm quoting without asking a few questions about computer vocabulary. Distributions? Partitions? VM? Do you really think the average joe knows what you're talking about? Does that make them stupid... no... it just makes them blissfully ignorant to something that doesn't interest them that much while they dedicate their time to things they know and care about.

Ah okay. Stand corrected.

Note that you also need to know what the word "partition" means to install Windows, though.

Nah, you don't need to know what a partition is to install Ubuntu with WUBI, nor format your disk. For installing you just need to know how much disk space you want to allocate, what language you speak, and what time zone you are in. I reckon it requires about 10 points of IQ - MENSA POWER 4 TEH WIN!

**linuxdude** · 07-16-2009

Originally Posted by cyberfish

There had been rumours (and I think Google confirmed it) about Google having their own Linux distro for their internal use.

It's called Goobuntu

**MK27** · 10-15-2009

Somewhat just showed this to me:

Web Browser Performance

Looks like chrome really cleaned up, performance wise.

**Elysia** · 10-15-2009

The fact that that Chrome came first is not surprising. It is, after all, the newest browser and it has been on news before.
The fact that IE8 comes last is not surprising either, considering how slow Microsoft applications tend to be.
But... Good work, Google.