Tomorrow, Google’s new Chromebooks will be released on Amazon and retailers around the nation. After years of speculation about a Google OS, the online giant has finally entered the mainstream OS wars against the likes of Apple and Microsoft. Only Google’s Chrome OS is much more limited than Windows and OS X. It runs the Chrome browser, and nothing else.
For many things, Chromebooks may be perfectly fine. With all the great web apps available today, many of us spend most of our days in the browser anyhow. But there’s a reason the iOS and Mac App Store are selling more software than ever: native apps are usually still more feature-full and speedy. Plus, there are still times when our internet goes down or we’re out of signal range.
Still, having a secondary computer that boots almost instantly and gives a great browsing experience is very compelling. That’s one of the biggest reasons tablets like the iPad and ones running Google’s own Android are increasingly popular as a secondary computer. Google’s put themselves in the odd position of competing against themselves with Android Honeycomb and Chrome OS.
So, are you ready to take the leap to using only a browser, or will you be sticking with your Mac or PC for now? Or are you going to turn your laptop or netbook into a Chromebook with the third-party versions such as Chrome OS Flow?