As someone that works extensively in the Web when in the office and as much as is practical when on the go, I’m very interested in the latest Chrome and Chrome OS announcements. I’m still using Firefox on Windows for home and mobile work but the changes announced as part of Chrome 8 have me starting a long-term test. As for Chrome OS, I’m sure it’s not what mobility users need. At least in 2011. Let’s start with that…
Chrome OS
Chrome OS was demonstrated this week and confirmed to be a slim OS+browser+HTML5 apps experience presented on a multi-user laptop (12″ as stated in the early days of the Chrome announcements) with SSD storage, 3G and quick boot. There’s talk of 8 days standby too but as it’s an Atom N455 inside, don’t expect that to be ‘always-on’. [Ref: Sascha – NetbookNews in Podcast 60] Core of the user experience is a multi-account (plus ‘guest’) Chrome browser with applications written in HTML5. Apart from it looking very simple, it isn’t actually much different to a standard OS: Kernel, libraries, drivers, UI and applications. In the case of Chrome OS, the applications are written purely in HTML5 and run in an enhanced Chrome browser ‘runtime’ which also serves as the user interface. Applications are also portable across implementations of Chrome OS that run on other platforms. The problem I see for mobility users though is the focus on the ‘cloud.’
I get the email bit and see that a notepad or basic editor would work offline but what about image editing? Is the HTML5 application going to be rich enough? What about a quick bit of video editing? Viewing and editing a powerpoint presentation? Is it going to work? I’ve been tripped up by Google Docs a few times that’s for sure. Can I be sure that the apps work locally or are they going to require me to upload data into the cloud before I can work with it? I don’t want to send 50MB of images onto someones server so I can edit them. I can’t upload 2GB of video file either.
My second worry is that the apps won’t mature quickly. It’s taken Android 2 years to get this far and we still don’t see major investment in porting or writing large numbers of productivity applications.
And what about memory and CPU usage? Runtime environments are never that efficient and history tells me that memory usage of browser can easilty get into ‘runaway’ status.
Chrome OS is primarily for boardband usage. The 3G works as a backup and the whole product, including the sample hardware, is leaning towards low-cost, support-free computing on a 10 year plan. It might work, but not for a long while yet.
Chrome 8
As I mentioned, the core of the Chrome OS experience, the UI and the runtime component is Chrome, the Google web browser. It’s a quick download that expands to over 300MB on disk (after deleting cache, etc) so this is not exactly a small bit of software. One could say it’s as big as an OS!
Speed
It’s important to note that the newest browser technology still appears on the desktop first. It’s one of the reasons that I still use UMPCs- a 1,3Ghz Atom-based device is turning in a Sunspider result of about 1.2s now. That’s about 6x what you’ll see on the best ARM-based devices. Chrome 8 includes improvements to start-up and running speed. Javascript processing gets more improvements with ‘Crankshaft’ that should improve javascript-heavy page loads by up to 12% [Ref]
Chrome 8 includes a basic PDF rendering engine within the browser code. It’s very fast and it’s sandboxed which means security issues can’t leak into other parts of the software. Don’t expect a full PDF experience but if all you do is read them, it works! For those with smaller screens, note that it doesn’t re-flow text in my tests.
Sync
At last Google sync can handle passwords and plugins. Bookmarks are also syncronised along with forms and preferences. I tried to import all my passwords from Firefox but unfortunately this emptied out all my Chrome passwords and left me with nothing. I need a way to get those password over because I’ve forgotten most of them! Update: Chrome 8 does not sync passwords. This is a major issue for me as i’ve forgotten a lot of passwords due to the password save and sync feature in Firefox!
Sandboxing
An important step towards better security is running each tab as a separate process. While sandboxing isn’t new, it’s now being used for applications such as the PDF reader.
Instant
You might want to keep this turned off. Under the URL about:flags you’ll find some experimental stuff. ‘Instant’ will try and guess the web page you want as you type and start loading. It works in some instances but it takes CPU, Memory and bandwidth, not something to be used on mobile devices.
GPU acceleration for Canvas elements (HTML5)
This is another experimental feature but one that could turn PC CPU design on it’s head if HTML5 applications become popular. Some rendering is passed to the GPU where it can be done more efficiently and that can really help a lot. It’s one of the core values of the AMD ‘Fusion’ platforms that offer CPU and a relatively high performance GPU in a mobile package. Currently, I hear, this isn’t working.
Cloud print
This is clearly the way printing is going to work on Android. Chrome 9 (not 8) includes a way to connect your local printers to the Google Cloud Print Service. These printers can then be shared to your devices that include cloud print clients. Currently there aren’t any but expect an Android app very soon. Being able share printers all over the world between Google devices/browsers is potentially quite interesting.
About:flags
Type this in the URL bar to get to some hidden settings!
App Store
Now we get to one of the most interesting features of Chrome, applications and an application store with monetisation. With 100 million users of Chrome out there, this is a significant chance for people to start writing quality apps. Most of these 100 million people are going to get the application store on their next upgrade too! The key language here is HTML5 and already we can see some good aplication implementations. Remember that some of these apps can be GPU-accelerated. (Eventally) and remember that they are also running in a sandbox and can be updated easily. Memory usage could be an issue but no more so than other runtime environments. CPU utlisiation could be quite high though. Syncronisations allows apps to be sent to all syncronised browsers.
My only worry is the reliance on ‘the cloud.’ There are local databases and storage components and core features of HTML5 that will allow applications to work offline but the tendancy is for online activities. I’m sure that, at least initially, a lot of apps won’t handle the offline scenario well. I don’t want to be typing into the WordPress Google Application, lose my network connection and not realise that my text isn’t being saved every 5 minutes. It’s the same as working in a browser. When going mobile, you can never guarantee when you’ll lose connectivity so a suite of offline tools is going to be needed. Like Chrome OS, Chrome Apps could be nice in broadband-connected environment but the mobile user will still need those offline tools.
Chrome is discussed at length in our latest Meet:Mobility podcast.
Memory
I’ve done some tests. Not many, but enough to get a feel for memory usage. Sandboxing clearly has some advantages. It also means CPU and memory disadvantages if my gut feeling is correct.
Tweetdeck application runs in 84MB (Adobe Air version is well over 100MB on my Xp, Vista and W7 boxes so at least thats an advantage.)
Tweetdeck + Reader + GMail = 140MB
Tweetdeck + Reader + GMail + YouTube playing = 225MB
Tweetdeck + WordPress back-end + GMail + Google Calendar + YouTube = 300MB
For devices with limited memory (that includes around 100 million netbooks out there running 1GB RAM) i’m not convinced that Chrome is the most memory or CPU-efficient solution yet. Luckily, I upgraded my netbook to 2GB!
Time will tell with Chrome and Chrome Apps but from day 1, the mobile user needs to be careful of resource utilisation and of network availability. Don’t delete those offline applications yet. However, keep an eye on GPU accelaration and of course, use Chrome for the most efficient javascript processing and. probably, the fastest page loading too. Cloud printing could really help Android devices when it becomes a core part of the OS.
Chrome Announcements and Mobility http://www.umpcportal.com/?p=22883
RT @umpcportal: Chrome Announcements and Mobility http://bit.ly/ett2DV
Chrome Announcements and Mobility: As someone that works extensively in the Web when in the… http://goo.gl/fb/jtQTL
Chrome Announcements and Mobility: As someone that works extensively in the Web when in the… http://goo.gl/fb/jtQTL
Chrome Announcements and Mobility: As someone that works extensively in the Web when in the office and as mu Rea… http://bit.ly/e6iiFV
Chrome Announcements and Mobility http://bit.ly/gsY6No
Good article by @chippy looking at the advantages / disadvantages of chromeOS in the mobile sphere http://bit.ly/fUXybs
well, by experience i still keep saying that the only browser that is capable to run in a stable manner without loosing to much performance between 100 and 200 tabs open distributed over up to 10 separate windows, of which more than 60% are plugged by by flash elements of all sort, even running up to 3 streaming tabs with active streams in parallel, keeps being firefox (running a good 2 dozens of productivity plugins too). just adding – this is running on atom n270 or even the old 900er netbook celeron in either 1 or 2 gb memory. 2gb are recommended if other applications like office work, graphics, pdf production, document managment, datbase runs and so on have to run in parallel, which works in may scenario quite satisfactorily. btw this configuration runs in sleep/wake mode for days without the slightest difficulties.
thereforet thi is the measure i compare any upcomming system with. so far non was able to compete with that, not even to came near to it.
to say a last word – the same could be done under linux too.
ChromeOS is a client-server paradigm. Create Cloudportal if you’re really excited by client-server garbage. Otherwise, we should all probably stop coming. This website is about Personal Computers, unless I misread your domain name. Personal Computers arose in favor of consumers fueled by discontent over the short-comings of the client-server paradigm. Client-server paradigms are anti-consumer. Are you, or are you just struggling to understand technology after all of these years?
People who use Chrome and especially people who also use Google’s other “free” services are morons. Apparently they don’t realize what happens when you voluntarily take actions as a consumer that accumulate into dependence on a monolithic, non-isentropic structure. If you lived in America, you’d probably stop at Walmart for all of your shopping and living needs and nowhere else. Hopefully, everybody only uses Google products so that all competition and health in the technology eco-systems disappears. That would be best. I don’t think that you should trust any business, but I especially wouldn’t trust a business who has to advertise or remind themselves to “do no evil”. Chances are, that’s the clearest sign that they do.
maybe if you didnt do illegal things on your PC you wouldnt be so scared of Google.
protip: create a separate browser profile, dont use it for any personal services (i.e. email, chat), run it through Tor, keep your PC encrypted via TrueCrypt & you have nothing to worry about.
with all respect to you, but your answer shows that you do not know google, its business model and its international behavior so far at all.
secondly, in response to your suggestion, that will work on a os where you are free to install and run any working browser at your gusto: this will not work with chrome os because the chrome browser is the os, so to speak and therefore core part of the cloud-dependent os model that is running on google’s servers. that is the basic idea of this stuff. in fact, a google pc is not more than a thin client in a google wan. as a user of chrome os you have to get this message and consider it very carefully. if not you might risk to end up as a google junkie. same way iphone / ipad users already have become apple-dependent junkies. google will be the master like apple already is.
btw microsoft intends to follow this model with windows 8 too, one might be warned. this is one of the reasons why win 7 shall be so short lived and ms intends to get rid of it and xp as fast as possible. Could easily be that after 2012/13 only linux will exist as a real PERSONAL COMPUTER full os.
well with all respect to you, you dont know Google either, ChromeOS is not a thin client.
thin clients are dummy terminals where the OS runs on remote servers & uses a internet connection to stream back to the thin client.
ChromeOS is a real OS, its a browser built on Linux. the only info kept on Google servers will be settings, all local data is kept fully encrypted. the only local data that will be mirrored on Google servers is data that you specifically specify (pics, vids, NOT cache)
if your worried about Google “logging your keystrokes” just check the source code, this is going to be hands down the most scrutinized OS ever created. from a security perspective, its absolutely brilliant.
Chrome Announcements and Mobility (UMPC Portal) http://is.gd/ivNEi #chromeos
you can use xmarks or lastpass to help transfer you credentials.
@ProgEsc : to achieve what you claim is so brilliant a is nothing more than a mini browsr-coupled linux base, indeed. but the story goes, the this is and was sufficient all the time. nothing new about that. such solutions had been existing for years. point is: all your apps you might be using are not on your pc but run on googls servers (in the browser), same for the data created.
chrome os is the mini os needed to run this google wan system and to gain access to it. apart from a mini kernel and a browser-based access system nothing else is running on a google-book (at least at the time). and that’s exactly what a thin client is (in this case a google client), just like you confirm yourself.
actually the apps run locally & just sync with the server
ChromeOS is not a thin client.
“apps running locally” means in the browser window. apps will not be installed on the pc. google was very clear about this. that’s one of the reasons why google claims security. like google controls the whole installation of the os, net as version control very strictly. this also is the reason why google-books use a specific hardware configuration not compatible with other os’es.
but alas dream on
html5 apps that have an offline mode run locally & sync when reconnected, which will be the majority once ChromeOS reaches maturity
web apps cannot run offline without a connection, thats why they run locally, how can you not understand that?
citd by google: “For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.”
that doesnt mean they dont run locally, “standards-based” means html5, html5 has offline built in, offline means to run local
ChromeOS is not a thin client, its just a browser on top of Linux. even Chippy doesnt think its a thin client & your on his site!
thing is google wisely is not clear to the public about what’s really going on. there are web apps – the main part of the future apps, such forming the web based so called client part of the system. these are google server based and after shutting down a google pc no longer residing on the pc.
then there are sorts of extensions of the brower itself to allow some offline working (reading of docs eg) belonging this way to the installed part of the os. these things are called “packaged apps” and are installable. actually like eg firefox extensions and plugins.
the crucial part of the chrome os story will be how many of packaged stuff will be allowed by google. if the same functionality a windows or linux pc runs via installed applications will be present on a google client by “packaged” apps for offline usage then there will be none of the claimed advantages be present any longer, neither in concern of security, nor speed, nor whatever else – chrome os would become a smelly, buggy, risky os like all the others google would like to differ itself from.
as far as all google services – eg university packages are working – all the stuff is running on google servers. same will be valid for chrome os.
once installed as a platform a lot of services / usage of apps will be pay stuff – that’s where the money is (same like the apple system, same as the new web-based ms office office suite for offices).
wanna know what a thin client is? check out the new videogame service/console called “OnLive”.
ALL work is done server side, the console just streams the video back & forth.