

Google Shows Off its Tablet Concept - dcawrey
http://www.thechromesource.com/google-shows-off-its-tablet-concept/

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philwelch
Et tu, Google?

I had grown used to Microsoft reflexively competing with whatever led the tech
headlines that month, whether it was Zune coming out to combat iPod, Surface
and Zune Phone to combat iPhone, multiple attempts to combat Google, and so
forth.

Part of this is simply having a shotgun approach, which is a cheap way to
diversify your business. After reading _The Road Ahead_ , I got the distinct
impression, based on Gates' appraisal of Wang, that his greatest fear for
Microsoft was to stay stuck in one product line and be made obsolete by the
next big thing, which partially explains the shotgun strategy and even the
trend-jumping strategy. Still, it comes off as desperate for Microsoft to
respond in kind to each new product category that makes news, like they are
trying to prove their relevance. Secure companies which really do innovate
don't need to imitate and they don't need to try so hard to prove their
relevance.

Google, too, always had a shotgun approach by design, but seeing this makes me
worry that Google is following Microsoft into the hole of mimicking whatever
the big news is at the time. I don't think that road pays off. It's the exact
opposite of what Google started off doing--improving a boring and forgotten
part of the internet ecosystem--and it's the exact opposite of Apple's
strategy. (If Microsoft and Google are shotguns, Apple is a sniper rifle
carefully picking off market opportunities no one else really sees that well.)

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madh
The "this smells like MSFT" bell was ringing loudly in my head as well.

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tdmackey
The size of their tablet in the video makes it look closer to something like
MS Surface than a 'tablet' device.

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jasonlbaptiste
HN makes quite a few appearances :-).

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bdr
Real artists ship. I'll care when it's more than a concept.

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mkyc
Nice soundbite, but that's nonsense.

They're not trying to compete with Apple. It's just a demo they had lying
around (probably from back when everyone was going crazy about chrome os),
which they released because everyone's going crazy over tablets.

It's timely, and it's worth watching.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq3EeZz-W3A> has some similar interactions.

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bdr
Regardless of Google's intentions, it's going to be perceived as part of their
feud with Apple. Anyone can make a demo, but Google has yet to demonstrate
that they can execute well on hardware.

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potatolicious
I'm not really sold - one of the strengths of the iPad is that it has a UI
that's specifically geared towards finger interaction - a lot of this concept
seems like it's just doing "desktop UI with touch enhancements". IMHO that's
not enough.

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glhaynes
Yeah, a lot of things seem to happen "by magic" and one wonders a) what
seemingly-invisible element on the screen is the user touching to make that
happen and b) how did the user learn that? I didn't get that feeling from the
iPad videos I've seen.

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gmurphy
I agree (I made the video). There is actually bunch of thinking behind it, but
we're leaving it rough because we don't want to pretend we're developing high-
detail specs just yet, as doing so tends to lock you in to a certain approach
- we really do prefer to experiment in code.

The point of the Chromium site is not to sell, but to be pretty open about
what we're doing and what we're thinking early in the process so that our
external contributors, who we value highly, can get access to the same
information that our internal teams can and so that they don't get surprised
by sudden public changes in direction.

It's a tough balance - not over-specifying yet being open, especially when
people are used to everything a company puts out being a high-definition
advertisement. This open development style is still new to me, and hope we'll
get better at it with practice.

(FWIW, this is all personal opinion, not Google's).

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m_eiman
Are you targeting a specific physical size with the concepts? Like someone
else said, that device looks fairly big. It seems reasonable that what is best
for a big display might not be best for a small one.

Also, as a general suggestion, one of the -worst- things about the current
desktop is manual window management - please, please come up with an automatic
system that _works_! The iPhone sidesteps this by only allowing one app at a
time, but with several apps it'll be one of the make-or-break aspects of these
devices...

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raganwald
In "Marketing Warfare," Reis and Trout explain that while you should take
advantage of a competitor's weakness, you should never make it your primary
point of attack. In stead, you should attack a competitor's _strength_.

The problem with a weakness is that a competitor can fix it, nullifying your
attack. In fact, they may already be working on a fix, so you may get to
market and discover your entire strategy is bunk. Whereas they can't 'fix' one
of their strengths. In more modern terms, attacking their strength is
leveraging The Innovator's Dilemma.

So about multi-tasking. Whoop-de-doo. This is a weakness Apple can fix with a
minor point release of their OS. iPads have more battery and a faster
processor, they are probably already toying with the idea. This is not a point
of attack for Google.

OTOH, the Apple Store is a strength for Apple. The well-behaved apps are a
benefit for users, so having an open ecosystem is attacking Apple's strength.
If Apple opens its ecosystem up, junkware, malware, and other forms of app
garbage will quickly follow, which will eat away at Apple's control of the
user experience.

Thus, openness is a great strategy for Google to follow, while multi-tasking
is simply something they should do but not hang their hat on.

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pkrumins
Wow. If you look closely, they open Hacker News at 0:14. :)

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DannoHung
Looks pretty dang annoying to use. Bringing the windows metaphor into small
form factor touchscreen devices is not exactly something I'm looking forward
to.

Maybe on a wall where space is cheap.

~~~
elblanco
I've always thought a combination of a touchscreen interface that can
reconfigure itself, and a touchscreen display, so you don't break your neck
bending over to look at it, would be best...and the most flexible. On
something the size of this, I'd bet that typing on it wouldn't even be that
bad after a while.

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grinich
Apple demos NY Times.

Google demos Hacker News.

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rms
I have very high hopes for the upcoming Chrome OS netbooks. I'm probably the
only one here planning on using one as my primary computer. After the
disappointment that was the iPad, I suspect the media is going to be very kind
to the launch of the Chrome netbooks. I just hope someone makes one with a 12
or 13'' screen.

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rms
Btw, these concepts are definitely somewhat distant and based on iMac sized
tablets. I can guarantee that the first Chrome OS Tablet is going to look
pretty much just like Chrome OS with an on screen keyboad.

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baguasquirrel
What's the rationale for Google getting in on the hardware business anyway?
Are they so concerned that Apple will dominate the metal that the web is
viewed under that they have to take matters into their own hands? It seems a
bit extreme.

~~~
freetard
> Are they so concerned that Apple will dominate the metal that the web is
> viewed under that they have to take matters into their own hands? It seems a
> bit extreme.

Why so? Google depends entirely on the web, it makes sense. Also depending on
a third party/competitor for accessing your very business is a very bad thing,
especially when this competitor is Apple. It's better to depend on as few
parties as possible.

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ThinkWriteMute
One thing I have to say about this: This would be the time to really bring in
Radial Menus.

Edit: Especially radial menus that sort the rings on usage (IE, high use
programs closer to the center of the disk).

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zephyrfalcon
Oh no! It's the end of tinkering!

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megamark16
I'll stick with my netbook, thanks. Just make them more powerful and lighter,
and give me a better pointing device (built in eye tracking perhaps?) and
that's the type of innovation I'll be buying into. Then again, Google isn't
competing for my money, they're competing for my mom's money.

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mitensampat
not really a tablet, its a surface like device

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cracki
so what is a tablet, if not a surface small enough to be carried?

this looks like it can be carried. remember, there are people lugging around
17" laptops...

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cmelbye
Interface is very reminiscent of the iPad's. Maybe the creator got a little
inspiration from it.

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ekiru
The video appears to have been uploaded on the 25th, so that seems unlikely.

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dejapong
First thing I noticed

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mrshoe
Ugh. The keyboard and popover menus in those pictures look like direct rips of
Apple's tablet ([http://dev.chromium.org/chromium-os/user-experience/form-
fac...](http://dev.chromium.org/chromium-os/user-experience/form-
factors/tablet)). That Google would "show off" these concepts is a bit
embarrassing, and telling.

An Apple designer wouldn't even show _their manager_ concept drawings this
rudimentary, especially if they were nothing more than copies of a competing
product released the week before.

I really hope this isn't Google's doing. But if they are working on a tablet
version of Chrome OS, they should probably keep the lid on it until it's had
more than 2 hours of mockup work.

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jtaylor
The dates on the site say this was posted before Apple's announcement, though
dates can obviously be munged.

