
Google Chrome OS Screenshots? - peter123
http://mashable.com/2009/08/15/google-chrome-os-screenshots/
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rms
I believe these are fake. Chrome OS is not in beta -- Chrome for Linux is in
alpha, and Google releases betas. Also, the maximized window with all that
white space is bad design. My expectation is that Chrome OS will look like a
maximized version of Chrome the browser with task management inside of the
browser window instead of outside of the browser window like in these
screenshots. Though I won't be too upset if these screenshots are real.

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w1ntermute
Looks like it doesn't include support for taking screenshots…

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ams6110
According to google, the Chrome OS is a lightweight Linux kernel and a new,
simple window manager. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. I guess maybe
it will be packaged as a consumer appliance in a way that Linux hardly ever
has been.

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jhancock
If I can't use it as a programmer's workstation as well as a simplified
desktop, its of no use to me. I realize their target audience may be thin
consumer devices, but if they want good stuff dev'd on it, developers need to
work directly on it as well. Time will tell.

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UpFromTheGut
"... but if they want good stuff dev'd on it"

I think this completely misses the point. Applications are _web_ apps. You're
not _supposed_ to dev for the OS.

Edit: formatting

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jhancock
nope, wasn't missing the point at all.

Imagine if you will, I'm developing a webapp. I want to target ChromeOS users.
I could run a separate VM to test on, but no, I want to dev and test on one
system for the most part. I want my app framework stack and all the tools
running on this thing and use the web browser to look things up on localhost,
right.

Also, if this is to end up being a good open source citizen and google doesn't
expect to do _all_ the work, developers need to be able to work on the
platform as developers and not use it remotely to test and debug.

Thats' what I 'm talkin' 'bout ;) I get the whole HTML 5 and Web 2.0++ thing.

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wmf
For testing you use Chrome on a real OS.

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jhancock
I probably didn't make myself very clear in the last post.

Lets say ChromeOS gets put on netbooks and is a solid option compared to a
Windows 7 or Linux netbook. Am I, a hacker, going to use such a device? No, I
have more to do than just use webapps. So as a hacker, its of little interest
to me unless I can also use a good subset of linux dev tools.

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mgrouchy
What seems funny to me about these screenshots is that even though they appear
they are on a desktop computer, if you look in the bottom corner of one of the
screens you can see what appears to be a battery meter(as you would see on a
laptop).

But who knows, maybe its just a laptop hooked up to a monitor...

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mrkurt
That looks like a new BeOS. Nice.

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whughes
To me, the idea of running applications in the "cloud" on JavaScript and HTML
is the _total opposite_ of a new BeOS. BeOS is supposed to be lightweight and
highly responsive. The Web is not. That doesn't mean that ChromeOS won't have
its uses, but any other modern OS will get you closer to BeOS than this.

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TomOfTTB
Not really true. I think Gears is a clear indicator of how Google sees the
post-HTML5 world. Given that I think one of the driving ideas behind a
ChromeOS is that programs and data will be cached to some extent on the
desktop (a view that seems to be shared with Adobe (AIR) and Microsoft
(Silverlight))

Web apps that are cached should be both light weight and responsive

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whughes
Compared to BeOS, Web apps that are cached are in no way lightweight and
responsive. Maybe we're defining lightweight and responsive differently. I am
thinking about the real-time media capabilities of BeOS which let you drag
around videos on Pentium IIs. I'm thinking about native C++ applications and a
completely multithreaded system. I'm thinking about Gobe Productive and native
e-mail clients. For me, lightweight runs on a Pentium Pro with 64MB RAM.

Gmail is not lightweight. Compared to Yahoo Mail or Live Mail, its design is
airy, and it's well-optimized. Let's be honest: Chrome OS is only here to tap
the netbooks. It's not going to revive the massive amount of old hardware that
BeOS could use. YouTube isn't lightweight. Chrome's process-per-tab system
isn't lightweight.

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tdonia
seems very similar to the current chrome 3 developer's preview which changed
the start page last week to one without a sidebar as in these shots. seems
like they're preparing to use this space for something more sophisticated.

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freetard
Fake.

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duckbridge
Real!?

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zandorg
I'm not sure. It depends whether they'd use that kind of monitor at Google!

Having said that, all you'd need for a Google OS would be:

    
    
       +Vesa VGA drivers up to big resolutions
       +Ethernet/Wifi drivers (these are pretty much standard these days)
       +Keyboard/mouse/sound drivers
       +A web browser

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swolchok
That does not look like a standard-issue Google monitor, but maybe it's a test
machine with very low specs. Not unlikely considering the target market.

