ChromeOS: “A better Linux than Linux” so

you can forget about Windows

A freelancer’s move from Windows to a Chromebook

[Op-Ed ] By Fernando Cassia - March 4, 2022

Published:
https://www.techradar.com/features/chrome-os-a-better-linux-than-linux-so-you-can-forget-abo
ut-windows

Moving between operating systems is akin to moving to a new city or a

different country: it takes a while for your mind to adjust to the new

environment. Here is my experience of the surprises, annoyances and culture

shock of moving to Google’s ChromeOS-land and how quickly I overcame it

all.
 About a month ago, I decided to get rid of the trusty old laptop I had been

using for years for writing articles. Because I wanted to play it safe and not

spend too much in case the experiment failed, I switched from Windows 10 to

the cheapest Chromebook I could find. You can read the review of the ASUS

C523NA here.

Weeks later, the Windows computer sits on a drawer and I'm typing on a

Chromebook, which I intend to use for writing, editing images, and tinkering.

Can we say goodbye to Windows? If so, at what cost? Follow along to hear

my story.

☑Advantages and disadvantages of Chromebooks

Almost eleven years after Chromebooks were introduced, Google has expanded the
concept of Chrome OS far beyond its original vision: "it's the web or nothing." and
has added support for Android apps as well as Linux apps with a container-based
approach.

In turn, this has broadened the appeal of the platform. Along the way, Chromebooks
have been introduced with features that rival Windows laptops. Right now,
Chromebooks have the advantage of a mature software platform, along with a broad
selection of hardware options.

In terms of purely functional principles, ChromeOS is not only faster -starting with
booting within seconds- but also much leaner than Windows for one simple reason: it
is not required to support tons of legacy APIs as Microsoft's OS. You will find that
you do not need a fat and complex operating system to get online and accomplish
your tasks even if you don’t enable its optional Android and Linux app subsystems.

Chrome OS' main disadvantage can be summed up with this: it isn't Windows.
Hence, it takes some getting used to. Secondly, it means that if you only use heavy
Windows apps that do not have Android, Linux or web-based versions, a
chromebook isn't worth the hassle.
While you can run Windows utilities and apps inside a Chromebook's Linux
environment using the open-source WINE compatibility layer available from the
Linux repositories, success isn't guaranteed, and compatibility varies from
application to application. It will cost you $59 to install and run Codeweavers
CrossOver for Chrome if you want less headaches along with a certain degree of
compatibility assurance so you will be able to run Quicken, Microsoft Office, or
DirectX games like Wizard101.

Companies that might prefer Chromebooks for reasons of manageability have the
option of using Parallels Desktop for ChromeOS, which guarantees complete
compatibility with Windows -basically, you get the full Windows experience inside a
Chromebook.

Parallels requires a Chromebook with an Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 processor,

AMD Ryzen 5 or AMD Ryzen 7 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage or
more, plus the licensing fee per year. In short: you can have Windows-on-ChromeOS
with plenty of money. Nevertheless, if you want to save money, you should consider
purchasing a normal laptop instead.

☑The user interface shock: Less is more

You can tell right away that a Chromebook's user interface isn't the familiar Windows
interface. Those familiar with Apple computers will recognize 'the Shelf' as similar to
the dock found on macOS computers.

The interface is easy to use, but it has some unique features and differences that
may be confusing at first to Windows users. One major culture shock is that the
desktop cannot be messied with. It has your wallpaper of choice, but that's it.
Although Windows computers often allow you to place folders and App icons there,
this flexibility often works against usability.

Despite Microsoft's best efforts, Windows users often end up with the desktop
cluttered with program icons, folders and documents, but with ChromeOS, you can't
do that. And it's great.

The ChromeOS File Save dialog lets you save to the Downloads folder by default.
You can change this to your Google Drive, another ChromeOS compatible cloud
drive -if you have downloaded it from the Play Store-, USB external storage, or a SD
card if your chromebook has a xSD card reader. But you can't save anything to the
Desktop, keeping things tidy.
You open the Status Tray by clicking on the lower-right corner, which has toggle
buttons for frequently used functions such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth toggles, volume,
screen brightness, Sign out, turn off and going into the settings screen, with similar
aesthetics to what you see when you slide down the finger on an Android
smartphone. The Settings screen is much, much easier to navigate than anything
you have ever seen from Redmond.
The dual-pane ChromeOS Settings screen

What about the start menu? It has a start menu, but it's called something else. By
now, it went by different names, so it depends on who you ask. On Chrome OS,
there's a round icon in the same bottom-left corner of the screen where the Start
Button is on Windows. That's the Launcher. Not bad. Launchers are used to launch
things. Makes sense. So its icon must say Launch right? Well, no. Once if you move
the mouse over it a tooltip reads “launch”.

But why does it have an “encircled round button” icon? -for lack of a better
description-. Because the round icon that brings up the launcher is now called the
"Everything button". Depending on whether your Chromebook has a touch screen
or a touchpad, you can open it by clicking it -with the touchpad-, tapping it -if it has a
touch screen-, or by pressing the search key on the keyboard. Alternatively, you can
click or press the "everything" button. What is the everything button? The search key.
Are you confused? We were too. But let’s leave the naming madness rant for the
verdict.

☑Android or Windows style launchers: your choice

Culture shock: the default launcher design in Chrome OS is very Androidy.
The default ChromeOS Launcher, expended to show all installed apps

Thankfully, there is a way to make all Windows users and power users feel at home
with a Chromebook. Just open Chrome, type chrome://flags and type Launcher into
the search box. You will find a setting dubbed “Productivity experiment: App
Launcher” and change it to Enabled. After a quick reboot, you will get the more
advanced launcher that looks very familiar to Windows users. I think this should be
the default for devices without touch screens.
Switching the launcher-style to a much more familiar design

Almost all the fine-tuning and tweaking of Chrome OS is handled via chrome://flags
It pretty much sums up all the adjustments a Windows user needs to make coming
from a Windows system. Plus, there are no driver installations to deal with. If
something works with Chrome OS, you can plug it in and it will function. Then you
cannot manually install drivers as in Windows.

☑Keyboard shock: “Hello, Police? Someone has messed up my

Keyboard”

My chromebook has a chiclet style keyboard with a very comfortable layout, 1.5mm
key travel, and accurate key spacing, making typing a joy. The tab key is there but
next to it you will be shocked to find there is no caps lock key. HOW ARE YOU
SUPPOSED TO WRITE BELLIGERENT EMAILS WITHOUT IT?. Worry not.
Pressing Alt together with the Search key enables and disables Caps Lock mode.

I think Google should include a printed booklet or manual that begins with "The
Chromebook keyboard". There are also no “productivity keys”: Home, End, Page Up,
and Page Down. Page up and down can be emulated by pressing Alt (or
alternatively Search) plus the Cursor Up and Down keys.

By pressing Ctrl Alt and cursor left/right, you can emulate the Home and End keys,
however I had no luck with Home and End in GDocs. To make matters worse, there
is no DEL key. What are you going to do? You press Alt-Backspace. After two days I
got the hang of it and I just didn’t care anymore. It is much easier to learn the latter
than Alt+cursor for jumping back and forth between pages.
As a Chromebook newbie, you might find the cap lock emulation hotkey to be
infuriating when you try to alt-tab then hit alt-search by mistake, leaving you with a
keyboard that writes all caps and no idea how to turn the feature off, or conversely,
when trying to turn it on and unable to find the hotkey. CNet ran a story titled "How to
turn on Caps Lock on a Chromebook" on their web site. Usability: Google has heard
of it.

Putting aside the productivity keys snafu, I liked the English-US layout with large
Shift, Ctrl, and Alt keys. There are the standard Chromebook keys at the top,
including the useful Full Screen key, the rarely used Refresh key, the "show all
windows" key, screen brightness adjustment keys, sound volume and mute keys, as
well as the power key.

There are two more keys at the top row of Chromebooks: the browser back and
forward keys, which are, quite frankly, rubbish. The only time I use those keys is to
mimic the F1 and F2 keys with the Alt key. Asus, if you read this, please add
Productivity Keys. This will allow for an easier transition from Windows laptops to
Chromebooks.

Chrome OS as the United Nations of Software:

Progressive Web Apps, Linux, and even (some) Windows

☑Web Apps

Applications that use the web require connectivity, but they have a huge advantage:
your work is saved in the cloud. Google's own tools: Calendar, GMail, Tasks, etc.,
along with the traditional office suite Google Docs and Microsoft's Office 365, are
among the best apps you can run on the browser. The browser-based versions of
both worked very well on a chromebook, and I encountered no problems using
spreadsheets and text documents.
Office365 editing a Word document in ChromeOS

In addition to the heavyweight players, there are thousands of smaller startups that
develop web apps you can run on a chromebook. These are useful tools for your
daily work routine. The first are so-called "outlining" apps, which use a text editor to
create and edit outlines, a text file with a tree structure for organizing ideas and
projects.

Editing a spreadsheet in GDocs

On a chromebook, there are many web-based outlining tools worth exploring,
including:
Workflowy (https://www.workflowy.com), DynaList (https://dynalist.io/), and LogSeq
(https://logseq.com/?spa=true).

These days, using the browser doesn't limit you to productivity apps, you can edit
audio files with AudioMass.co or twistedwave.com. You can also edit video using
veed.io, kapwing.com, clideo.com or lumin5.com, depending on your bandwidth and
project length.

Enterprise solutions include web-based CRM solutions, CAD software like OnShape
or Tinkercad from Autodesk, and even 3D rendering and animation software like
https://clara.io without having to install huge apps like Maya.

Audio editing on the browser thanks to audiomass.co

At the enterprise level, there are web based CRM solutions, CAD software like
OnShape, Tinkercad from Autodesk, even 3D rendering and animation with the likes
of Clara.io without installing huge apps like Maya.

☑Chrome Browser Extensions

In the "Productivity" section of the Chrome Web Store, you will find dozens of useful
add-ons that add functionality to Chrome.

For instance, Somnote, an easy-to-use note taking app that allows you to write down
and store all your ideas and tasks, is accessible from mobile (Android and iOS) to
Chromebook and PC.
Additionally, Google Keep has an official Chrome Extension. It allows you to save
whole web pages, text snippets and images you find while browsing, together with
personal notes like reminders and labels to categorize your find for later retrieval.

There is also an extension called Save to Google Drive that lets you save a big
screenshot of a whole web page -from top to bottom- to your GDrive account. You
can also find calculators and photo editors like the very handy Pixelixe.

Pixelixe, a photo editor that installs as a Chrome extension from the Chrome Store
☑Progressive web apps

Web apps are nice, and Chrome Extensions are handy, but Progressive Web Apps
(PWAs hereinafter) are better: these allow seamless installation into your system
(Windows, Linux, ChromeOS), and can run on their own windows, independent of
your browser, along with having their own launcher icon.

Twitter and Reddit running as PWAs, side by side

An example is Twitter: if you load mobile.twitter.com, you will notice an arrow

pointing downward at the right of the URL bar. From there you can install it into your
system.
Aligheri, an open-source “Distraction-free text editor” that supports dark mode and installs as
a PWA

PWAs have another advantage over traditional web apps, they can function offline.
Since the app is installed in the browser's internal storage, it can be run there, so you
can launch a text editor and type notes, saving them locally on your system, later
exporting them or uploading them to your cloud drive once connectivity is restored.

Notepad.js an offline-capable Notepad PWA that uses the browser’s internal storage to save
notes
☑Linux environment: a better Linux than Linux

If you type chrome-untrusted://crosh/ or press Ctrl-Alt-T, you get a browser tab with a
Linux-like shell. By default it is quite restricted so you can’t do much more than test
the battery, ping hosts, or show running processes with the ‘top’ process monitor.

The Crosh shell in a browser tab

Crostini is the name of the sub-project within open-source Chromium OS that brings
the Linux shell and apps to ChromeOS in a containerized, secure manner.

There is no default installation of Linux compatibility, you must go to Settings,

Advanced, select Developers, and then click on "Linux Development Environment".
Crostini is based on the popular Debian Linux distribution, and lets you install any
Linux app that you can imagine, either from the command line, or by downloading a
".deb" file and clicking on it from the ChromeOS browser. The installation process
can be completely point-and-click.
Crostini: the containerized Linux environment running in ChromeOS

I think power users would appreciate knowing that they can install apps in a
command-line manner via "sudo apt-get install yourappname" if you prefer that
method or if the software requires manual addition of repositories -software
repositories- to the system. But it isn’t always needed. Double clicking on a .deb file
launches the installer GUI that provides a progress bar and notifies you via
ChromeOS notification widgets when the installation is done.
Installing Linux apps can be as easy as double clicking on a .deb file

☑Linux browsers beat Android ones

As there are no "native" Chrome OS apps - everything has to be installed as either a

Chrome Extension, a Linux App or an Android App - alternative browser makers are
left with little choice: they can either offer an Android version "optimized for Chrome
OS", or tell users to install the Linux version in Crostini.

Opera does the first thing: when you download Opera for ChromeOS, you actually
get an Android app that is optimized for Chromebooks and point-and-click
functionality. As someone who used Opera on Windows, I found that something was
missing, the menus weren't in the places I used to find them, and the whole interface
felt sluggish.
Opera “for Android and ChromeOS” is the Android version

So I did the obvious: I installed Opera for Linux under the ChromeOS linux container.
I haven't done any benchmarking, but the startup time is instant, the user interface
just looks snappier and with the same familiar interface as Opera for Windows.

Opera for Linux running on ChromeOS: much snappier!

Firefox for Linux running on a Chromebook

Firefox, on the other hand, offers both and lets Chromebook users choose for
themselves. In the “Firefox for Chromebook” download page Mozilla says “There are
two ways to get Firefox on your device. Install Firefox from Google Play Store- the
Firefox for Android app. This app is developed for mobile devices. Or, install Firefox
as a Linux app: going this route takes a few more steps, but it’s worth it”.

Mozilla agrees with this scribbler in that the Linux version is more feature-complete
and worth installing than an Android-based browser. I installed the Vivaldi browser
along with SeaMonkey, the open source heir of Mozilla's browser suite, just for fun.
I’m happy to report that all work fine.

☑Seamless integration of Linux, Android, Web Apps

Linux apps run almost seamlessly on Chrome OS. After installing most mainstream
Linux apps you get an app icon in ChromeOS. What is this sorcery? I hear the
techies screaming. It's all about .desktop files, the Linux standard for launcher
description files, which allows different desktop environments (KDE, Gnome, LXDE,
XFCE, etc.) to detect newly installed apps and provide launcher icons for them.

Those apps that do not provide .desktop files as part of the installation process, well,
won’t get such an easy integration into the OS.
You can create .desktop files for your non-mainstream linux apps by following these
manual steps.

☑Android Apps: the good, the bad and the ugly

The Android apps work well in ChromeOS, they integrate well with the rest of the
system, and they feel like normal apps. The apps are managed just like in your
phone using Play Store.

Android apps are installed and managed thru Play Store, just as in your phone

If the software maker does not discriminate against ChromeOS in the App Store
when building the app. It happened twice to me where a software maker decided to
exclude Chromebooks from its compatibility manifest, so those apps couldn't be
installed on Chromebooks through the Play Store.

In my experience, I was able to "sideload" -read: brute force from the command line-
one of these and the app worked just fine after all, so my guess is that this is more of
a support restriction rather than a technical one -the software creator, for whatever
reason, doesn't want to deal with Chromebook-based support questions. This is
however a rare ocurrence and far from a widespread problem so you’ll find that most
apps from Play store install without an issue.

The App Duplicity issue: Two Opera browsers in a Chromebook. Quickly: which one is the
Android version? I don’t know either!

There is a big problem with ChromeOS supporting Android apps from Play Store as
well as Linux apps, in that an app can be installed in both flavors -Linux and Android-
and there is no way to distinguish one from the other by looking at the icon of the
launcher. While writing this store I ended up with two copies of Firefox, the Android
and the Linux desktop version, and always ended up launching the Android one by
mistake instead of the Linux version I actually wanted to use.

My free of charge usability suggestion to the ChromeOS design team: do something

to distinguish app types. Even a little text snippet in the tooltop like “Firefox (Linux)”
when hovering the mouse pointer over the launcher icon would suffice, if not outright
adding some visual cue to Android or Linux apps.
☑Windows Apps via WINE

Since ChromeOS supports a containerized Linux environment, by extension it

supports WINE, the open source Windows compatibility libraries. I was able to install
PMView- my favourite shareware graphics file viewer and cropper- using the
standard WINE available on Debian repos in ChromeOS’ Crostini.

PMView graphics file viewer for Windows running under Crostini via WINE

It's always a gamble running Windows applications through WINE, and this one had
a hiccup: the app lacks the filename path and image resolution on the title bar.
However, it works well for my graphics resizing needs while using a GUI I'm familiar
with, so I left it as-is.
Crossover, is a paid version of WINE. In case you want to have someone to yell at when things
don’t work

As an exercise in masochism, I installed CrossOver, the commercial, for-pay version

of WINE with tech support. A number of Windows apps are listed and users can get
them working with some point-and-click incantations. You may be asked to manually
download the installer file from the software maker's website.

I selected the Virtualdub video editor under the Video Apps category, even though
the last release of the program is more than ten years old. After about ten minutes of
staring at a progress bar, it finally installed, and yes, it does run. I would recommend
sticking with Linux apps, PWAs, or Android apps for the time being. It is just worth
nothing that technically, it can be done.
Windows video editor Virtualdub running after the point-and-click CrossOver install

☑Running Java Apps in ChromeOS via Crostini

Using Crostini, you can install cross-platform Java desktop apps on ChromeOS
since the Debian repositories contain OpenJDK, the open source distribution of
Oracle's Java runtime.

Among the Java based desktop applications I like to have on both my Windows and
Linux desktops is a tiny, lightweight image editor called "Java Image Editor" or JIE.
It's a neat Paint Shop Pro-type application generously given away by Jerry Huxtable,
a Java developer from England. The application is distributed as a single .jar file you
can place anywhere and run as needed. I was able to run JIE nicely after installing
OpenJDK version 8 via SDKman
Jerry Huxtable’s Java Image Editor (JIE) freeware running on Chrome OS

One of my favorite Java-based desktop apps is Home Sweet Home 3D, a floor
planner that is available on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS. And now, it can be made
to work in Chrome OS, too.

After manually unpacking it, it launched and ran without a hitch.

SweetHome 3D, a desktop Java floor planning app running in Chrome OS

☑Seamless File Picker integration of Android, Linux
containers

Due to Chrome OS's containerization, the files you save from Android and Linux
apps end up in their own little containers. With Chrome OS, you can access every
file seamlessly via the file selection dialog and the file manager. You just need to
remember in which container you saved them if walking down the filesystem tree
manually.

☑VPN and Cloud drives

I use Dropbox and Google Drive most of the time on my Android device. Both work
fine in a Chromebook, but ChromeOS only supports GDrive out of the box. Both
Dropbox and OneDrive can be downloaded from the Play Store, and after that, each
is given its own entry in the left-hand panel of the file manager.

ChromeOS' File Manager integrates Dropbox and OneDrive well. However, Box.com
was a big disappointment to me. Back in 2015, Box announced that it "integrates
directly with the Files app on a Chromebook". This doesn't seem to be the case
anymore: the Box app can no longer be installed on ChromeOS.
We used NextCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox without problems. Yet, box.net
from Play Store refuses to install on Chromebooks.

When it comes to VPNs, ChromeOS has its own built-in support for a handful of VPN
protocols like OpenVPN and L2TP, but not all. In many cases, you can simply run the
VPN provider’s Android app from Play Store and it will work seamlessly. [Check our
guide for the best VPNs!]

CactusVPN connected via the ChromeOS native VPN support

An Android VPN App from Play Store working seamlessly in Chrome OS

VERDICT☑

Ten years ago I would have dismissed the idea of a computer restricted to just a
browser. Luckily Google improved and expanded the support for Linux and Android
apps to the point that they now blend quite nicely with the rest of the system.

Linux app installation remains a hurdle, sometimes requiring manual steps

depending on the app -for instance to add a particular repository. I hope that at some
point Google can create a single, integrated "app store" that includes Linux, Android
and PWAs so that there are no manual steps needed to install anything. The type of
app type could just be a sub-label behind the description eg “Linux-based app" or
"web-based app", just for information purposes but with no real difference.

The simplicity of Chrome OS leads to less problems: even if you use Linux appsthe
system there are no easy ways to mess up the OS, crash it or render it unbootable,
or locking yourself out of the sudoers list by typing too fast, as happened to me a
friend.

ChromeOS runs at a higher level, always working. It is simply a matter of removing

the Linux container and reinstalling it if you manage to mess up the Linux subsystem
-Crostini is based on Debian Linux after all. The current backup and restore
functionality is crude but works, given the limited storage in Chromebooks.

Simpler software means less headaches and happier computing. You should try it. I
did and won’t look back.

I liked

The main selling point about ChromeOS is its ease of use, speed and robustness.
Also noteworthy is the ability to erase and restore the Linux subsystem in case
anything goes wrong with it. Restoring the system to factory defaults
“power-washing” in Googlespeak is also a breeze.

You will like itsl speed -almost-instant booting- and robustness, but there is also
some magic in having web apps such as Microsoft Office 365, Google Docs or GMail
installed alongside Android apps from Play Store -and even manually installed Linux
apps- all showing as peers in the Shelf launcher as if they were all native apps.
Yes, your affordable Chromebook can be a multi-screen typing workstation

The Asus chromebook I have supports multiple displays seamlessly and allows apps
to be moved between screens if you have HDMI output or USB-C support, as mine
does.

ChromeOS users can run Linux inside ChromeOS, or even dual-boot with Linux from
external storage using open source projects like ChRX https://chrx.org/. However,
most users won't even have to venture into those waters: Crostini, Google's official
Linux container, works just fine for most needs.

I disliked

Low-spec chromebooks: It is not recommended to get a Chromebook with less

than 32GB of storage: 64GB and above is the ideal sweet spot, especially if you plan
to use ChromeOS Linux and install more than a few apps. You will find anything
below that to be a serious limitation.

Chrome OS external storage has limitations: it supports external storage, either USB
flash drives or microSD cards -in those chromebooks that have built-in xSD card
readers- but that external storage can only be used for moving things from your
Downloads folder and creating Linux backups. Chrome OS does not currently
support using an external SD card or USB thumb drive to "expand" internal storage
seamlessly.

Plus, if you want to share a microSD card with Linux on ChromeOS, you need to
mount it manually by going to the File Manager, selecting the unit, and choosing
"share with Linux". At least from the GUI, there is no easy way to do that
automatically. It would be great to be able to mount the MicroSD card seamlessly at
boot time, allowing Linux to run there.

A rant on needless UI and key renaming: my main gripe when I moved to Chrome
OS was the initial hurdle represented by needless renaming of user interface
elements and keys. Let me elaborate: if users are used to call the device Settings
“settings”, it’s unwise to call them “the Plymouth screen” or “Abracadabra”, you call it
“Settings” and everyone understands what a Setting is. Fortunately, the Settings in
ChromeOS are called settings. But renaming the Launcher widget or Search key
“everything button” is an exercise in masochism.

Back in October 2020 ChromeUnboxed had to write a news story about this change
telling that “the search/launcher is now the everything button”. There is even a
google support page explaining that “The new name for the launcher was chosen to
reflect user feedback”. Do we have to believe Google that “Launcher" was not easy
enough to understand by users?. The purpose in the words of Google is to “highlight
that Chromebooks have a dedicated button on their keyboards that enables them to
search through files, apps, Drive, the web and more”. Maybe, but at what cost?

On newer chromebooks, the Search key legend has been even replaced from the
keycap: it no longer features the magnifying glass icon but rather a dull encircled
filled circle. To add to the confusion, once you start googling for solutions, you come
across Chromebook articles from the last few years that refer to the search key by its
old name “the Launcher/Search key”.

google that "Launcher" was too difficult for users?. The purpose in the words of
Google is to "highlight that Chromebooks have a dedicated button on the keyboard
that allows them to search through files, apps, Drive, the web, and more". Maybe,
but at what cost?

Newer chromebooks have even replaced the Search key legend on the keycap with
a dull filled circle instead of a magnifying glass icon. If you start googling for
solutions, you come across Chromebook articles from the last few years that refer to
the search key by its old name, "the Launcher/Search key".

To explain what a key does, HP created a dedicated web page. If you have to
explain it on a web page, you have already failed. Google should really point its
designers towards the Wikipedia entry for the “KISS Principle”, that reads “KISS, an
acronym for keep it simple, stupid, is a design principle noted by the U.S. Navy in
1960. The KISS principle states that most systems work best if they are kept simple
rather than made complicated; therefore, simplicity should be a key goal in design,
and unnecessary complexity should be avoided”

Would it be "simple" if you had to create web pages to explain a key with its
inexpressive "circle" icon? Certainly, newer generations learn faster, but Google
should not underestimate the importance of making Chrome OS attractive to the
current Windows user base.

Final Verdict

Moving from Windows to ChromeOS -or any other operating system with a modern
web browser- is no longer the arduous process that it was twenty years ago or even
ten years ago. With the widespread move to Software-As-A-Service (SAAS) and
cloud-based offerings for software from CRM to image processing to CAD to video
editing, suddenly the operating system that you use becomes quite irrelevant.
A move similar to this was envisioned by Sun Microsystems in the mid-to-late 1990s
when Java-based browsers would replace desktop applications, one that Microsoft
actively fought first by integrating Internet Explorer into the operating system, and
later by creating its own incompatible Java with Windows API hooks - "Embrace and
extend". In the end, Microsoft diverted many developer's attention away from Java
with its competing .NET platform. Web standards, however, enabled desktop apps to
be finally moved to the cloud.

The motto of Sun Microsystems was "Network is Computer". The browser is the
computer of today, and when it isn't, Linux and Android apps can fill the void. This is
what makes Chrome OS not yet "a better Windows than Windows" -as IBM OS/2's
slogan was in the early 1990s-, but surely "a better Linux than Linux", a Linux that
your father, your aunt, and even your kids can use without realizing they're running
Linux.

Web Standards in the end delivered the vision that Scott McNeally and James
Gosling had 25+ years ago.

If you were hesitating to make the move to simpler computing, let me tell you that the
time is now.