Google Chrome OS
The big news this last week has been Google giving a sneak peak of their new operating system, Google Chrome OS. It’s already been dissected at great length on the internets, but I think there are some interesting things going on here from a simplicity standpoint.
The video below gives a great introduction to what the OS is all about:
The key take-away here is that Google is betting on simplicity. They are valuing speed (the start up time was heavily reinforced in the demos) and simplicity over the functionality you might find on a more standard OS. In Maedonian™ terms, they are adhering to the first (thoughtful reduction) and third (savings in time feel like simplicity) laws.
Mr. Gruber is on the mark regarding the benefit of reduction:
The idea of a computer that does a lot less — leaving out even things you consider essential, because you can still do those things on your other, primary computer — is liberating. That’s the opportunity, and that’s the idea behind Chrome OS and Litl and even Android and iPhone OS.
There is one group where I think these machines have a huge potential for success: college students. The machines are inexpensive, perfect for notetaking, listening to music, facebooking, etc., and the computer lab can be utilized for more of the heavy lifting. And at this point I would be surprised if most campuses aren’t completely WiFi enabled.
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts over @RussianPencil.
