back to article Google Chromebooks molt, grow fresh browser

Google has released a new version of Chrome OS – the browser-based operating system that first arrived less than two months ago – offering VPN hooks, 802.1x secure Wi-Fi , and what the company claims is a 32 per cent faster resume time. The new stable release is based on Chrome 13, so it also includes "Instant Pages" – a …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    netbooks?

    Netbooks are so 2008. I dont want anything with a fan in my lap when on the couch. Android is a bit more relevant these days.

    1. wheelybird

      Fanless

      Chromebooks are most likely to be ARM devices - fanless, cool and light. I have an Toshiba AC100 (which would make a good ChromeOS device). It's very slim, light and has an eight hour battery life. The inside of the case is actually mostly air. In hours of use, it's got ever so slightly warm.

      So yeah, netbooks are old hat. Smartbooks are the future.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Stop

        Except they're not at all

        All the Chrome devices to date are boring Atom-based things. There was a lot of talk of ARM versions, but they're getting very late despite lots of people wanting them. Google--

  2. 3arls
    Thumb Up

    Mother Loving Citrix Receiver

    "When you complain that Chromebooks don't run good old fashioned Windows apps, Google inevitably points to Citrix Receiver."

    I do not understand the complaints about not being able to "run" (access) Windows applications, nor the infatuation with Citrix Receiver. Do that many businesses really use Citrix that without Receiver remote applications on the Chromebook are impossible?

    Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services && AccessNow || ThinRDP || Sparkview =

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LPXDrve0Uw

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why would anyone want this?

    Sure it's fast and probably 'just works'; but the *entire point* of the browser and OS both is to rape your data and sell it on. Do not want.

    I was going to say that I wouldn't have one if they were giving it away, but that would be a lie. As long as it's reformatted before it sees the internet, it'd be OK.

  4. annodomini2
    FAIL

    <Remove Titles!>

    Flogging a dead horse.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    "Instant Pages"

    Of course only work when the server-side extensions are installed on the websever, and nobody does this...

    Unlike Opera's pipelining, which does a similar thing, and does NOT need serverside proprietary code. Many browsers actually support pipelining, but only Opera has it working to actually enable it by default..

    1. Dave Murray
      Boffin

      Reading Required

      Go back and actually read the article or one of the many articles about Instant Pages. Instant pages loads your Google search results before you click on them and is a feature of Google search. So it doesn't require any server side extensions on non-Google sites that no one installs and has nothing to do with pipelining.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Meh

        Not quite...

        ..you kindly have to shove an Google API on if you don't want it to F88K up your stats. No doubt so they can track how many people don't want to be tracked.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        FAIL

        oopps

        For someone reason I read this as the Google SPDY crap...

        http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/16/google_and_spdy/

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_pipelining

  6. Tony87
    Thumb Down

    "He's dead Jim"

    Don't fancy being unable to escape that every 15 minutes.

  7. Pandy06269
    Coffee/keyboard

    USP out the window?

    "and a "tech preview" of the Citrix Receiver, which lets you run traditional desktop applications on Chromebooks. When you complain that Chromebooks don't run good old fashioned Windows apps, Google inevitably points to Citrix Receiver"

    I thought that was Google's unique selling point of these Chromebooks - the fact that you cannot run traditional apps on it so all your data is lost - sorry, stored - in the heavens - sorry, cloud - and hence the computer is more secure. If Google allow people to run traditional apps using Citrix, is this not removing the very benefit that Google is using to sell these?

    Why would I pay £300-£400 for a netbook when I can pay that for an iPad 2 or similar tablet and still have full control over my data*, particularly when working out in the field with no access to wi-fi.

    As AC @ 04:24 said - with the advent of the tablet, the netbooks days are over - if they ever began.

    * before you flamers downvote me, yes I understand about the walled garden of Apple, but I've owned both Android and iPhone handsets and I know which I prefer - the one that is controlled and is hence more stable, more user-friendly and higher quality. That would be the fruit.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Trollface

      Consider that

      a basic pocket calculator with a nice metal body and decent buttons and maybe a fancy OLED screen could well fulfill all those criteria... 'controlled, stable, user-friendly, high quality'.

      Still a calculator though.

      1. Pandy06269

        Your analogy

        OK but now let's extend your analogy and imagine people could add their own functions into the calculator.

        In one case, the functions are vetted before being released so you know they work, and 99.9% of the time they do.

        In another case you have 100 different functions, unvetted, claiming to do the same thing, but in practice only 10% actually work - and the ones that do look awful and "amateur." You might get one decent one that looks and works, but it took you a week to find it.

  8. Dave Murray

    Things can only get better?

    "the user experience automatically gets better over time" - untill one of these every 8 weeks updates bricks certain models.

  9. Jason Bloomberg Silver badge
    Gimp

    Paging Mr Tuttle

    "Information retrieval" from local servers on a LAN is my personal 'habit'. What I would be happy with is a Digital Picture Frame with Wi-Fi and a browser, so I guess a ChromeTop could be good for me.

    I'm currently using a hacked O2 Joggler and that's nearly perfect for my needs. It's just a question of who delivers something even better at a price I'm prepared to pay (around £30); DPF, Android, Chrome or something else.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Has anyone...

    ...actually seen and used one?

    I know of no-one.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Up

      yes, i have

      I've seen and used a couple of chromebook devices

      Haven't bought one yet though, got a nice asus transformer

      android tablet instead, though I might get a chromeOS

      Netbook in the future now that it supports 802.1X and VPN

      hopefully soon they can be powered by 802.3at PoE , that would be very useful

  11. 3arls
    Megaphone

    Now Available

    PS, Citrix Receiver is now available for Chromebooks: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/haiffjcadagjlijoggckpgfnoeiflnem#

  12. NogginTheNog
    WTF?

    VPN?

    VPN to what exactly..? I thought these just used an HTTP/S connection to the Interweb, for EVERYTHING?

    1. 3arls
      FAIL

      Time Travelers

      Someone people still live in the past.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Stop

      network

      No, they use the network for everything, think a mobile thin client. Sometimes

      You need a VPN before you can use the browser to view your

      Companies intranet sites ;)

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like