"Blow"?
Don't see how. Entirely different markets.
Google has developed a new touchscreen Chromebook that will be out this year, claim industry sources. It's the latest story to surface about a touch-driven netbook powered by Google's Chrome operating system, which is based on open-source Linux. A video leaked earlier this month appeared to be an advert for a touchscreen …
Chrome OS is not "tied to google services only" and the Surface to which this is a blow is probably the Surface with Windows RT, which cannot run all windows apps. But Windows RT has a browser, so can do all the stuff Chrome OS does (and much more). And unlike the Pixel it costs well under £1000.
Even the Surface Pro is likely to be cheaper than this by the looks of it. Given that the cheap Surface haters seem to have resorted to "it's too expensive" for the Pro version, despite the Chromebooks being competition, this does provide a marketing boost to the Surface Pro (as well as the help from raising awareness of touchscreen PCs in general).
(Personally I'm not likely to buy either of these devices, but still think it's good to see competition and choice.)
@dogged
Of course it's an OS feature! Making sure there is a little image there to let people know they can get to a list of programs and save them from the terror of having to press Windows Key & Q at the same time is just as important as process scheduling & memory management ;)
"you can name something Win7 has as an OS feature and Win8 doesn't"
A single. well integrated user environment. Win8 has two poorly integrated environments.
Seriously, The GUI formerly known as Metro is a PITA in ideal conditions, and an undescriptable horror if your machine lacks a touchscreen.
@Mephistro - really? really?
I've been using it on a multi-monitor no touchscreen dev box since November. It annoyed me for a week but that's long in the past. It's fine. Taste not being arguable, etc, I can't make an absolute statement. Your milage obviously varies. I'm actually more familiar with it than with Win7 now.
However, "undescriptable horror" would be well into the realms of rampant exaggeration even if you disliked it and, less feasibly, if there was such a word as "undescriptable".
Do remember the time where men where real mean, women were real women, and techies were real techies?
No?
Well, anyway, somewhen around that Microsoft released Vista to almost universal derision, almost as there never failed to be someone in the thread saying how great it was.
> No, it's a UI element.
For the majority of people with W8, its just as compulsory to use as the memory allocation manager and the DMA subsystem.
The W8 desktop OS is there to support the GUI console system. It still isn't designed to be multi-user or used independently of the GUI.
Unless there has been progress I've completely missed!
"maybe it IS You...?"
On many occasions it IS me...but not this time. Just need to run programs that the CB can't, nor can a Surface RT, for that matter. Good for some, not for others. But I also wouldn't purchase a Surface Pro either. Most of the applications I run are not touch-centric...so what would be the point of having either one of them?
And I seriously doubt the new CB will affect Surface sales...such as they are. Two different animals with different purposes. One is an actual computer, and the other is simply a Terminal. Everything old is new again...
Customer: I get a strange prickling sensation when using the touch screen on my Chromebook
Salesperson: Oh that's nothing to worry about, sir. Google is just sampling your blood so we can give you adverts relevant to your diet, health needs etc...
Or on more serious note. I would rather know what information I am handing over to Google. I don't want them in charge of my whole digital existence. Chromebook would make me (more) paranoid.
For the love of Beelzebub, when will tech companies understand that:
Tablets / Phones that are used in one hand - touch screens = Good.
Devices with keyboards that sit on a dek or table - touch screens = Bad
No body wants to reach across a working keyboard and track pad like a Zombie to wipe mucky fingers on a screen. Ever!
Although note that first point applies to 10" tablets too (and I agree - at that size, it's less efficient than a mouse, as your hand is moving further, and it's awkward having to hold it at the same time).
At least with PCs, even if they have touchscreens, it's an optional extra, in combination with mouse and keyboard (which yes, Windows 8 still works with - e.g., it's still fastest to launch software by typing the name, than clicking the icon, with both 7 and 8; I assume ChromeOS would work with both too).
>No body wants to reach across a working keyboard and track pad like a Zombie to wipe mucky fingers on a screen. Ever!
I think the idea is that you write your novel on the machine when it looks like a laptop, then you proofread it (or catch up on your favourite TV show) sat on a comfy chair when it is in tablet mode.
Personally, I'm more connived by the idea of a laptop and tablet working together seamlessly, with the tablet acting as second display and input device.
I did briefly look at getting a Surface but the thing that puts me off the most is that the one I can afford uses Win RT. RT seems like the odd one out somehow because it's the only device so far that uses this operating system and (although I'm not a dev myself) I can't really see developers spending time and money creating applications for such a small market. If the smaller Surface had run Windows Phone 8, I suspect it'd be a more popular choice (although the pricing weighs it down unfavorably versus its rivals).
It's the same problem they had back in Round 1 of the Smartphone Wars, when there was the three-way between them, Symbian and Palm OS. They had the Pocket PC version of their OS (Windows Mobile), the smartphone version that cropped on on the SPV 500 phones and then Windows CE as well. Although Symbian had three different versions as well (Series 60, Series 80 and the very limited Series 90) they had a far larger resource pool to draw from, having several companies chipping in for R&D rather just one alone.
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I find the windows RT tablet a pretty good device if you do not require all the power that afull fledged OS has.
Seriously slapping around this VS that is just a bunch of crying babies wanting pole position to stay in the lead.
The only way you can do that is presenting the best GUI. So far only Apple and Microsoft have done so.