Chrome OS Has Stalled Out

[RV_]

Some interesting information in this comprehensive article.

Excerpt:

" But with products like the Pixelbook and Pixelbook Go (and the disastrous Pixel Slate), it's clear that Google's hardware team very much wants us to believe that Chrome OS is a real laptop-ready platform right now. And even as someone with all the love in the world for Google's hardware design team (the Pixelbook is truly a wonderfully designed laptop), it frustrates me endlessly to see such excellent hardware showcasing a platform that has very much begun to languish. It's like going through all the trouble of building a beautiful custom home... and then filling it with furniture from Walmart. The failure to fulfill that potential is maddening.

And yes, there are plenty of people out there perfectly happy with their Chromebooks. They make excellent (and often very affordable) couch and bedside web surfers, and they're great as portable displays for streaming whatever's on Netflix. I would never go so far as to say Chromebooks are without function—they have many perfectly valid uses. They are the true spiritual successors to the netbooks of yore.

But as things stand, I don't ever see them becoming more than that. And I don't see the position they've carved out as an invulnerable one: Chrome OS accounts for a mere 6.5% of personal computers in the US, and a far, far smaller proportion globally. Much of that 6.5% is likely the tens of millions of Chromebooks in American schools (Google's growth in that market also seems to be leveling out).

 

We've all been spun the tale that Chrome is a platform built for computing's future, on the web. I, for one, am tired of waiting for the web to catch up. After 10 years, I think it's safe to say that Google's crystal ball was busted."

Much more in the article here: https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/01/02/chrome-os-has-stalled-out/

Edited January 6, 2020 by RV_