Google's latest flagship Chromebook, the Pixel which retails for a thousand pounds should not be subjected to such evil. This is a lust worthy piece of kit, may just arrest sales away from the Apple Macbooks the tech elite seem to prefer. But likely the first thing the'll do is wipe the hard drive and install another operating system.
Linus Torvolds quipped as much about his new Pixel on social media last week. Linus is the inventor of Linux, the core that powers such operating systems distributed by RedHat, Ubuntu, Android and even ChromeOS itself. His review of ChromeOS? Not horrible.
Despite the amazing penetration of Phone and Tablet devices, working in the cloud still seems a bit far fetched to some. The web applications on offer are polished, intuitive and most importantly, open an amazing world of collaboration. Somehow we prefer the full-featured application software installed on a desktop environment. Like a clean new notebook, having the power of Photoshop or Word just seems better.
It's not. Tools like photoshop have had decades to pile on features into gestures and clicks that most of us will never uncover. The time and dedication in learning complex tools is a perverse reward, when all we do is tweak some filters and crop! But it does seem likely that given time, those specialist tools that professionals do rely on will make it to the cloud, eventually.
ChromeOS represents an ecosystem similar to those your smartphone sports. When you buy a Chromebook you're buying into an environment of web-centric applications that you install into what is essentially a Google account in the cloud. Google aren't the only ones. Mozilla foundation, the makers of FireFox browser are offering something eerily similar.
With the W3C considering extensions to HTML 5 that enforce a type of Digital Rights Management (DRM), the browser becomes a walled garden, much like Apple has pioneered in their handheld software, iOS. Our reticence of the cloud has been one of privacy in a increasingly public world, but a much more likely risk to individuals is in shutting down free and open markets to individual and incompatible software media storehouses.
Anyone who has had to the misfortune to switch from say an Apple iDevice to the Android environment will know that all of their app and media investments are all but abandoned. Some go the path of converting music, audiobooks to more open formats, but it's often left to technical experts with the time and patience it requires.
Vertical integration can be a net negative for a skittish customer. It can be argued that proprietary hardware, system software and e-commerce tie ins are bad for innovation generally. It is however our best method in capturing value from the software artefacts programmers ceaselessly toil to perfect.
The move of these types of markets to the web make a compelling set of incentives for traditional software developers. No longer is there the problem of ports to different computing platforms, distributing software upgrades or even directly negotiating a plethora of resellers in foreign countries. But they too have to consider a single partner who can change the playing field or snuff out your market in a single keystroke.
Big brother may be the first fear people have in leading their lives in the cloud, but its more likely going to be the realisation of lock-in when it comes time to consider the cost of adopting something better in the future.
It's not. Tools like photoshop have had decades to pile on features into gestures and clicks that most of us will never uncover. The time and dedication in learning complex tools is a perverse reward, when all we do is tweak some filters and crop! But it does seem likely that given time, those specialist tools that professionals do rely on will make it to the cloud, eventually.
ChromeOS represents an ecosystem similar to those your smartphone sports. When you buy a Chromebook you're buying into an environment of web-centric applications that you install into what is essentially a Google account in the cloud. Google aren't the only ones. Mozilla foundation, the makers of FireFox browser are offering something eerily similar.
With the W3C considering extensions to HTML 5 that enforce a type of Digital Rights Management (DRM), the browser becomes a walled garden, much like Apple has pioneered in their handheld software, iOS. Our reticence of the cloud has been one of privacy in a increasingly public world, but a much more likely risk to individuals is in shutting down free and open markets to individual and incompatible software media storehouses.
Anyone who has had to the misfortune to switch from say an Apple iDevice to the Android environment will know that all of their app and media investments are all but abandoned. Some go the path of converting music, audiobooks to more open formats, but it's often left to technical experts with the time and patience it requires.
Vertical integration can be a net negative for a skittish customer. It can be argued that proprietary hardware, system software and e-commerce tie ins are bad for innovation generally. It is however our best method in capturing value from the software artefacts programmers ceaselessly toil to perfect.
The move of these types of markets to the web make a compelling set of incentives for traditional software developers. No longer is there the problem of ports to different computing platforms, distributing software upgrades or even directly negotiating a plethora of resellers in foreign countries. But they too have to consider a single partner who can change the playing field or snuff out your market in a single keystroke.
Big brother may be the first fear people have in leading their lives in the cloud, but its more likely going to be the realisation of lock-in when it comes time to consider the cost of adopting something better in the future.
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