I bought one of those, from Amazon. It doesn't feel much like any Linux distro I've ever used, but I guess that's one of the advantages of a Linux/BSD ecosystem -- it can be tailored to lots of purposes. The Chromebook delivers exactly what it promises out of the box and comes with 100 GB of Gdrive cloud storage, free for 2 years (oh, and 12 free GoGo in-flight Internet passes). All in all, it seemed like a better option for me than a tablet or those netbooks that are still around, but I think the promising news is that there are seemingly an increasing number of less spendy options that are gaining a foothold.
On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 3:41 PM, Keith Lofstrom <kei...@gate.kl-ic.com>wrote: > On Mon, Jan 07, 2013 at 06:15:47AM -0800, Michael Rasmussen wrote: > > And it's not Ubuntu either. > > A Samsung Chromebook > > > http://www.zdnet.com/amazons-top-selling-laptop-doesnt-run-windows-or-mac-os-it-runs-linux-7000009433/ > > The mudslinging in the replies is more interesting. Here's > my bit of wet brown prolixity: > > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > Expanding the landscape > > 40 years ago, computing meant IBM and DEC. Now it means Windows, > games consoles and POSIX/Open (Unix, BSD, Linux, Apache, embedded, > ...). Windows still dominates its niche, but that niche is an > ever-smaller part of a rapidly diversifying computing landscape. > Microsoft needs huge revenue to survive. Even if Linux and BSD and > all their many variants are smaller in total size (they aren't), they > are starving the giants by reducing both market share and margins. > > Microsoft can make lucrative marketing deals and produce "vending > machine" OSes like Windows 8, but the web is flat, and those deals > will only last as long as Microsoft's partners lack the skills to > reach their customers directly without sending money to Redmond. > > Linux is a platform, a way of doing business, a way to add a little > frosting on top and deliver a whole cake. For the 90% of companies > that are not software or content, it can be a less expensive, lower > risk, and more agile way to achieve business goals. > > Granted, there is much to learn before the open software approach > is best for everyone, but the learning accumulates as the number of > interactions (the square of the number of participants) in an open > system, while it accumulates as the logarithm of the number of > participants in a hierarchical system. Metcalfe's law. > > Google and IBM(!) may be the most public faces of free and open source > software, but the real strength is the range of sizes the platform > permits. I'm an electrical engineer, not a programmer, but I have > found small bugs and patched my own kernel, and much better programmers > than I have improved those patches and shared them with the world. > Very small companies can rapidly become very big companies (like > Google), and very big companies can rapidly become very different big > companies (like IBM). Small companies can focus on tiny market niches > (small office medical informatics, for example) and provide services > and create worldwide communities of fanatically loyal customers. > As long as you can abide by "potluck rules" - take something, > bring something - you can take a lot more than you bring, given > the multiplying effect of the web and the easy customization of > open systems. Million dollar problems become ten thousand dollar > problems. Four person shops can serve a half a million users. > > So the big surprise is that in spite of optimizing to serve niche > markets, Linux-based Chrome enables a product that can win in a > traditionally "big software" niche like consumer notebooks. In time, > some of the purchasers of the ChromeBooks will learn that they can > hack and customize their devices, and add their skills and insights > to the N-squared open network, adding far more value than their > dollar spending would at logarithmic/hierarchical Microsoft or Apple. > Perhaps some of you have only seen a few pebbles move so far, > but deep forces are stirring, and the landslide is inevitable. > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Keith > > -- > Keith Lofstrom kei...@keithl.com Voice (503)-520-1993 > _______________________________________________ > PLUG mailing list > PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org > http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug > -- Michael M. Moore <moore.michae...@gmail.com> cell (503) 707-1239 Sign up for Sisters Of The Road E-news<http://sistersoftheroad.org/news-press/sisters-e-news/> _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list PLUG@lists.pdxlinux.org http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug