Early Verdict
A fine update from Google to make Chrome OS one to watch. Still a long way from perfect, but certainly a giant stride in the right direction
Pros
- +
Fast booting
- +
Simple interface
- +
Desktop is a necessary addition
- +
Multitasking improved
Cons
- -
File management still fiddly
- -
Offline functionality remains a problem
- -
Limited to apps
- -
Still waiting for offline Google Docs
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It's a brave company that takes on the might of the ubiquitous Microsoft Windows or the cool of Apple's Mac OS which look to have practically sewn up the market for personal computing on laptops and desktops.
But nobody has ever accused Google of lacking guts, and the search giant's Chrome OS is now breaking away from its early teething troubles with a bold new interface that it hopes can challenge the big boys.
With the latest release of Chrome OS, arriving with a revamped Chromebook and the interesting Chromebox desktop option, Google has taken a significant step forward.
The OS still has a range of issues – most stemming from remaining a fairly closed "app" environment rather than a truly open platform and the spectre of offline performance, but discussing it as a viable alternative to Windows for casual users no longer seems so ridiculous.
The concept behind Chrome OS is to have an operating system that is all about being online; built around the popular Chrome browser and utilising the wealth of HTML apps, cloud storage and online docs.
It's certainly an interesting outlook – perhaps one that only Google could have pursued – and it brings every problem that you can envision from such an approach.
It also manages to make many of these seem less relevant in the modern internet and app dominated world and also brings a whole sea of advantages.
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