Google yesterday unleashed the full details on the public launch of the Chrome OS notebooks – or what the company now calls Chromebooks.
It's the big push by Google to run the desktop and laptop world with the idea to take away market share from Microsoft by relieving users and support staff of "torture" from Windows.
"With Microsoft, and other operating system vendors, I think the complexity of managing your computer is really torturing users," Google co-founder Sergey Brin said, quoted by Network World. "It's torturing everyone in this room. It's a flawed model fundamentally. Chromebooks are a new model that doesn't put the burden of managing the computer on yourself."
The key to Chrome OS is in its simplicity to the user. The data storage, applications, and even system updates are all done by Google in the cloud. In theory, this should free IT from having to deal with lost data, backups and outdated software.
Google claims that 75 percent of business users can be converted from Windows to Chrome OS right away.
In fact, inside Google, Brin estimated that only about 20 percent of its employees still use Windows. The rest of the staff either run Mac OS X or a flavor of Linux.
As far as Windows goes, however, Brin doesn't have any issue with the latest version – just that it doesn't operate like Chrome OS.
"I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with Windows," Brin said. "Windows 7 has some great security features."
