chromebooks
Wired just posted an article outlining Google’s new Chromebooks computing solution. For a small monthly fee, Google hopes to manage the needs of many business and education users with light-to-moderate computing needs. Chrome OS is still a far cry from the maturity of platforms like Windows and Macintosh, but however you look at it, $28 per month, per user is a pretty appealing price tag for computer hardware, software, and support.
Back in 2009 after Google first announced Chrome OS, I wrote an article suggesting how it could change things. My main point focused on consumers who primarily use their computers for email, Facebook, and media consumption, but there were a few things to say about the enterprise as well.
The Windows-centric workplace is fading into the internet-centric workplace, and this is exactly where Google is positioning Chrome OS.
It will be interesting to see which institutions will find these laptops sufficient for a meaningful percentage of their users, but internet services and web-based software have only become more central to our workplaces and schools in the past two years.