Any advantage of using Chrome OS for Web development compared to just any plain Linux distro (e.g. Ubuntu)? Or, even more interesting, compared to MacOS? Because from the video, it feels as if Crostini is a second-class citizen on Chrome OS (all that talk about Linux in a container). Why choose Chrome OS at all?
* I didn't have to set it up, install an OS, or anything. It was trivial to get Linux working (one click - hard to beat that) and I can use intellij and all the other stuff I'm used to.
* I get Android Apps, which is actually pretty neat - some good video players with touch screen support, for example. A fair number of games work, which is cool.
* Touch screen in general is actually awesome, maybe less for development but I find myself touching my screens when I walk away from my Chromebook and go to another computer. I never thought I'd enjoy a touch screen at all and now I want every future device I buy to have one.
* Safer than most systems. My dev environment is sequestered to a container, everything else stays in a sandboxed browser - my workflow on my Ubuntu system (main computer) is virtually identical to this already, but ChromeOS is designed for it.
Biggest problem is I compile my Rust programs in a docker container in the Linux environment and it brings my computer to a crawl. I can't develop or watch TV while compiling Rust.
My Ubuntu instillation is also always updated and secure. Device drivers also just work. The android support sounds great for android development, not web development.
You shouldn't. It's in Google's best interest to get people to use their products. It's in your best interest to avoid Google whenever you can.
Hm, I've got an ASUS C201 where I use crouton to run Debian Stretch.
* audio craps out after three or four switches between Stretch and ChromeOS. It craps out in ChromeOS such that it locks up videos and they won't play. I have to restart to get it to work again.
* the animated spinning wheel cursor in XFCE4 somehow locks down the entire input. Luckily it usually displays only in a file dialog so I can just mash <ESC> for awhile and break out of the loop.
* I can't use the hotkey to switch between ChromeOS and Debian because it locks down on a blank screen and I have to hard reboot.
* I can't leave XFCE4 on the screen because when it tries to wake back up from the blank screen it locks down and I have to hard reboot.
* hot keys for audiolevel up/down sometimes don't work. Usually it makes me anxious that audio is about to crap out on ChromeOS. Then in the next few minutes... audio craps out in ChromeOS.
Now, with crostini can you get GPU-acceleration with the Linux distro inside the container? Because with crouton it doesn't seem possible. (Rankly speculating that the XFCE4 spinning wheel cursor lock-up has something to do with lack of GPU-acceleration, but could be wrong.)
Disclaimer: Views expressed are my own and do not represent my employer.
Also... you've got to treat a laptop pretty gingerly to have one last more than 5 years. Mine are in pretty rough shape by then.
On the durability front - I guess you dont use thinkpads :)
Nice little machine, but the 32GB drive is not enough for Windows - Windows update failed within 6 months because of disk full - even with no user data. Way too much hassle
I ended up putting Linux on it - faster and could keep it updated. But still quite a bit of hassle.
It's sitting in a drawer now. But my old Samsung arm Chromebook XE303C12 still gets used. I do miss the more complete keyboard on the Inspiron, though.
At any rate I hope you agree that 5 years (from launch) is not a long time to support a device. This policy is wasteful to the environment and not empathetic towards a large section of users who would find it challenging to divert a few hundred dollars every 3-5 years.
I use laptops as main computers since 1999.
Maybe I try to take good care of them?
Well it's 5 years from launch which is a big problem in my opinion. For example, they didn't replace the Pixelbook so if you are, like me, considering buying one for Black Friday, you only get 4 years of (guaranteed) support. It also probably harms resale value.
5 years of support from the last day of sale would be much more acceptable to me.
I work for Google but opinions are my own.
My own personal reason is that I have never had an ideal experience running Linux on laptops.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy tinkering and it was fun when I was in school, but nowadays I don't have much time so if I want to develop something I don't want my time to be spent fixing technical difficulties.
With Chrome OS the main benefit to me is the same as running OS X or Windows: you don't have to worry about your stuff working.
I also personally really like Chrome OS for it's simplicity and speed but of course you could say I'm biased. Indeed I like it so much I transferred to work on Chrome OS a couple months ago.
Compared with OS X.. that really just depends on your preference. I have nothing bad to say about it and enjoyed using my MBP when I had one. I just like having a really lightweight OS but again that's really subjective and for many people the right answer is OS X! I'm just happy we have the choices now.
Has not been my experience with either of these three. There are plenty of Linux distros that are miles more stable.
I've only really used a Thinkpad and MBP for the laptops so of course your experience may differ depending on your hardware.
Also when I said things work I didn't mean stability/crashes which I admit do happen. I was referring to hardware (wifi) not working which in my opinion is much more annoying.
It's been mostly a smooth ride on MacOS for me, but there were some minor quirks that I encountered on MacOS that were not even an issue on my Linux machine (an example most vivid in my mind is how the default ssh client broke on High Sierra: https://superuser.com/questions/1279450/ssh-could-not-resolv... or how Docker on MacOS could not resolve ipv6 addresses).
Compared to MacOS, I'd say probably just cost.
I don't envision they will keep three development teams doing OSes for the same hardware form factors.
Now regarding ChromeOS vs plain GNU/Linux, macOS or Windows, I don't see a value, specifically given the prices of Chromebooks able to have Crostini enabled.
Also, in a way, running Linux as a "second class citizen" seems like an interesting way to do it since you could experiment more while knowing you'll always have a browser available.
Maybe ask the opposite question: what's the advantage of running Linux outside a container, versus inside?