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Comment by wvenable | Hacker News Reader

I was surprised that these devices have atom processors and SSD drives as opposed to an ARM chipset and embedded flash because the former specs essentially put it in netbook territory. Why would anyone want a netbook with such a limited OS?

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If you look at the taken care of for you security, updates, no administration or backups to do, no apps to lose in menus, etc. etc. I think it's clear that this is supposed to be a netbook+OS frankly for people who fuck up any other OS. Your young kids, your parents, your neighbor that keeps getting malware and asking you to fix it. If google can smooth over the rough edges and provide a good enough experience for these users where things never break or get infected that may make them (or you) very happy.

If they made dealing with a camera easier I could easily see my mother adjusting to this style. And in the end it'd be easier on my father and her.

The hardware doesn't seem very relevant for this pilot - the main point is Chrome OS. Because it's built on linux, an ARM port shouldn't be too much further than a recompile out of the way.

> Why would anyone want a netbook with such a limited OS?

Maybe they didn't have tablets for this pilot thing.

Nah, Chrome OS is not designed for touchscreens. There's Android for that.

Well, so Google says. That seems a convenient way to get people off their backs for having both. Google TV runs on Android, not Chrome. Google TV isn't a touchscreen. The reality is, Google has two different product teams and had no intention of telling either one to give up on their goals. And with Apple pushing both MacOS and iOS, it has no immediate need to do so, either.

Google wants ChromeOS to eventually replace Android. It's cloud vs native, not Touch vs Keyboard and Mouse, and until cloud based becomes acceptable everywhere, which is what Google is betting on, they will continue to work on Android.

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