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The problem I think your wife had was that her work environment isn't designed for Chromebooks (like having the infrastructure like gas stations for cars). If someone uses Google Docs and GMail for all of their business communications, and Hangouts for chatting, and Chrome Remote Desktop to access remote machines, and Chrome Web Printing to print, etc... then the Chromebook is awesome.

You are making the same point as bowlofpetunias (albeit prepending it with a strained metaphor.) The vast majority of work environments aren't designed for Chromebooks, which means that Chromebooks aren't suitable for the vast majority of work environments (even if the Chromebook is exceedingly great at its narrow use cases.)

Once again, that's very much like saying "the vast majority of work environments aren't designed for Email, which means that Email isn't suitable for the vast majority of work environments."

It's flawed logic. Work environments changed, and Email became nearly ubiquitous. In my experience, moving to browser-based workflows has really improved my workplace, and my ability to get things done, well, quickly, with my team mates.

I think the logic is circular because popularity is circular. I.e. popularity is a positive feedback loop. In order for the Chromebook to earn widespread acceptance, its utility will have to marginally surpass not only the utility inherent to desktops, but also any advantages derived from the incumbents' maturity.

imho, I don't think the invention of the Chromebook was a bad idea. But gaining acceptance will naturally be an uphill battle.

Did your wife have to support a perpetual international war to support the fuel for her chromebook? Was the chromebook responsible for thousands of deaths per month? Was the Chromebook that much better than the horse? Was your analogy glib but off the mark?

no, no, no and yes. Arguing for Chromebook is arguing for limitation. If the Chromebook actually was as much of an improvement on web-surfing as the car was to the horses, your analogy might start to gain traction. The fact that it just barely holds its own, for a similar price, with much huger limitations doesn't appeal to a rational mind.

Chromebook is moving the goalposts for a machine. "Just forget about running any software that's not a web browser and you'll be fine! <waves hands> My grandfather only reads the web, so it's fine for him."

Here's a tip: every platform starts off lightweight and accrues cruft. Even Linux (cough ubuntu) and OSX (cough 10.6). If Chromebook grows in popularity, they'll hit the same issues other major OS vendors have hit. There's nothing magic about them, except they've lowered the goalposts of acceptability criteria.

If you want a lightweight machine, put linux on a laptop with an SSD and it will blow your socks off.

And by the way, no one ever won any prizes for pointing out that an analogy was flawed, if you took it too far.

I can have eight computers, and be working on the same document on all of them. Web-based document creation, for my workflows, is vastly superior to the old school way of doing things. And Google Docs is the best instance of it, for me, so far.

You'll try to destroy the analogy again, so I shouldn't bother, but once upon a time, you BOOTED your computer to a game disk. And people like you opined that people would never run their games from inside Windows, because the performance was BY DEFINITION worse, and why would you want to, anyway?

The cruft of a Chromebook is poorly designed web pages. And unlike other systems, which build their cruft in, Google has been keeping Chrome relatively clean - it's the minimum browser you need. The magic is they didn't build anything in.

I did put Linux on a laptop with an SSD, and I also switched my workflows to be either entirely online, or through Chrome Remote Desktop. That machine is a Chromebook.

The best parts for me is that my data is completely backed up, I have to use two-factor authentication to get into it, my machine updates itself, and I don't worry about viruses. Just switching to linux on a laptop doesn't do those things for me.

This is true, but at least when I buy into the M$ ecosystem I can still use my machine for whatever silly other things I'd like--Windows (for now, anyways) is still not solely devoted to content consumption and walled gardens.

You think "the web" is a walled garden? Or is solely devoted to content consumption?

I can create YouTube videos from my Chromebook, for instance.

I'm never getting rid of my Windows desktop machine. Like, never. But I'm never getting rid of my Kindles, either. They're totally, completely different from each other. My Chromebook fills its own niche, too.

I wouldn't use the term "walled garden", but Chromebooks are almost perfect for me. The only thing stopping me getting one is my terrible Internet. (Which will go in 2 or so months). Once I have no Internet I'm not sure I can do much with a Chromebook. Unless I've put some other Linux on it. But at that point I may as well screw an RPi to the back of my monitor.

You do appreciate that, by posting videos to YouTube, you are sharecropping someone else's walled garden?

We're debating the capabilities of a Chromebook. Using purely web APIs, I can upload a video to YouTube. Any other web page could use the same APIs, and then you're not in a walled garden.

>M$

Are you twelve?

(that was a joke for the clever reader)

(you'll note the dissonance between the nickname and the actual position of the company which is being admired)

(the company having gotten such ire [and that silly nickname] is actually quite open in all the relevant ways here, which is funny)

The problem I think your wife had was that her work environment isn't designed for Chromebooks

Which pretty much means the pundits are right.

Chromebooks are not suited to anyone who isn't letting Google own all their data for all their tasks. i.e: most people.

No, it doesn't mean that.

Most work environments weren't designed for email, but things changed.

And no, it doesn't need to be Google services to make a Chromebook useful. You don't even need a Google account to make a Chromebook very good at a lot of things.

My wife got to test-read your HN reply for work. She's not exactly a power viewer, but found your limited humour and restrictive mindset incredibly frustrating.

Her conclusion was that comments should state exactly what the user wants to state, either because they are incredibly well stated withing specific constraints (see other comments on this page), or because they simply do as they're told (see other comments on this page).

The comment is neither, it basically does what you think it should do, without any of the depth and sophistication of others' opinionated experience. It may hit the sweet spot for some, but it seems to me to be a very small niche.

The end result was that my wife was ready to delete the thing out the browser window, and handed it over to me with the words "see how long you last before you want to smash it".

Restrictive mindset?

Ha! I'm the one sharing the fact that I've creatively come up with ways to use a Chromebook that work great for me, and other people are saying that their world view will not change, and they won't even try.

I think you're pointing that stick in the wrong direction.