Gaunt Face | Matthew Gaunt

Linux Insider – I Think You Might of Got It Wrong

I just read an article over at linux insider http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/67982.html and it basically discusses the confusion between Android and Chrome OS – My question is, what confusion?

Android in my eyes has always been a mobile phone platform, now I admit mobile phones, smart phones, smart books, its all blurring a bit so my definition of what should be running Android – a device which can be used for making phone calls, has a small screen making full aplications difficult to use, processor and memory (RAM) is limited. Something along those sort of lines. Or devices that don’t necessarily require a full blown OS, something more light weight.

I don’t think this is suitable for a netbook, so for instance, swiping my screen to view different parts of my desktop. On a phone with touch screen = intuitive, on a netbook, little backward no?

My main gripe about the whole (Android on a netbook) is, what software am I expected to run on an Android netbook? ooo of course the apps I download from the Android Market that are designed on a mobile skinned emulator, tested on a mobile device and also developed to perform tasks you might want a mobile phone to do.

The article also goes on to say how there are companies releasing Android Netbooks, one company I have never heard of, i.e. a small company who thought they could get in there before some of the big players, and also an expected Acer netbook. Now I admit I find it a little odd Acer are still going ahead with this after announcement of Chrome OS. Still I was never surprised by the lack of netbooks running Android,  it wasn’t designed for that. What makes more sense is that Chrome OS is going to be opened to developers in a year or so, which to me says Google have been working on this for quite some time and informed vendors of this.

With Android, Google worked with HTC to release the first phone, and Google again have said they have been working with vendors to create this OS for netbooks and desktops. So if the vendors were asked to participate with a Chrome OS, why bother looking at Android when you can probably guess Chrome OS is going to provide a far superior user experience on a netbook?

These are 2 OS’s for 2 totally different environments of usage. I.e. when I’m out about and only have my mobile phone on me for quick internet, quick tasks on apps etc, and a netbook or laptop would be used for more intensive work, so document editing, photo manipulation, multitasking in essence.

Final remark to finally put the nail in the coffin for Android on a netbook, Android memory management is quite cut throat, if it needs resources, it will kill any background Activities. Now if I was on a netbook and wanted a couple of apps running and the last app restarted, that would kinda get annoying. I mean will like a little music while we work.

Will Google Chrome OS knock Microsoft’s hold on the OS market? Not really, it will shift some linux and tech enthusiasts over to try it out, whether they’ll stick to it I’m not sure. But it will be cool to see if Google makes use of tools already used by other Linux distributions and whether development for programs will be aimed more towards the Chrome OS. Anyway that’s a whole different conversation I’m not getting into for the moment.