Link

“For example, the simple act of entering text via an on-screen keyboard. When holding the device in portrait orientation then the on-screen keyboard could be essentially the same as the iPhone’s in concept, but what about when you’re holding the tablet horizontally with two hands? How does the keyboard work in that scenario? If you stretch the keyboard across the device’s screen when in landscape orientation then your thumbs won’t be able to hit the middle keys without stretching and reaching. This orientation works on the iPhone because the screen is only 480 pixels wide but what happens when the horizontal dimension of the screen is 800px or 1200px? This same layout just doesn’t work.”

Great read. Though I believe the OS will be something entirely different, both from iPhone OS and Mac OS. Apple doesn’t like to mix stuff, usually.

I have tested the developer build of Chrome OS. I’ve read many articles about Google’s latest creation. I tried to believe Google.

For me, Google Chrome will be a fail.

So, turns out Google wants to push all our computing life onto the web: every application is a webapp, you login with your Google ID. This is a good thing, everyone wants to be more connected with the internet, and this is where the industry will move. The problem is, what Google is developing and plans to launch next year, could only happen in a perfect world. In the real world, the world where many people still have a fucking dial-up connection, the world where my dad is barely able to open a Word document, the world where people believe the monitor is the computer, this is impossible. Well, not that impossible, it’s just a fail. Or at least, this could work fine for a few people.

Let me explain better. Say you’re a professional graphic designer who needs Photoshop to be open all day plus tons of other apps. Google wants you to push everything into the web. Google wants you to use an online image editor.

WTF.

Yeah, pretty much what I was thinking. Now, let’s calm down and think about: I don’t think Google is that stupid. They know that people who know how to use a computer will use Chrome OS. Just like the Nintendo Wii, their target are casual users, those who stand between my dad (total n00b) and my friends (average users). And obviously, Google fanboys (pretty much nerds). But let’s make a step backward: I said “I don’t think Google is that stupid.”.

Hmm.

What if Google actually believes Chrome OS will become the system of choice for everyone? Or , what if Google really believes the web OS can replace a desktop OS? Let’s quote this Mashable post:

“Google cares more about the browser becoming the OS than it cares about Chrome OS being the OS of choice on the computers of the world”

Indeed. They want the browser to become the OS. Ok then, this could be deinitely interesting, but it will fail. I told you before, this could happen in a perfect world where everyone has a 200Mbit connection and where webapps allow you to work with 2GB documents. Google is building a skyscraper upon a big foundation of mud. By mud, I mean Internet in 2009 (and it won’t be so different next year) where webapps (earth)  are good - no doubt about it - but they sure can’t replace desktop apps in most situations (water). I can surely send my invoices with Freshbooks, but I can’t manage MacStories with an online version of Coda (which by the way, doesn’t exist). I can manage my photos with Picasa, but I can’t work with Final Cut Pro Online. I could, with a faster connection and better webapps. Google seems to ignore that fast connections are not so common, that’s an elite thing. Maybe they have a blazing fast connection in Mountain View, but we haven’t.

So, who’s Google’s target?

Hope.

And ignorance.