Chromebooks - latest news and discussion

[Kid_Eternity]

Don't be evil™

Hehe yeah at least other profit seeking corporations weren't stupid enough to bullshit everyone with that one!

 

[editor]

Got to love people complaining that they can't get to use free products forever and ever with unlimited updates, and complaining that minor, unimportant free apps haven't been made available for eternity. LOL.

If anyone is that bothered, they should just try paying for important apps/service (not that paying for it will guarantee that it will remain alive forever either).

 

[free spirit]

Got to love people complaining that they can't get to use free products forever and ever with unlimited updates, and complaining that minor, unimportant free apps haven't been made available for eternity. LOL.

If anyone is that bothered, they should just try paying for important apps/service (not that paying for it will guarantee that it will remain alive forever either).

hmm, and there was me thinking that google was using all these free cloud based products to help them convince us to switch to chromebooks.

or to hook us in to them, then force more and more of us to start paying for them once we're hooked.

 

[editor]

hmm, and there was me thinking that google was using all these free cloud based products to help them convince us to switch to chromebooks.

or to hook us in to them, then force more and more of us to start paying for them once we're hooked.

Do you even know what Schemer was? It was a tiny, ultra minor throwaway Android app.

And what essential Google services are you being asked to pay for?

 

[revol68]

Picked out a Acer c720 for my dad to replace his old Toshiba that had started overheating if you played any video.
Does absolutely everything my dad needs it for, browsing, bit of word processing, watching films.

Got a torrent client for it, pretty basic but does the job and only a matter of time before there are more options there.
It doesn't support AC3 audio though, which is a pain in the hole but again not something that will bother my da much.

9 hrs battery life, great display and ultra portable for 199, add to that it boots up in seconds and runs very cool and I think it's the perfect solution for the majority of laptop users.

 

[free spirit]

Do you even know what Schemer was? It was a tiny, ultra minor throwaway Android app.

And what essential Google services are you being asked to pay for?

google docs, they want hundreds / thousands from business users, so offer it free to start with, then once you're up and running and hooked into it they want to squeeze money out of you

same with sketchup, although they flogged that last year for some reason.

No idea what schemer was, but know what most of these were - Igoogle, Reader and checkout in particular were at one point pretty high profile google products, so it is a valid concern.

Google Reader, GUI Builder, Google Building Maker, Google Checkout and iGoogle have all closed or had their closure announced since 1st June 2013.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

google docs, they want hundreds / thousands from business users, so offer it free to start with, then once you're up and running and hooked into it they want to squeeze money out of you

same with sketchup, although they flogged that last year for some reason.

No idea what schemer was, but know what most of these were - Igoogle, Reader and checkout in particular were at one point pretty high profile google products, so it is a valid concern.

It's a real concern. We did an IT review last year and when Google came up basically everyone we spoke to said don't risk you're business with it, it's fine for limited things but not a replacement for anything.

 

[editor]

google docs, they want hundreds / thousands from business users, so offer it free to start with, then once you're up and running and hooked into it they want to squeeze money out of you

I've never paid for Google Docs and see no situation where any home user (or even a small business) would be expected to pay either. However, any large enterprise expecting high end productivity features for its workforce can hardly complain that such features come at a price.

The only expired feature from Google that pissed me off was the closure of Google Reader, but there's been no shortage of replacement apps so it's hardly a major blow.

Sketchup can still be downloaded for free, btw.

 

[mwgdrwg]

Don't be evil, or our military robots will get you™

 

[pesh]

I've never paid for Google Docs and see no situation where any home user (or even a small business) would be expected to pay either. However, any large enterprise expecting high end productivity features for its workforce can hardly complain that such features come at a price.

but isn't this whole thread about the sales figures of Chromebooks to business and education users? i.e. everyone but home users?

 

[editor]

but isn't this whole thread about the sales figures of Chromebooks to business and education users? i.e. everyone but home users?

As far as I can see we're talking about Chromebooks in general, for home, business and education users. And not all businesses need Google's commercial services either.

 

[souljacker]

It's a real concern. We did an IT review last year and when Google came up basically everyone we spoke to said don't risk you're business with it, it's fine for limited things but not a replacement for anything.

You were given incorrect advice. I deal with many companies who use a complete Google infrastructure for email, docs, IM, calendars. And these are big global companies too.

 

[sim667]

Oh the numbers relate to business and corporate sales only?

Bit of a misleading thread title if so tbh.

 

[Lazy Llama]

For a different take on mostly-made-up/guessed stats, IDC's estimates for the 3rd quarter 2013 indicate that Chromebooks are not exactly setting the world on fire.

Chromebooks from any vendor except Samsung have not fared particularly well. Even with Samsung's products, they're primarily only having an impact on K-12 education in the US--as a replacement for aging netbooks. In Q3 '13, Samsung shipped roughly 652,000 Chromebooks Worldwide ... Among other vendors Lenovo, Acer and HP have shipped, but in tiny volume. Samsung continues to hold the number one position...

http://www.zdnet.com/latest-idc-figures-show-chromebooks-continue-to-struggle-7000023000/

Computerworld - About 2.5 million Chromebooks were sold globally in 2013, or about 1% of the entire PC market, according to market research firm IDC. But most of those sales were driven by consumers, not by enterprise users.
...
But how much progress has the Chromebook made into the enterprise? "Beyond education, it's probably virtually zero," said IDC analyst Loren Loverde.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...rket_share_and_a_tough_road_to_the_enterprise

Until I actually see Chromebooks in businesses, I'll remain sceptical that they're suitable for business use beyond replacing thin-client hardware devices.

 

[editor]

You were given incorrect advice. I deal with many companies who use a complete Google infrastructure for email, docs, IM, calendars. And these are big global companies too.

Indeed. Some absolutely huge businesses use Google.

 

[editor]

Oh the numbers relate to business and corporate sales only?

Bit of a misleading thread title if so tbh.

Er, we've already covered this. In some depth.

 

[sim667]

Er, we've already covered this. In some depth.

Oh yeah, i didn't read all 4 pages (well any of the 4 pages )

 

[slainte]

hmm Ocado. The telegraph The Guardian Specsavers etc. use google docs for business...is this big enough for you
https://www.google.co.uk/intx/en_uk/enterprise/apps/business/customers.html

 

[free spirit]

I've never paid for Google Docs and see no situation where any home user (or even a small business) would be expected to pay either. However, any large enterprise expecting high end productivity features for its workforce can hardly complain that such features come at a price.

The only expired feature from Google that pissed me off was the closure of Google Reader, but there's been no shortage of replacement apps so it's hardly a major blow.

Sketchup can still be downloaded for free, btw.

google would want $600 a year off us, I'll let sketchup's terms of service do the talking on that aspect

If you are a for-profit organization of any kind, or an employee of a for-profit organization using the Software or Services in that capacity, you are engaged in commercial activity; therefore, in order to use the Software and Services, you must purchase a SketchUp Pro license.

so that's another £1.5-2k or so.

I guess this all makes good business sense for them, but does feel a bit like being sucked in to their money making machine and adding another chunk to our running costs after we're too deeply in to using the products to really consider switching to anything else. We'd then be at the mercy of Google in terms of any increases in fees, which definitely makes me nervous.

 

[editor]

google would want $600 a year off us, I'll let sketchup's terms of service do the talking on that aspect

Only if you elect to sign up for their business services, and that only makes sense if you're a huge company - and if you're a huge company you'd be a bit mad to entrust mission critical services to a Google freebie.

Skethchup has nothing to do with Google now, although it provided a fantastic way for people to get into 3d modelling for free.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

I guess this all makes good business sense for them, but does feel a bit like being sucked in to their money making machine and adding another chunk to our running costs after we're too deeply in to using the products to really consider switching to anything else. We'd then be at the mercy of Google in terms of any increases in fees, which definitely makes me nervous.

You are surprised that for-profits orgs end up having to pay for stuff?

 

[RedDragon]

They charge for their maps too, by the view don't they, so does that mean even as a non-profit site if enough people hit you up then wallop?

 

[free spirit]

Skethchup has nothing to do with Google now, although it provided a fantastic way for people to get into 3d modelling for free.

yep, google cashed out of a product that is incompatible with either of their own operating systems. At least they didn't just end it, but it still shows their capacity to decide to do complete about turns on technology they were really pushing just a few years back even if it's still pretty ground breaking.

That's one of the key products we use that means we can't also use a google chromebook (as far as I know).

 

[slainte]

hmm well just a side note I am an IT contractor and as such have worked over a few places in the last few years. About 2 years ago I was working for a company whom acquired other companies I wont say who but they are big.. Essentially they took over another company with over 5000 employees which was using google apps for business. They were bringing the IT back in house (the company whom aquired them ) as a strategic measure owning data centres and it was a case of saving off the google docs as docx format spreadsheets as xslx etc....ie it was easy to MIGRATE from Google docs to Office documents rather than moving Office with inbuilt macros to google docs ..so again if you are not requiring heavy feature rich elements for a company ie embedding documents with documents etc. context links etc. then probably google docs is fine.
By the way ITV the entire organisation use google docs for business. So do EAT the food chain store so many many large companies use it a lot also so does Cape Gemini (which is an extemely LARGE IT consultancy company ) .Rentokil etc. etc
They also have google apps for governance which matches security elements criteria for what is termed il2 data etc.
I think a lot of companies are saving money with google docs for business and extra features like vault gives them the element of encryption and co location by default for them.
Personally and unfortunately I am ironically one of those whom needs to have heavy features of visio etc. and word etc. so google docs doesn't work for me YET ..but if they come up with features of context links embedded documents etc. then it would work definitely more for me

 

[free spirit]

You are surprised that for-profits orgs end up having to pay to pay for stuff?

I'm just pointing out a reason why businessses or anyone considering going into business for themselves have a legitimate reason to be wary about tying themselves in to an initially free service via a chromebook.

 

[free spirit]

and it was a case of saving off the google docs as docx format spreadsheets as xslx etc....ie it was easy to MIGRATE from Google docs to Office documents rather than moving Office with inbuilt macros to google docs ..so again if you are not requiring heavy feature rich elements for a company ie embedding documents with documents etc. context links etc. then probably google docs is fine.

actually that's interesting, I just checked and hadn't realised we can highlight all and then download up to 2GB at a time conveted to MS office.

I might do this just as a back up.

It is great software, it just makes me nervous having my entire companies documents entrusted to a single corporation in this way, especially one that seems to have a bit of a habit of dropping products.

 

[slainte]

Office 365 anyone with skydrive..... at least google docs has been around and is being added to over time ..unlike Office 365 where funnily enough to use all the features you need to pay a much higher licencing model and a windows OS machine with a local install copy to fully access ALL the features in the cloud....hmmm..yes

 

[slainte]

On the topic of buying into a free service its already been mentioned your 100gig of storage at the end of the 2 years will revert to the amount uploaded and you can still access it you just won't be able to upload further stuff to the cloud storage past this point unless you pay. Which is better than most whereby you loose your data and storage space immediately.....

 

[editor]

They charge for their maps too, by the view don't they, so does that mean even as a non-profit site if enough people hit you up then wallop?

Could you give some actual examples? It's absolutely free to embed a map on your site unless you're going into advanced customisation.

Can I put Google Maps on my site without using the Google Maps APIs?
Yes. Google Maps now offers the ability to embed the map that you're viewing into your website or blog, without any programming or use of the Google Maps APIs. More information is available here.

 

[editor]

It is great software, it just makes me nervous having my entire companies documents entrusted to a single corporation in this way, especially one that seems to have a bit of a habit of dropping products.

What irreplaceable products have they dropped for you so far?