The VAR Guy is watching and listening closely for potential Google Chrome OS launch news. Chrome OS, a lightweight Web operating system for netbooks and notebooks, may grab the spotlight at this week’s Google I/O 2011 conference in San Francisco. There’s speculation Samsung may unveil a Chrome OS netbook at the conference. But here’s the big question: Can Chrome OS revive the struggling netbook market or will Google simply evangelize Chrome OS for notebooks? Either way, there could be hardware as a service (HaaS) opportunities for VARs and MSPs. Here’s why.

When it comes to explaining the Chrome OS strategy, Google uses a pretty simple definition:

“Chrome notebooks are built and optimized for the web, where you already spend most of your computing time. So you get a faster, simpler and more secure experience without all the headaches of ordinary computers. Welcome to Chrome OS.”

Hmmm… It’s interesting to note that Google doesn’t mention netbooks in that home page blurb. Google’s CR48 pilot program also focuses heavily on the notebook term rather than netbook hype. That’s likely a smart move. In Microsoft’s most recent quarterly results, the company disclosed that Windows-based netbook sales fell a drastic 40 percent. Some analysts think Apple’s iPad has triggered the sales slowdown. That’s part of the reason. But there’s another explanation as well: Plenty of first-time netbook buyers from 2008 aren’t coming back to buy more netbooks because they found the devices too small, too cramped and too limited, The VAR Guy believes.

Can Google Chrome OS breathe new life into the netbook market? Hmmm… The VAR Guy isn’t sure. But he has heard dozens of Fortune 500 companies are testing Chrome OS for a range of cloud applications. Also, some folks speculate that Chrome OS devices – perhaps even tablets — will be sold with service provider contracts. Call it Google OS meets hardware as a service.

Which Chrome OS hardware will arrive first? And where will channel partners fit into the conversation? No doubt many answers will surface at this week’s Google I/O conference in San Francisco.

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16 Comments on “Google Chrome OS: Reviving Netbooks Or Invading Notebooks?”

  1. M. Edward (Ed) Borasky Says:
    May 9th, 2011 at 11:08 pm

    Yeah, I’m one of the Cr-48 pilot users and I flat out wouldn’t use a device that’s smaller than the Cr-48. I won’t use a tablet either. The “netbook market” was a feeble response from Intel and Microsoft in the face of the One Laptop Per Child XO.

    They key to the success or failure of a ChromeOS *notebook* is going to be what kind of connectivity it has and data bandwidth costs. The current data plans from the carriers aren’t going to cut it in a competitive business environment.

    There’s nothing *in* a ChromeOS notebook – no disk space, no RAM and very little processing power. That means everything you do with it has to go wirelessly between you and the cloud. At 3G speeds and data plan costs, that’s going to be a horrible bottleneck.

  2. Nanotech Says:
    May 10th, 2011 at 4:50 am

    The problem with ‘netbooks’ was and is ‘windows’ choking the hardware manufacturers

  3. Flossie Says:
    May 10th, 2011 at 5:43 am

    I suspect it’s not that people found the Netbooks too small/limiting and more that they don’t yet feel any pressure to upgrade. A netbook bought in 2008 is still easily capable of performing all it’s required tasks in 2011.

  4. Roszyk Says:
    May 10th, 2011 at 7:16 am

    It is interesting that on a netbook, a 10 inch screen is too small, and the keyboard is too cramped to be useful. Netbooks are thought of as not acceptable for real work. Meanwhile on an iPad or other tablet a screen of similar size is thought to be just fine and a virtual keyboard quite usable.

    I agree with Nanotech, MS ruined the netbook with Win 7 Starter and strong arming manufacturers to limit specs and OS choice.

  5. admoore Says:
    May 10th, 2011 at 9:34 am

    There’s the netbook *formfactor* and the netbook *concept*. ChromeOS is pretty much tied to the netbook *concept*, but obviously not the formfactor. Regardless of how gargantuan a laptop you install it on, you still have a netbook in the end.

    The tablet & smartphone markets have convinced me of one crucial fact that cuts netbooks to the quick: people love apps. People like being able to acquire functionality for their hardware in discrete units. Original netbooks didn’t have this capability; will the chrome web store have compelling enough content to satisfy this urge?

  6. Roszyk Says:
    May 10th, 2011 at 11:27 am

    Yes, people love apps. This shows what most really use a computing device for. Web browsing, email, all the social networking stuff like facebook and twitter, media playback and streaming of TV shows and movies is what the vast majority of users do. As a working professional, I need to be able to run full applications on the go. For half of the price of a tablet I can get a netbook with more capabilities.

    Although I am sure some are using their tablets for work, most are just very expensive toys.

    I also am looking forward to what Chrome OS may have to offer the netbook and ultra mobile PC in the future

  7. Isthmus Says:
    May 10th, 2011 at 12:57 pm

    Netbooks are a great idea with very poor execution (at least until recently). I agree with the first Nanotech who says that Windows chokes the hardware. i woudl go as far as to say that the main flaw of netbooks is windows. With MS capping Ram at 1gb and giving users a crippled version of the very bloated windows 7.

    Add to that that screen resolution in most netbooks leaves something to be desired.

    I recently redid a netbook (Dell Mini 1012). I bought it refurbishd for a little over $200. replaced teh stock screen for an HD glossy one, added a bluetooth card and upgraded the wireless card. I maxxed out the ram (2gb) and removed windows from the machine and replaced it with Linux Mint main edition. I proceeded to customize mint to my liking. Now instead of a crippled little web appliance, I have a true full featured, fully functioning, fast, computer, in a truly portable package, with really long battery life. It has become our go-to computer for traveling and lounging around the house. even my wife, who is a dyed in the wool Mac lover, regularly steals it from me because she likes it so much (I had to set up a user account for her as a result).

    All the upgrades brought the final all-in price to about $375. Netbooks are a brilliant concept that simply suffers from piss poor execution – mainly because of Microsoft.

  8. a-non-e-mouse Says:
    May 10th, 2011 at 2:13 pm

    As a netbook buyer (Asus 900HA), I see no reason to upgrade. With XP, the machine performs everything as expected. I didn’t buy a netbook because of its big screen, I bought it because I needed a small, cheap, lightweight machine that can do the smaller tasks of a desktop. Until I need it to do something too “big” for its britches, no upgrade.

  9. B Swiss Says:
    May 10th, 2011 at 6:53 pm

    I concur with the previous posters — there appears to be a strong consensus, here.

    Microsoft (and Intel as well, remember) has been choking the OEMs who wished to provide systems (hardware & software) that customers wanted, and would have worked quite well.

    Windows itself (except for XP, which is no longer available) chokes netbook hardware. This applies to Widows “Starter” as well.

    As an example: I recently helped my sister to buy and set up an HP-mini 210 (true dual-core Atom n550, 1 GB RAM) netbook with Win7 Starter. I also around that time received (free) a rather old (circa 2003) Compaq laptop, on which I’ve been trying out Linux Mint (Mint 9 LTS).

    Aside from the keyboard, my sister’s new netbook — despite being Atom-powered — clearly has much better specs (better cpu, double the RAM (and DDR3 v DDR), faster bus, better graphics support, etc) than the Compaq. But the Compaq under Mint still runs noticeably faster, and quite noticeably snappier, than the HP-mini.

  10. Dave Lane Says:
    May 10th, 2011 at 8:53 pm

    The big question is: when will the ARM smartbooks arrive? (They don’t run Windows. They run ChromeOS, Android, or another Linux variant)

    Their advantages:
    - no Windows
    - no inherent hardware limitations (e.g. screen size/resolution)
    - unprecedented battery life (no fans required, and low power use)
    - low cost
    - emerging multi-core CPUs, dedicated GPUs with optimised 1080p decoders…

    It’s pretty clear to me that MS has leaned on the traditional hardware OEMs, threatening (no doubt “informally”) to “review” their MS Windows notebook/desktop cost advantages if they introduce a smartbook line… but what about phone manufacturers? They don’t have a Windows laptop business at risk…

    Perhaps Google can liberate Smartbooks with ChromeOS. I know I want a smartbook (though I’d run a proper Linux on it).

  11. engel Says:
    May 11th, 2011 at 2:57 am

    netbooks was born for linux but jeopardized by M$ … I run a 2008 netbook, Acer Aspire One, the second model, 9″ with real hard disk, I cleaned windows replaced with Ubuntu 10.04, new battery 6 cell lasting 5 hours, and @ home I attach a monitor 22″ and a real wireless keyboard … the real limits offdoor is the lack (in Italy) of wifi infrastructures, both free or paid and the poor service 3G … wellcome to GOS!

  12. BlackMagic Says:
    May 11th, 2011 at 7:39 am

    I bought a $300 netbook with Win7 Starter installed. Couldn’t do much with it, so I put in a 500GB fast drive, doubled the RAM, and now it’s running as a Linux server using Centos 5.6. Way to go!

  13. GoogleFanBoy Says:
    May 17th, 2011 at 10:42 am

    I love Chrome OS

  14. Mitchell Cipriano Says:
    May 17th, 2011 at 2:27 pm

    Chrome OS is just what most users need. Easy to use, self maintaining, small and inexpensive. Google, really took a play from Apple, reduce the number of choices a user can take to those that are appropriate to 95% and the result is more usable for the 95%.

    On the point of ARM in the notebook/netbook/smartbook space, it is clear Microsoft sees these lower cost and low power devices as very attractive to users as evidenced by their announcement to port Windows to ARM. However, there is a concern for Windows on ARM. ARM is not a unified architecture. Each manufacturer licenses the rights to ARM and then is free to make changes. In markets where the devices are pretty self contained, like smart phones and tablets, this is not a problem, but in markets like Windows based notebooks, where users expect to be able to freely install applications and peripherals it could be a barrier to user satisfaction. This is where the unified Intel architecture is an huge advantage.

    Mitchell Cipriano
    http://www.demandbydesign.com

  15. Unicorn Says:
    May 17th, 2011 at 3:47 pm

    I love unicorns.

  16. Bryan Says:
    May 18th, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    It will be interesting to see how this changes with the new announcements. It looks very attractive for businesses.

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