In two minds......

Story: Chromebook Nothing More than Neutered NetbookTotal Replies: 24
Author Content
Ridcully

May 24, 2011
5:58 PM EDT
I read Ron Miller's article and nodded in agreement again and again......Here is a person confirming exactly what I believed were the drawbacks to the Chromebook: browser lock-in, useless without a internet connection, unable to work separately on data, etc. etc,; oh, and I cannot help but ask how it connects to printers. Yes, there's a good hiring plan and that might make it attractive in some quarters, but for me as a personal desktop, it has no attraction whatsoever.....

And then I skipped to the first comment on the actual article page written by "Rformisa" and sat back and thought quite a lot more. Even looking at the two sets of users that Rformisa defines, that's a lot of users I would think; and users that would definitely value reliability and ease of use far more than the flexibility of a "full computer" - people to whom the cheap hiring and replacement plan would be important as well. Perhaps Google really IS onto a winner. It's going to be very interesting to watch.

JaseP

May 25, 2011
9:06 AM EDT
Don't fool yourself. Chrome (OS) is for sheeple netbook users & corporate thin client contracts. There can be a lucrative market for "consultants" setting up Chrome dedicated corporate interfaces... I predict that Google will release a Chrome intranet service to licensed or "certified" IT specialists, once they get traction.
dinotrac

May 25, 2011
9:52 AM EDT
@JaseP --

There are times you seem so smart, and then there's this "sheeple" thing.

I don't know if the Chromebook will succeed or fail, but I think of the first Palm Pilot I bought way back in 1996 and the Kindle my wife loves so much now.

If a device fits your needs so well that it feels natural to use it, it'll do all right for itself -- presuming there are more than a few of you.

There's no "sheeple" about it.
JaseP

May 25, 2011
11:16 AM EDT
Dino,

Why run ChromeOS when you can run a full Linux OS on the same specs?!?! That's the sheeple part. Chrome is about Google penetrating a disposable PC and thin client market. That it's useful to smart people doesn't make it less "sheeple-ish."

Just my own opinion,... & we all know about opinions.
dinotrac

May 25, 2011
11:37 AM EDT
@JaseP -

I can think of several reasons, including the possibility that you don't need a full Linux OS and you don't want to mess with it.

In appliance mode, it can be nice to turn the bother over to somebody else.
JaseP

May 25, 2011
12:17 PM EDT
And letting somebody else worry about that gives them more time to wait in the drive-through at McDonalds, after taking the kids to soccer practice in their SUV, and get some more shopping done at the new Walmart Superstore that just opened up across town from the plain old Walmart, picking up a new Spongebob Wii game for the kids... And maybe enough time to pick up some weed killer for their lawn at Home Depot...

Yep, you're right & I'm definitely wrong in that, Dino,... Nothing "sheeple" about that. Those people have unique and different lives... I fold my hand.
dinotrac

May 25, 2011
12:53 PM EDT
@JaseP -

Wow, no elitist snobbery in you, is there?

Maybe I fit in that group because I don't bother upgrading my Blackberry to an iPhone (why settle for a Blackberry when you can have a touchscreen and an app store) or, for that matter, don't even have a dataplan (What? You settle for WiFi hot spots when you could be browsing the internet while you're sitting at traffic lights?)

And, honestly, what have you got against the Home Depot?

Or is it Weed'nFeed you despise?

Lawns?

Kids?
JaseP

May 25, 2011
3:38 PM EDT
Elitist?!?! No...

And YES, I eat at Mickey-Ds (only occasionally), shop at Walmart, go to Home Depot & have a Wii, 2 kids, a lawn, (a wife) & Spongebob is playing in my house 27 hours a day... Oh, and the Mrs. drives an SUV (her choice, not mine). I have no allusions that those aren't sheeple-ish things. But, just about everything else in my life is an intentional decision, not just going along with the crowd... Political views, personal philosophy, OS choice, hobbies, choice of entertainment, etc.
dinotrac

May 25, 2011
5:06 PM EDT
@JaseP -

That's better. I was starting to worry.

It's easy for me to see that giving over the bother with a computer is an intentional choice, too, one that frees you up for choices that are more important to you.

I get a little bit about cars like you get about computers. I wonder why people so readily hand their cars over to mechanics, when brakes, ignition, stuff like that really isn't so hard to do. Of course, my last task was laying on the garage floor with my arms in unnatural positions, getting cramped and greasy and frustrated while I replaced the power steering pump in a mini-van that hid it away from any sensible care...

I imagine some computer users view the silly little things in much the same way.

Ridcully

May 25, 2011
6:07 PM EDT
@JaseP........"sheeple".........what an utterly delightful word ! Seriously, I've never encountered it before. Marvellous. Now I know how Redmond gets its wool bales. :-D Got any more like that ?
JaseP

May 26, 2011
10:18 AM EDT
You never heard the term "sheeple?!?!" Wow, I thought it was pretty much commonplace...
Ridcully

May 26, 2011
5:55 PM EDT
No, JaseP, on reflection, I don't think I have. Tracyanne may have encountered it ??? But it's certainly not a word in common usage in the area I live in. Perhaps the Kiwis across the Tasman use it ? Whatever, as soon as you see it, you instantly understand its application and I now have a marvellous update for my vocabulary of words that apply to mindless followers of some ethic, concept.............or even software operating systems. Ta muchly. :-)
dinotrac

May 26, 2011
7:41 PM EDT
Ridcully -

Though sheeple can be found anywhere, I would expect to see a lot of them in New Zealand. I believe they can be found anywhere lonely people hang around sheep.
tuxchick

May 26, 2011
7:47 PM EDT
Sheeple is common in the US. Usually it refers to people with differing religious or political views :)
tracyanne

May 26, 2011
8:03 PM EDT
Quoting:Tracyanne may have encountered it ??? But it's certainly not a word in common usage in the area I live in. Perhaps the Kiwis across the Tasman use it ?


Although I lived in Kiwiland for many years, I never came across the term there. The first time I saw the term used was by a Yank in reference to Windows users.

I think dono has the right idea in regards to our near neighbours. Although I believe the English think they are found in Wales. This is, afer all why Kiwi farmers wear Gum Boots.
TxtEdMacs

May 26, 2011
9:06 PM EDT
Quoting: [...] I believe they can be found anywhere lonely people hang around sheep.


Hmm, do mean that literally or are you referring to those hung for the evil things they do to sheep?

YBT
Ridcully

May 26, 2011
10:45 PM EDT
Being a person of utterly pure mind, immaculate morals and ethics that are above reproach........I have NO idea what any of you are talking about..................... :-)
dinotrac

May 27, 2011
3:44 AM EDT
@Ridcully -

Baaa humbug.
Ridcully

May 27, 2011
4:12 AM EDT
@Dinotrac...................I am positively PROUD of you...........you are obviously very familiar with Dicken's Christmas Carol.............And it is one of my favourite books.......There is no way I can therefore take offence with such a quotation from a master.........LOL.....
TxtEdMacs

May 27, 2011
7:02 AM EDT
Quoting:Baaa humbug.


A quote from Dolly the sheep prior to her untimely, early demise, I presume.

YBT
Ridcully

May 27, 2011
7:29 AM EDT
@TxtEdMacs...........ummmm......not exactly........The only well defined Christmas Dinners in the story both occur at the Cratchit's house: the first is a goose, and the second towards the end, is a "prize turkey".......so "honks", "gabbles" and "gobbles" are in, but "baaas" are out. I'm sure you'll work out some "wicked way" to twist those words.
TxtEdMacs

May 27, 2011
10:10 AM EDT
Ridcully,

Quoting: [...] I'm sure you'll work out some "wicked way" to twist those words.


I was well on my way with the delicious list you handed me, however, the three letter barrier cropped up during my musing: TOS. So we will have to fore go that foray into suggestive, prurient minds that are all too easily led astray. Should I say?

I think not, because LXer minds are already too befuddled by chicory commentary and tricks or by dino shticks. Thus, I will leave it unattended ...

As always,

YBT
JaseP

May 27, 2011
10:32 AM EDT
What was the original topic of this thread again?!?! Something about Chromed sheep shears, or something?!?!
dinotrac

May 27, 2011
2:20 PM EDT
@JaseP -

I think it had something to do with Google promoting the Chromebook as the Next Big Thing when they're really just pulling the wool over our eyes.
hkwint

May 27, 2011
8:58 PM EDT
No, no no!!!

Sheeple is so 2000's; that's a decade ago now. This decade (well, 2005 to 2015 more probably) is all about iSheep. Which is the individualistic egocetric sheep only looking at itself. Because only if it has a tunnel vision and sees nothing more then itself (iThis, iThat and so on), can it make itself believe it's unique and a magic revolutionary artistic individual. Instead of part of a large global dumb flock which just follows their herd. The herd which of course gets all the wool and maybe some nice expensive feta.

Seriously though, there are many people which are not capable of / not willing to do 'operating system' maintenance. Some people do, but they install such utterly large mountain of 'maintaining programs' on Windows; the whole OS comes to a screeching halt because it comes with 50 different 'managing' programs who are busy managing the other 49 ones. Yeah, that's the best definition of Windows!

People which don't want to upgrade, don't want to have IT staff, don't want to solve difficult disk drive / storage / backup problems, don't want to deal with malware and so on.

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