Google targets businesses with Chromebooks for Work

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols was interviewed on Tech News Today about this story.

Skip ahead to time index 13:50 for the start of his segment.

So, they are trying to sell businesses on $50/month per Chromebook with free replacements when needed.

I'm willing to bet there's some fine print with limitations on how often this can be done. And, at $50/month, that's $600/yr. I traveled all over the country for 13 years with laptops and probably had to replace them every 2-3 years.

Since a functional laptop goes for $500 or less these days and has better storage and desktop replacement functionality, I don't think this is such a great deal. But, if Like Steven J. Vaughan, you have just conceded to storing everything in cloud servers and said to heck with privacy, maybe you won't mind this so much.

Personally, I would rather still be responsible for the data on my laptop.

I'm also a bit biased, as I'm not a Chromebook fan.

I'm a big advocate of the Cloud... provided... that it runs on MY server where I have control.

I find it hard to imagine that responsible business leaders will be willing to put their employee's data on a server that their company does not control (sorry Google).

> I find it hard to imagine that responsible business leaders will be willing to put their employee's data on a server that their company does not control (sorry Google).

I think the Mega scandal is a big wakeup on that. If you're not worried about your private data getting loose, you should be worried about losing it outright just as collateral damage. As long as Hollywood-Dot-Gov can get away with being the Cyber-Highwaymen Patrol, nobody's stuff is safe unless it's at home.

Amen

@penguinist

Err, i would not bet on it. Right now there is a trend of pr quarter cost cutting. And cloud computing is a big enough buzz word that Red Hat has officially announced that it will their focus going forward.

And if you can rent space from a third party, and cut your admin staff etc, never mind not dealing with the depreciation of value on the computers, the CEO that approves it will be seen as a golden boy by the shareholders.

Also, corporations have in house lawyers. This means that if Google mess up and cause data loss, they are going to bleed money.

The place I work has all their email farmed out, and I am loathe to think about what a cracker could get just by putting a sniffer on the line 'cause I'm certain it's not encrypted.

Anyway, people will figure this out eventually. I'm with the Penguinista, if I have "cloud", is internal. Anything backed up off-site is encrypted _first_.

@750

Do you honestly believe Google would leave themselves open to a law suite? Their ToS and EULA will contain language, much like all of MS EULAs, that precludes getting sued.

@maxxedout

Not a suit, but a contract clause hammered in place by company lawyers.