The OS and the Desktop

Here is my second post in a series about using ChromeOS and the Cr-48 Chromebook and to see whether they can replace a Windows or OS X laptop.

Chrome OS

Chrome OS is Google's attempt at a fast, lightweight, desktop operating system based around their own Chrome browser. It was started by an engineer in Google who wanted to created an OS that was run entirely from the computer’s RAM. It is meant to boot fast, turn off quickly, and require less processing and battery power than a traditional desktop operating system. It allows for "apps" and "extensions" to be installed into the browser and to be used just like an app on any other operating system. However these applications are "web apps" which often appear to the user to be links to a website which provides the app's content or service.

An example of content would be the Google Drive, similar to the Dropbox and Skydrive services, it allows access to the user’s files and folders from Google’s own cloud storage from anywhere with internet access. To the Chrome OS user, it looks just like logging onto the website and going through its online file hierarchy just as it would a user logging in on their own browser, however it also allows for both ‘local’ access - where the files are downloaded to the device and ‘offline’ access, where files are saved locally and can be edited without an internet connection. Changes can then be synced back to the cloud the next time the Chromebook is connected to the internet. As someone who has used Dropbox for years, and use it as “My Documents” folder, this is something I have been doing for a long time, but it will be interesting to try to integrate this new OS into my computing work flow, after using Windows 7 and the different betas of Windows 8 on a laptop for the past year or so.

Desktop

From first impressions the OS is very pretty. Google has included a good number of beautiful wallpapers and of course you can use your own. I've stuck with one of the picturesque landscape ones, but your mileage may vary! For the version I am using, the desktop appears to be a pared down version of the Windows desktop, with the dock/ tool bar at the bottom and a small list of settings in the bottom corner including a clock, WIFI connection indicator and battery capacity indicator.

Also, just like Windows, you can get rid of the dock if you don’t want it to display unless you need it or to gain extra screen real estate for everything else. You just move your cursor down to the bottom of the screen and it will pop up.

Just like other OS with a window interface Chrome OS has the icons, this time with the icons on the right-hand side like Windows. It has the typical close window cross as well as a square icon which when you hover over it gives you several different options, to maximise, minimise and pin to the left and right. These icons can be clicked or the cursor dragged and clicked to them. I like these options being available, and it does give a good differentiation between Chrome OS, Windows and OS X.

Apps are accessible from a small icon that when pressed reveals a popup that shows a list of apps that are installed on the Chromebook. Each can then be right-clicked to give options as to how it opens and dragged to the dock just like on a Mac or PC.

Sadly these app icons appear in the order they have been installed on the device. There is no way to drag them to the pages you want like the functionality of OS X’s Launchpad app or the folders on iOS and Android. This disappoints me slightly, but I have just put my most-used apps in the dock and access them from there. I can also use the keyboard and press the “Search” button which has replaced the Caps lock key and type in the name of the app I want to open. The desktop works well enough for me, and other than that minor problem with the apps drawer, I like it.

Windows 8. Bored already.

I find myself typing this post in Notepad++. Great app by the way. I use it for a great deal of my drafting and correspondence, and even a bit of HTML code. I highly recommend it! However, I also find myself writing this on my laptop in Windows 7, rather than the much-publicised Windows 8 and I don't feel bad using it either, which is weird.

Let me explain.

I am a keen new tech adopter. I got an iPhone 3G as soon as it was released, and iPad as soon as I could snap up a good second-hand deal. The same with an Alienware M11X R3 and Windows Phone device. I like the new and the different, and am very happy with all of these devices. The same is also usually true with app and operating system updates. As soon as an update is available I will jump to it. I did it with OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion, with the longest time I have waited being 3 weeks, so I could complete my final dissertation for my degree. So I did exactly the same with Windows 8.

I had a spare 2.5" drive, so I took out the M11X's standard Western Digital Black and installed each of the different preview versions of the OS. The Developer, Consumer and Release Previews, and finally the Enterprise RTM, their final version they were shipping to their OEMs. I was excited for each version and their new features and bug fixes, and the new apps for the "Metro" or "Modern" *sigh* interface. It has so much potential, but hasn't reached it for me, yet, which became jarringly obvious when I put my Windows 7 drive back in the M11X for a bit of housekeeping, (OS updates, security updates, etc). There

Windows 8 - things that don't work for me

Poor "Modern" apps. Don't get me wrong, the "Modern" interface and the Live Tiles are beautiful. I have them on my phone as well and I could write a short essay on how they make my life so useful. However those on Windows 8 just feel a little weak and half-baked to me and made me feel like the Microsoft developers were downright lazy. No integrated inbox for email and poor messaging integration with Facebook chat were ones that got me immediately. However, to have no native "Modern" notepad app and no calculator? This meant I couldn't perform the most obvious task a student would want to do on their computer - read a pdf in their app and take notes on in in another app. That was massively disappointing for me. Sure, you could use the desktop ones, but that gives you the jarring experience of leaving the new and shiny "Modern" world, and drops you back in the desktop environment with a bump, and I'm trying my hardest to learn to love Microsoft's new way of doing things! The same appears true for users of the Surface RT tablets, who are finding the same thing especially true since they would be expecting a far better touch experience than that provided by these apps on the desktop.

While the "slack" created by poor native apps has already begun to be taken up by third-party developers, it smacks of laziness on the part of Microsoft or perhaps an unwillingness to part with the past. Some have questioned why Microsoft has even included the desktop environment as part of the Windows RT OS, and I agree with them. The new Office apps are really the only point to having it, and prove that had Microsoft just made true "Modern" interface apps, they wouldn't need it at all. Or perhaps Microsoft are trying to provide another differentiator between themselves and Apple's definite OS X vs iOS platforms.

Windows 8 - benefit

Speed - Microsoft has done a really impressive job at reducing the boot-up and shut-down times and operating system actions. As a real-life example, Windows 8 on my slower 5400 rpm drive boots over twice as fast as the Windows 7 partition on my better, faster 7,200 rpm WD drive. It also uses far fewer system resources and allows my laptop to stay cooler and quieter throughout normal usage along with a longer battery life.

Finally, let me say that I don't find myself using the "Modern" apps much at all. So far everything on the desktop does everything quicker than I would otherwise be able to from the Start Screen. On top of that, a bug that prevents me from docking two apps side by side is preventing me from actually multitasking and using two at once. It started as soon as I plugged the laptop into an external display and then unplugged it. It has been "tainted" ever since and removes much of the actual use from the new apps. This should have been fixed by the RTM build that is being shipped to OEMs and now users. Hopefully it will be fixed soon.

I am not saying Windows 8 doesn't have potential, but it doesn't seem to realise much of that potential to me on release, but perhaps it is better to pay the £25 or $40 and hope it realises that potential sooner rather than later. I hope I change my mind, but using Windows 7 on my non-touch device, I really am in no particular rush. But I'll see how it goes after a week!