Skip to main content

Chromebooks are good news for GNU/Linux...

When a computer using an open source OS like Chromebooks can be considered a great Mother's day gift, it underscores how far open source software has come on usability for new nontechnical users.

I don't mean that that there aren't any mothers out there that have advanced technical skills, but when you can consider giving a Chromebook to anyone at any skill level it speaks well on how easy to use some user interfaces are on the open source arena. Chromebooks can be the first step to show mainstream users how easy to user GNU/Linux distros can be, and help to bring more people to our side of the field.

Chromebooks can be that missing link that has eluded GNU/Linux to become ubiquitous, and finally take the crown from Microsoft Windows. As such, it would be of great help to the GNU/Linux community at large, specially if Google plays fair and shares the changes it upstream improve the OS.

Not only that, by making aware of how easy to use and good GNU/Linux based distros can be, it could be great news for other distros by sending some users their way. By giving users an easy way in to an open source OS, supported by a company like Google with all that implies, much of the distrust and uncertainty about adopting a GNU/Linux based OS could be dispelled. With that, other distros like Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu and SUSE can have a bigger chance of being adopted by users that have needs that aren't covered by a Chromebook.

If the Chromebook's OS, Chrome OS, was offered on its own for users to install on hardware they already have could magnify the beneficial impact. While Chromium OS is offered for download, it would be nice to have an easier way to use Chrome OS without having to buy a Chromebook.

Yet, that Google's partners have started to meet a certain success selling Chromebooks gives some hope that GNU/Linux is on its way to become a mayor player on the consumer OS markets.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Machenike and Linux Mint: quite a nice combo.

I've been using a Machenike L16A  with Linux Mint  as my daily driver for four months now, and I must admit that I'm impressed with how good the experience has been so far. The Machenike was recommended to me by a close friend about six months ago, since I told him that I was looking for a new laptop. He had bought one a while ago, and said that it was a solid machine. Not only that, Machenike laptops were quite a great value for the money since they are significantly cheaper than comparable laptops from the competitions. And to be honest, when I got my laptop i expected to be so, but not to the extent it has been so far. After four months, my laptop feels really snappy and the performance is just great. And since I upgraded to Linux Mint 22 Wilma, it only has gotten better. One of the areas where I see most improvement, in on the Bluetooth connectivity. It connects more consistently with the three Bluetooth headphone I use, and now I can see how much battery the headphones I...
Post a Comment
Read more

Machenike L16A: a great value for the money.

I recently got a Machenike L16A to replace the HP laptop I've been using for about 4 years now, and it has been quite a good upgrade. The value for the price has been excellent, it has really felt like an upgrade. Specially going from 8Gb of RAM to 16Gb. I specially notice the better performance when at work, since I use a remote desktop. I simply don't see as much slowdowns on the same use. Most of the time, at work I've the remote desktop app, Firefox , Thunderbird , Spotify , or sometimes Rhythmbox , open at the same time and having 16Gb of RAM gives the performance I need since at time around 6-7Gb are used. I also feel the AMD Ryzen CPU has been quite an upgrade, since it has more cores and threads than the Intel CPU my HP laptop has. That makes for a better user experience. But, where I see the better user experience is on the keyboard, and display side of things. The keyboard keys got stuck often, making the track pad unusable and characters to repeat themselves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Linux Mint 22.1 Xia: a solid point release.

It has been about a week since I upgraded to the Linux Mint 22.1 Xia,  and it has been one of the best point releases Linux Mint has had in a while. The change that has proven to have the most impact on me, as an user, is the ability to change the power setting on my laptop. I've seen a mayor battery life improvement when I set the power setting to power saving when not plugged in, and one of several hour. It has gone up from about 4 hours, to about 8 from a full battery charge. Other than that, it has been a great point release so far for my daily use. Now, I'm looking forward for Wayland to supersede X11 . And that's why I like Linux Mint, it give a modern OS that only changes things when necessary and it just works. It isn't at the bleeding edge of Linux, but I don't need to be at the bleeding edge. I just need at the system that just work.
Post a Comment
Read more