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This seems weird to me seeing as they could have used Chrome OS. I imagine it's because this will be marketed as a touch screen laptop though.


I'll never get ChromeOS. An Os where you cant install anything is useless. Want to use webapps? use a browser,at least on Android I can develop "native apps",run background processes. Tell me what can do ChromeOS that Android cant do? All google services are on Android.


> Tell me what can do ChromeOS that Android cant do?

Boot up fast. Never get malware. Never get bogged down by a process running in the background. ChromeOS is the OS-level version of "Worse is better". The ultimate "just works" zero-maintenance device. Android keeps demanding more and more hardware to stay performant, ChromeOS is comparatively light.

That said, I'm always surprised that Google maintains 2 OS's (plus their internal Goobuntu distro). Remember that Android wasn't really suitable for this until Android 4 - no landscape mode, no Chrome browser... even now, Android's home-screen looks rather ugly in landscape since the app icons are terribly spaced. I wouldn't be surprised if they'll be looking to discontinue ChromeOS as Android gets better features in that space.

The big failing is that Android's app space is fixated on touch, and reaching out to touch a laptop touchscreen sucks.


>The big failing is that Android's app space is fixated on touch, and reaching out to touch a laptop touchscreen sucks.

If Google has learned anything from the launch of Windows 8, it's to keep touch/non-touch operating systems separate. Even if they occupy similar form factors, you still can't expect a unified UI to work well.


After using a Surface Pro, Windows 8 began to make sense. Still I don't appreciate the lack of Start Menu in the desktop portion of the OS, fortunately Start8 compensates that nuisance.


I think it can be done, but you have to start with that goal in mind from day one and keep all your application develpers held to that goal. The Win8RT platform avoids the legacy baggage of the main Windows desktop OS, and most users say it succeeds quite well at being a good netbook/tablet OS.


This. I am absolutely not interested in a touch screen on a laptop.


I've felt the same way -- it makes more sense to have ChromeOS on phones / tablets, which are intended to always be connected, and put Android on laptops which are sometimes connected.


> Tell me what can do ChromeOS that Android cant do?

Go check out the benchmarks, Android still doesn't have a desktop-class browser.




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