During their developers conference this past week, Google has introduced a new operating system called Chrome OS installed in ultra-portable laptops called Chromebooks. This operating system only uses the web and is constantly connected to the web. From movies and music to email and word processing, everything is done through the Chrome browser. The concept is great, as you can access all your information from the cloud. You wouldn't have to worry about forgetting your flash drive or forgetting to save your file. And security is great because anyone who steals your computer can't access your files as it is stored somewhere in Google's servers. However, with service providers limiting the amount of data bandwidth for each customer as I have mentioned in my previous post, it is not completely worry free. Customers would have to monitor their data usage. Also cloud computing is not always reliable and secure, as companies's servers sporadically shut down due to maintenance or are hacked by intruders. If you saved your homework in Google's servers and realized you couldn't access it the day it is due because of a bug in the server, then having cloud features would be useless. Cloud computing is becoming more and more popular. However, we should remember to always back up our files to physical locations where we have access to. It will be interesting how customers would use and adapt this new concept of Chrome OS as convenience does come at a price.
Video intro of Chromebook:
