A personal computer that serves only as a channel for external resources can be a dream or a nightmare depending on how it look.
The modern version of this concept, materialixada in a line of devices called Network Computer, usually without local disk, with little processing power, low cost, essentially serving as an interface between the user and computer resources that reside "on the network," is dated corporately 1996, when Oracle (with partners like Sun and IBM) tried to get her take on the market.
It was a time when many of us had computers at home, the commercial Internet in Brazil was a recent phenomenon, and many of us dreamed of the performance gain we could have if we could upgrade to a dial-up modem of 56Kbps.
But large companies already had Internet connections (at least the local networks) higher speed, and at that time the idea of Network Computer (like Acorn Netstation 1996, shown in photo above) had no basic assumption of the connectivity Internet - Local servers were a strong focus.
At the time, the idea itself was not to revenge, by several factors - including lower prices of hardware components to assemble a complete computer - and ended up retiring at the turn of the century, although predecessors (like terminals) and competitors (as thin clients) to flourish today.
The news comes in waves
But if Oracle's dream not come true at the time, the idea of transforming the end user's computer in a simple interface to features available in one central location also has not died.
The exploding popularity of Internet, nurtured and fostered an expansion of the speed of typical connections, led to a situation where many services that were previously stored and processed on each user's computer started to be increasingly offered via the web.
The so-called "cloud applications" are now viewed with ease even by people who have already spent some time trying to make trouble Trumpet Winsock (or minicom in Linux) to dial your ISP to get an Internet connection to 9600 bits per second (or much less than that - I've got connected to the internet making long distance with a 1200bps modem ...)
In short, we ended up at a time when the web browser is the main operating environment viewed by many users, and in some cases to be the one.
The Chromebook is heir
And at this point we just saw last week, the presentation of Chromebook, which can be viewed alternatively as the heir or the reincarnation of the Computer Network 15 years ago - especially when we consider the coincidence that Eric Schmidt, Google CEO during gestation of the new product was CTO of Sun when the Network Computer idea was being conceived there.
The Chromebook is a computer optimized for mobile web, and built (for various partner companies Google - the photo below is from Samsung) to be a window to the Internet through Google services.
All your interaction occurs within or around the Chrome browser, and even user login occurs through your account in Google, although there is increasing steps to allow web applications (like Gmail or Google Docs) can continue to be worn if the Chromebook goes offline.
At the core of your being, it runs the Linux kernel and various other free software, but these are not configured in the usual way, which would allow the user wide range of options: the whole system is set up to serve the option already chosen by Google, offer a specific environment, simple, single, watertight (at least from the front door inside, as they say).
There are almost endless opportunity to change course, but it occurs within the browser window, accessing the Internet - or given a way to reinstall the operating system, to transform a simple netbook Chromebook in common.
Managers, users and you
From the business point of view, the proposal that Google has brought to the corporate and educational managers looks pretty good. For users, it can be observed (and we can only do it properly from the next month), but do not doubt that many see this solution in a positive way and tied in a nice package.
Personally, I have used netbooks for months without needing anything beyond the browser - and sometimes seeing what was there beyond the browser as a hindrance to my productivity. But when something unexpected happened, it was nice to have local applications, the possibility of a local login, local storage and the ability to operate without connection.
I'm curious to try a Chromebook to see if he leaves occur in practice the same demand, but my curiosity is how the greatest wide range of end users will react to it - here and abroad. My impression is that the niche that you'll appreciate the advantages afforded by limited functionality offered by the device is considerable, but we'll see a lot of noise every time some "opinion leader" trip over the restrictions.
One thing is certain: the market (producers of hardware, software and content distributors) is heading in this direction, toward the "Network Computer of the 21st century." My question is: is that this title will be won by reaching Chromebook, or it will be one that will approach without reaching, opening the way for a better future product that appeals to consumers?
