[jhoff80]

Anyone else besides me try the VMware image? As far as I'm concerned it's pretty useless. I'd rather have a real OS and a browser for GMail than a Chrome OS netbook.

One of Chrome's key advantages is startup time, but with hibernate or standby, it doesn't actually make that much of a difference.

[jhoff80]

And the really funny thing for me is that I'm perfectly fine with an entirely web-based OS on my smartphone (a Palm Pre) but could never do it on a computer / netbook.

[Carnifex]

Originally Posted by jefito

It's a fair assumption that the firmware and browser will need to be updated at some point, don't you think?

Right, I am not a luddite, I like the Internet, in fact I like gmail and google docs. All I am saying is I would be uncomfortable with my personal computer being dependent on a 3rd party with whom I am in a position of weakness with.

[T-Keith]

I tried the VMware image on Virtualbox, but encountered an error. Not sure why. For all those who want a full OS, keep in mind even Google says this will be mainly for a companion device. I could definitely see it becoming more and more useful as time goes on. This would be perfect for my father, no OS to learn only a browser. I've got him using Ubuntu with firefox right now, but things like taking pictures off his camera become difficult for him.

[fatty bacon]

Originally Posted by Carnifex

Doesn't this defeat the purpose of the cloud ? If all my documents are being stored locally, how is that different from what I am doing now ?

Google Gears synchronises offline and online versions automatically. I imagine offline Google Docs only stores locally recently edited documents. GMail offlines the last 1000 emails (I think), including a mix of recent and older most 'looked at' stuff. It works for me. I've not had the urge to install Open Office or Microsoft Office on either of my two netbooks.

Originally Posted by Carnifex

LOL, My computer is very usable without the Internet.

Really? Mine isn't, everything on it is connected to the net. I would like a web version of Picasa that allows a decent level of editing, though I see www.photoshop.com seems to cover the basics and allows logging in to Picasaweb/Windows Live Gallery/Flickr. Coupled with Google slashing the cost of hosting your photos ($5 for 20Gb a year!), I'd be happy to cloud it all (as long as I can synchronise with my NAS too)

[Carnifex]

Originally Posted by fatty bacon

Really? Mine isn't, everything on it is connected to the net. I would like a web version of Picasa that allows a decent level of editing, though I see www.photoshop.com seems to cover the basics and allows logging in to Picasaweb/Windows Live Gallery/Flickr. Coupled with Google slashing the cost of hosting your photos ($5 for 20Gb a year!), I'd be happy to cloud it all (as long as I can synchronise with my NAS too)

With no Internet connection, I can;

I can listen to MP3's or music CD's
I can watch videos or DVD's
I can read ebooks
I have several games I can play
I have OpenOffice so I can work on my great American novel
I have Gimp so I can remove the red eye from all my vacation pictures
I can write code in a variety of programing languages

Honestly, the more choices available in OS's the better and I hope they eventually do a full blown Linux distro as well. I just don't think cloud computing is the future.