Life Support: Chrome OS: A platform with potential, but also room for improvement

Okay. A couple of years ago, I bought a new-fangled type of laptop called a "Chrome book". By now most people reading this should have some idea of what I am talking about, as now they sell them in most electronics retailers, but when I got mine, it was not as mainstream of a concept, and I had to order one through Amazon (before they implemented their sales tax policy). In short, it's a laptop with an enhanced browser for a GUI (graphical user interface) and a Linux command line (an interface that only involves typing) Back-end (or "guts" of the software).

When you first set this thing up (or do a system restore), like any modern Operating system, there is a short series of dialog boxes to assist in the setup of the user interface, such as time zone, number of users, and network connection. Fine. Then it checks for updates, and, unlike Windows, it will seamlessly do this without hogging system resources, and only requiring a simple restart, which is actually nice, because, I've done updates on Windows,and it's a notable pain in the butt, because restarts will most likely take minutes, not seconds, plus, unless you have a network shared drive, and a Gigabit Internet connection, Windows updates are notorious for bottle-necking your Internet connection speed.

Next, you will be dumped into the Chrome "desktop", which contains the Chrome browser, a customizable wallpaper (as of one of the most recent updates) and the Chrome App Launcher (which is now available for you suckers that are stuck using Windows--and yes, I am one of them).

From here, you can change the background (with a right click--methods will vary, depending on your hardware, so check your documentation carefully), launch "web applications", (some are awesome, others, not so much, but again, hardware also affects performance), and customize other features of the OS. Now here is where you have to be careful, because if you have the Chrome browser installed on another computer and you are logged into both copies of the browser, then all of your apps and settings will copy over to the next device you log in at, which, can make or break system performance over time, even though Chrome OS has no major footprint or “Windows-style” registry environment.

Now, if you did not initially log in when you set up your Chrome book, then changes that you make to it will not take a permanent effect when you shut the machine down, so be sure to take that into consideration if you do not use Gmail for your email.

Another thing: I've heard rumors that you can root this thing and set up another Linux distribution on it, and I have seen detailed instructions stating such allegations, but thus far, I have studied these in great detail, and tried them to a tee, but thus far, I have not been successful in my attempts, so try this at your own risk. Just make sure that you follow rooting directions that are specific to your Chrome device.

Overall, though, you can do most basic things on a Chrome book that you can do on a Windows PC (except maybe picture and video editing, but again, those results will probably be dependent on the build of the individual machine, and there are web-based alternatives to MSPaint and Windows MovieMaker, such as Splashup – (http://www.splashup.com/) and Pixorial, however, alternatives such as these have left me feeling slightly disappointed, yet hopeful for vast improvement over time. I don't feel that the fault lies in the Chrome book itself, (although it does lack some Java support), but rather in the infrastructure of existing internet connections and the speeds thereof.