This article has participated in the activity of “New person creation Ceremony”, and started the road of digging gold creation together.
Invited by an old friend to write.
Because of my busy business, I often run a lot of engineering code, and at the same time, I have to do my homework and watch videos, along with the share screen, which makes my notebook squeal. Finally decided to buy a new laptop.
Let me talk about myself before I talk about computers. I am very efficient and hate loading. Now I am studying abroad. I don’t have big computer needs. I don’t play big games. I don’t edit videos. However, due to study and work reasons, it involves a large number of code development and other programmer requirements. Listed, the daily technology, probably as follows:
- Academic requirements: hypertext editing, markdown/latex, note-taking and homework. Occasionally there is a need for Office documents, such as table organizing, Slide making, etc.
- Technical requirements: javascript-based technology stack, including front-end Web development, NodeJS, etc. Of course, a code editor (sublime/vscode/atom) is also essential.
- Entertainment needs: Not so much gaming, mostly watching videos and reading articles.
When I asked about the need for such a computer, a friend suggested a Chromebook. This time I got a Google Pixelbook Go, Intel I5 + 8GB. I am more familiar with software, computer hardware is not very understanding, intuitive impression is: light, very good, keyboard and Apple’s keyboard without delete key (serious impact to write code/crazy, why not learn from Microsoft home), although the screen is touch screen but not high-end sufeixiang, but very convenient to bring. I don’t want to talk about what I don’t think is clear, just talk about what is clear. Therefore, the title of this article is ChromeOS, and I will mainly talk about the system and software level.
Main conclusion: Absolutely vary from person to person. To me, incense! At the same time because of the heavy reliance on Google services, domestic friends or do not use.
Biggest advantage: Fast. From the principle of not beyond fast, fast to do not speak the truth.
Some friends would have said:
“You this new computer of course is fast, the thing that installs is much, slowly become slow!”
“What did you say? Again?”
“It’s getting slower!
“No, the last one.”
“There are so many things installed…”
“Installation? What’s that?”
That’s right, here we have to explain some of the principles of ChromeOS. Chrome OS currently runs three types of software: Browser-based WebApps (which include chrome plug-ins by default), Android Apps, and Linux apps. The latter two, while seemingly outrageous, provide more options than you really use (sometimes debugging and Linux operations). The main learning work is achieved through WebApp. What is WebApp? Essentially a web page that runs online and offline using a variety of advanced browser technologies (which IS what I do). For those of you who are surrounded by various apps from major manufacturers in China, you may not understand how fragrant WebApp is. Let me give you a few examples: Open the browser to access a link to use word like text editing, Excel like table manipulation, PPT like slide creation, you no longer need to worry about forgetting to save, because offline status documents cached in the browser storage, online status documents automatically synchronized to the cloud, this is Google Doc; Open your browser to another link that lets you chat with your friends (Discord/TG/Slack); Another link and you can write an article (Stackedit, this article was written right here); Latex (overleaf); You can even write code and debug it…
“Why do you need other software when you’ve solved all this in the browser?”
“That’s right! That’s the heart of ChromeOS. Since browsers can do more and more things with more and more webApps, and even have a better experience than traditional apps as browser technology evolves, why not just ditch the traditional apps and turn the entire computer into a giant browser from the OS level?”
A very realistic example is this: You want to turn on your computer and go to Station B to watch a video. How long does a traditional computer take? With the best Windows and MacOS startup speed of the era of this article + login system + open the browser + click on the home TAB (assuming you visit frequently) + login station B speed, the fastest 20 seconds? This? Pro test, open the computer + login system + click B station + login B station, about ten seconds more. If you’re using YouTube, it only takes five seconds, because when you log into ChromeOS, you’re automatically logged into all Google apps, saving you a password. There’s no need to start the system with a ton of services, no fancy runtime to start, no bootstrapped software, just a browser. What can a browser do? unbounded.
“File storage?”
“Not only local storage, but Also Google Drive.”
“Apply updates?”
“Like I said, no apps installed, no updates! Internet status, open is the latest version”
“Personalization?
“All synced with Google services, even my Sofie’s Chrome browser history.”
“Voice assistant?”
“Come on, come on, there’s really no one who doesn’t know about Google Assistant, which is one of the three most powerful voice assistants in the world, right?”
From Google Chrome (the best browser in the world) to ChromeOS, the performance of browsers has improved dramatically, and the good design of modern browsers, such as Sandbox, can make the most of it. Compared with the traditional operating system, security and stability is stronger, flexibility and speed is nothing to say. Modern browsers use Service Worker, indexedDB and other technologies to realize the offline running of web applications, which automatically solves the problems of traditional software installation, update, runtime confusion and error prone. More importantly, it’s a great convenience for developers. Those of you who do development should have the impression that the web development field is minimally concerned with platform compatibility and various low-level dependencies, allowing developers to really focus on the application itself, rather than obsessively compiling and running the application.
Because webapps are relatively young and the software ecosystem is not perfect, ChromeOS kindly builds android and Linux apps to help users fill in the functional areas not covered by the traditional platform.
ChromeOS’s Achilles’ heel: the Internet. Although more and more mature browser technology allows Web applications to run offline, but the effect is not good, after all, the lifeline of WebApp is the Web, when there is no network is very painful! But I believe that with the establishment of various high-speed Internet channels, there will be fewer and fewer dark corners of the world that cannot be covered by the Internet.
Another problem is that, for the sake of economic benefits such as user stickiness and user flow, many large domestic and foreign companies are shortsighted and forcibly bind users to traditional apps. Some do not provide web version applications, and some even deliberately hinder the development of Web services. (Take your seat by yourself, hope for improvement)
I sincerely hope that more advanced hardware and software technology can make human life more convenient, so that the transmission of data more smoothly.
Update: Almost two years old and really comfortable! (I do web and PWA)