Google, you’re doin’ it wrong.
December 7, 2010 95 Comments
Today Google announced it’s anticipated and awaited laptop computer. Equipped with Verizon 3G internet access, it’s being called a netbook. This machine will not run Windows, or Apple’s OS, it will run Google’s very own software: Chrome OS. Or is it Chromium OS? I have no idea – I haven’t sorted through the crap to figure that out.
From the little that I, the average consumer, can gather at this point there are a number of things wrong with Google’s entire approach on this.
First of all, the event was hardly publicized. Only tech journalists were allowed in, there are a few pictures of the presentation floating around the internet, and there’s no real official place to go for a full recap on this. Where do I go to learn about Google’s news? Google.com? The Official Google Blog? (Yes, Google’s Official Blog is a ‘.blogspot’ blog. I think they own Blogspot and all but c’mon…why not just GoogleBlog.com?) Or maybe I should check one of Google’s 5 or 6 YouTube Channels? There was not even a GMail note sent out to GMail users.
And while I’m complaining about the lack of press on this front, what about the Google Nexus 1, Android OS, and other Google related news? Would it kill Google to have a centralized place from which to address the world with all this fake branding nonsense?
It’s a very clear principal, Google; consumers need to understand you. They need to understand your products, and they need to understand your company. What kind of company is Google? Advertising? Mobile Software? Search? Cell Phones? And now they make computers too.
Google has no identity.
When you have a behemoth such as Google putting their business, employment and money in all these areas the perception is that none of them are really being taken seriously. We get a sense that Google is just kind of messing around with its massive amounts of spare cash to try things out, make cool stuff, and see what happens. I mean…Google Labs? Cmon. How many freaking web apps can you guys make?
Y’know Google, just because you make some cute little icon to represent a new web app, browser extension or idea you’re trying out doesn’t make you pioneers in simplicity. We just end up with a thousand cute little icons. And the bottom line is, the average person has no idea what most of these things are.
In regards to the Chrome Notebook, check out this video.
First of all I must say that from a design perspective, this notebook looks pretty plain and boring. It’s certainly not a stretch to call it ugly. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.
Essentially what Google has done is remove the desktop, and self contained storage management from the laptop. Wow. I’m stunned.
There are a million things I find so amazingly stupid about the above video, but I’ll only mention one.
Near the end, our friend Ryan tells us that when we’re done using the notebook we can just close the lid. Then open it again to resume our work right where we left off. Has Ryan been living in a cave? Will he next teach us how to type, or use a trackpad?
Frankly, Google, you can take your Chrome Notebook back to the lab and do some work on it. It’s a joke. You removed anything that could be done outside the browser and called it something new. At the end of the day anyone who has a browser installed on their laptop, already owns a Chrome Notebook.
Cloud Backup, you say? If Google wants to back up all the data on all my hard drives and make it all work anywhere I go, that’s great. But they don’t. And if they do, they haven’t told me that yet. And we’re back to square one here.
Honestly this product launch has only convinced me to not recommend Android OS to anyone until you get your act together. Google, you’re doing it wrong.
UPDATE: Google has posted video from yesterday’s event on YouTube. It’s in 4 parts. Guess we’ll see how this goes…
About Justin A. Watson
Finally Hear 
Actually Chromium OS is developed on the linux kernel. So it is actually a modified version of what you call linux
I can honestly say I had no idea Google was coming out with a laptop computer. I am completely baffled by their advertising approach. Why would you not make your intended audiences aware of your product?
http://www.runtobefit.wordpress.com
“Honestly this product launch has only convinced me to not recommend Android OS to anyone until you get your act together”
Please don’t mix up Android and Chrome OS. Android is a completely polished phone operating system and Chrome OS is Google’s misguided attempt at a computer OS.
And yes, Android phones have hard-drives and SD cards, so no not everything is in the cloud.
I’m not mixing them up. I’m making a half serious comment on the fact that Google has separately branded itself out in different directions in such a way that they have no clear mission. For example – what about Android and Chrome OS working side by side. Can we sync our Android phones with Chrome OS? What about syncing an Android phone using the Chrome browser? The browser could be like iTunes for Android! But Google is too segmented to really push hard in that direction.
The idea that I wouldn’t recommend Android because of Chrome OS is really a joke – in that they are so separate it would hardly make sense to do such a thing. I don’t think you got it.
Well they were already pushing out in that direction with “Chrome to Phone”. That’s kind of a strange new thing though, syncing a web browser with a phone. They’re the kind of people who like to release something small, make sure it’s correctly working, and then add on top of that.
But I feel like the post is a little.. I feel like you sprang too fast. They didn’t advertise because it’s not DONE yet, those laptops are test models. They like to keep things tightly under wraps until it’s completely done.
Notice we didn’t hear anything about the iPhone 4 until that guy left it on the bar stool. Google is actually more lenient than Apple considering they invited the press to see the test models. But Apple doesn’t release anything until their.. How ever often annually they have their meeting thing.
Dude, relax and take a breath!
First, the Google’s new netbook wasn’t widely publicized because it hasn’t been released to the public yet! It’s only been sent out to developers who are meant to test it to be sure that it functions the way that Google intends it to. You can’t get much information because you are not the target for this particular release.
Second, finding information about Google products is dead simple. Take the name of the product and… Google it! The official Google information will be the first result in the list.
Third, your complaints about the look of the netbook are your opinion – I happen to like the stealth black look. Some people will like it, some people will prefer the look of Macs – there is no way for Google to please everyone.
Finally, choosing not to recommend Android OS simply because you don’t like a completely unrelated product is just plain petty. That would be like me refusing to recommend WordPress simply because I found a blog on it that I didn’t like.
Please read my blog description. I’m not going to relax and take a breath – I’m going to speak my mind.
Please Google ‘Google Chrome Notebook’ and look at the results. If you think that’s simple we have conflicting definitions.
Yes the complaints are my opinion. Telling someone ‘thats just your opinion’ is a huge cop out…in MY opinion….
I’m really not that serious about not recommending Android…
Thanks for the comment.
Yeah I think that joke… Wasn’t the best..
You’re absolutely spot on: This is a classic example of a company relying on the quirk of its brand (and really, it’s not all that quirky) to sell its product.
It’s more about pretense than substance, and some of us out there are paying attention.
Thanks for this post. Of course, I recently did an entire post on my Google pagerank (I held the #1 pagerank position for “sh!t divorce” … above Tiger Woods’ ex wife … yay me!), but Google needs to do more to speak to the masses than rely on crazy algorithms and ugly notebooks.
Thanks for reading!
Hmmm…hope google sees this and make amends
I like Google’s approach to marketing. They are shrouded in mystery. Like the Dark Crystal.
Haha very nice angle. I guess that’s one way of looking at it.
I’m in complete agreement with you. Google should stick with one or two things and try to be the best in those areas. Getting into whatever market they can isn’t going to work. I think that it will hurt the overall quality of the company in the end. This laptop is stupid. Is there a firewall? Can you still get viruses? And I don’t think I would choose Picnik over GIMP for photo editing, especially since GIMP is completely free. I also don’t want a bazillion apps for various tasks. If this laptop was offered to me, I’d pass.
http://tehcatspajamas.wordpress.com/
Well said! I certainly hadn’t heear about this, but then again I’m blogging from Haiti. And congrats on being freshly pressed–happened to me yesterday! Way to go!
Thanks!
As a Googler myself I never used the product till now,but this must be a good platform for the netbook segment
google is killing personal life of everybody by connecting everything together, making personal life miserable. I sometimes thought, google is taking everything from us, and giving just numbers on our hand. what the heck is this. people will be tired like you one day, as they lost freedom. Google is recording everything, for nothing.
Justin – You are right, it was not publicized I never even heard about it. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, despite it sounding like it wll be an epic fail for Google.
Blessings,
Ava
xox
i agree
i believe that google is trying to overthrow apple in everything it does. some can be good but some can be terribly bad.
http://enjoibeing.wordpress.com/
You hit the nail on the head with google has no identity. As they are “branching out” from the being “just a search engine” they do need to develop a better and more well defined brand identity. The laptop looks well… old fashioned even before its out of the gate…
agreed on the old fashioned front. Thinking of Google in terms of a brand is nearly impossible these days…
Did you see the test iPhones before they released? They were ugly too. The point is for people not to know what it is, so it’s less likely to get stolen and they don’t get any unwanted press coverage.
Also, a lot of the netbooks look like that.. Only the Sony Vaio and the Asus ones are “pretty”. The other ones are hideous..
I guess they’re keeping their options open 😉
This is the first I’ve heard of Google having it’s own computer. I find it surprising that with so many connections to consumers, Google chose not to use any of them for advertising or informing. Although Google may be stretching itself too thin, and not really focusing on being the best possible in one area, I also think that they are still experimenting. They are the most used Search Engine, and as mentioned earlier have their own Youtube channel, and email. It seems to me that they want to branch out and see what else works, and to keep their name fresh because so many other companies are coming out with new products. I have to agree though, that they didn’t do such a great job on promoting or even creating an original product.
google does nothing wrong! nothing! haha, congrats on freshly pressed!
http://dearexgirlfriend.com/
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I like where “Ryan” and Google are headed, but I think they need to adapt to the Google consumer more, rather than trying to change the way we use computers. This reminds me of the iPhone. In some ways, it’s simplified, but you have to learn the simplified system (which I found complicated, and at 23 years old, made me feel like an antiquated geezer). @enjoibeing: Looks like Google’s trying to overthrow Microsoft, too!
http://www.cassiecares.com
Google can come out with whatever they want, but like everything else, I am afraid that it will not be able to compete with Apple and its iPad and the iPad 2 that will soon be coming out in April 2011. Apple does an excellent job at advertising its products, and although there is a lot of blog talk about upcoming products, like a CDMA iPhone, what Apple does promote, they promote well. So, it is a concern that a major company like Google would not advertise such a product.
Agreed. You say Apple does a great job advertising – I agree and think that it’s really not that hard to do a good job. Everyone wants to know about these new products, all you have to to is present them in a clear, straightforward way. Google has failed in that area. I didn’t even mention Google Wave. Wave was hardly even off the ground before they canned it. They expect everyone to just jump on their bandwagon of question marks.
thats right :0
That Google empire…
Vanessa Rima
http://www.fashionissima.com
Thanks for sharing your wonderful sense of humor. I laughed so hard as its the sort of humor the eye of the beholder needs to show the deep pockets. Thanks! Congrats on being on the front page or I would have never found your wonderful sense of audience. Refreshing!
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O wow this is very funny! Gotta love competition in the lap top industry !
Very sarcastic and negative feedback. Almost seems like you are working for the competition and posting your opinion on technology you haven’t even researched. Google has always seemed to do things non-traditionally and they are still doing great. I guess time will tell if their strategy, or lack of, will work.
I’ve researched it about as much as most Google’s primary customer base ever has, and that’s the point.
Uh. Do not want. Chrome, as a browser, sucks. This doesn’t sound any better.
What a worthless rant.
“Google has no identity”?
Give me a break. Google DOES have an identity – it is an innovator. And guess what business strategy fits really well into an identity as innovator? You guessed it, its “messing around with its massive amounts of spare cash to try things out, make cool stuff.”
Your ideas might have a bit of merit if you weren’t slamming a company that has created a smartphone OS that now has a larger marketshare than the iPhone. And guess what? There are plenty of analysts and bloggers out there who think that the cloud is exactly where the personal computer market is going. That’s what innovation takes – being ahead of the curve, and taking risks.
Get real, man.
None of this has anything to do with creating a well defined and understood brand for Google in the midst of everything they’ve been doing lately. They’ve done amazing things, that’s for sure. But somehow the concept of a centralized brand escapes them. And if you ask me, that deserves some ranting.
The Android line of phones is poised to compete with iPhone devices in the mobile web market place the way Windows based products competed with Mac during the 1990’s. Windows is coming in with too little too late to join the Smart Phone revolution.
Google’s profits exceeded $2.2 billion just in the third quarter!!! CNN gets Google: http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/14/technology/google_earnings/index.htm
Of all the dot com’s that hit then crashed in the late 90’s, only a couple went on to become multi-billion dollar corporations into the 21st Century. Google and Netflix are the prime examples. If billion dollar quarterly profits – QUARTERLY PROFITS – comes from doing it wrong, I wish I was doing it wrong.
eh – I don’t think large amounts of profit = a well defined brand. They just mean large profits.
Where do you go to learn about Google News? Did you even try using Google to answer that question? They have 50+ blogs dedicated to all their products and projects. They have a site dedicated entirely to NEW products: http://www.google.com/newproducts/.
What kind of a company is Google? A technology company. A technology conglomerate. Many, if not most, people now associate Google with the internet itself. That’s the kind of power most brands can only dream of. That’s the power that Ma Bell once held with respect to communications, or Microsoft used to have with respect to the computer.
Your understanding of Google, Chrome, and Chromium is rather appalling. The Chrome OS (and reference netbook that was announced yesterday) are not really aimed at B2C customers—it’s B2B. That’s why only tech journalists were there. Google is trying to get OEM manufacturers and developers excited about Chrome OS. Excited about the prospect of $99 netbooks.
Google is all about information and ad targeting. The more information they have on a user, the more targeted ads they can sell and the higher a premium they can charge for those ads. What better way to harvest information than having an users every input get recorded?
First of all the 50+blogs they have are part of the problem. There should be one.
Associating Google with the internet itself, and calling them, simply, a Technology company is an interesting argument. It’s evidence of how broad the company has become. I guess you could say that I think their brand – if it is as you say – is so broad that it’s difficult for the average person to fully understand. And in my opinion, that makes for a rather lame, boring, albeit astronomically successful company. It’s difficult to get excited over Google’s progress because of this. If a developer can get excited, that’s fantastic. That’s why they’re developers and I’m not.
All this B2C stuff is true – you’re right. Google cares very little about the C.
I’m sorry I appalled you.
One blog? For one of the worlds largest companies? If Google had one blog it would be updated constantly and make sense to nobody.
Google is best compared to a conglomerate like General Electric. A massive company with a distributed portfolio. Can you tell me what GE does, outside of “everything”? Or Siemens? Honestly, I’ve never seen a company as large as Google do such a good job with branding.
You ask most people what GE does, and they’ll say something like, “washing machines,” despite the fact that GE hasn’t actually made a washing machine in 20 years—they just sell the licensing to other companies.
The GE comparison is a good one and I agree to some extent. The difference is that when I see GE on a product, I trust it. Google doesn’t invoke that reaction with me. They have their hands all over the place in an experimental, BETA kind of way that doesn’t lend itself to a rock solid sense of trust – which is the function of a brand. It feels like every time they introduce a new product or feature, they’re testing it out, or trying to gain traction. Understand that I’m not saying Google is actually going about business the wrong way. I just think theres a lot of room for some really strong, simple branding in their business that isn’t invested in because they are already so successful. I will also say that we saw glimmers of this kind of branding with Nexus, and Android. I think this is a good direction, but I’m not sure they do.
I really hope Google can make some design changes to the exterior of this. I was so pleased with their Android platform. Would hate to see this pull them down a notch. Great post! Congrats on FP!
As my business major friend just said on reading this article and the comments:
“Who cares if they have a ‘well defined’ brand? If they are making profits, that’s the point!”
I have to agree. What’s the point of criticizing a successful company for not having a well defined brand, when the point of having a well defined brand is to make profits? They are succeeding in the basic purpose of a business: to add value and make a profit from the value that they add.
The more and more you clarify your argument, the more it seems like you are just saying something entirely arbitrary and in the end totally useless. If their new computer is a good product, it is going to sell, precisely because google has advertising reach and brand appeal. It doesn’t matter if the brand is ‘well defined’ – people will still want to know about their products.
Like I said before, get real. You harp on having a ‘centralized brand’ but are totally oblivious to the fact that they have profited so tremendously precisely because of that lack of centralization – not in spite of it.
Yes it’s arbitrary and useless to everyone except an average consumer.
I harp on having a centralized brand the way you harp on this argument.
Sure if it’s a good product it’s going to sell. No one is saying it wont. But I am saying the average consumer sure isn’t going to go around calling it by the ridiculous name they’ve given it. People will call it a google notebook, or a chrome notebook or something like that. Would it kill them to just CALL the thing something like that? Do you really think the decision to call this notebook what they did came about because of a philosophy within Google to not centralize their brand? It came about because they don’t CARE about centralizing their brand. The same way that I don’t care that it’s a successful company – the point still stands.
I’m a fan of compromise, so I’ll compromise and give a little just like you did.
Your argument stands to the same extent that it is altogether immaterial and meaningless even if it is true. Google will market their new computer the way they will – they will succeed or fail based on whether the product has merit in and of itself. Whether their marketing experts decide to market the way you want them to makes no difference – they are profitable, they will market their product, and information is available to those who take two second to google it.
Wow, isn’t that crazy? Google has somehow marketed themselves in such a way that they have turned their brand name into a verb.
You’re right. Terrible marketing.
Did you think I was trying to change the world by publishing my opinion?
I guess to be clear, I don’t think there is bad marketing going on as much as there is a lack of branding. And that astonishes me. I’m sorry if you think the Google brand is something that’s clear, easy, and rock solid in your mind but it just isn’t in mine. So what?
Marketing =/= Branding. These are two different fronts. The brand is always independent; something does not need to have a great brand behind it to be successful, make lots of money, and be popular. I’m not making that claim, though everyone seems to think I am…
And on the other side of that, I don’t think success just earns you a great brand. It earns you success, which is good enough, I guess.
I think for networking its probably great!
Okay. Where do I start? So, I read the blog, and I was upset with Google, too! I mean, I would like to know when to get the cool new stuff!!! SHINY! But, then, I clicked the link to the Google Blog site, and then it all made sense. The notebooks are completely beta material! Google already explained WHY the notebook has no design: it’s a test comp. What do you need pretty designs for if the laptop is not for normal use. Google needs TESTERS and that’s about it. They don’t want the vast majority to know about the notebook yet, because it’s still in beta form. Geez. Where did you get your information from, dude, because Google seemed very straight-forward to me…. Although I do have to admit the video is slightly on the slow side of town…
It seems, to me at least, like the majority of this testing could be done internally. And releasing it in this odd hardware beta like this I just find – um – odd. The fact that they’re putting out this product (do I even really call it a product) in this manner is just strange to me. It’s not done – why give it to ANYONE? I just think its a weird way to do things. But hey – what do I know?
In the long run, I guess because it’s just a new thing for them it makes sense they would do something out of the ordinary like this. I understand where you’re coming from. Yes – that video is embarrassing…
Thanks for reading!
“It’s not done – why give it to ANYONE?”
Uhn…. to test… and get user feedback I think? That’s not why people ask other people to use something that is not ready yet for free?
And releasing it in this odd hardware beta like this I just find – um – odd. The fact that they’re putting out this product (do I even really call it a product) in this manner is just strange to me. It’s not done – why give it to ANYONE?
Yeah, thay should’ve just left it on a table in a café instead…
that sure would have been more exciting
Well when you test things internally you’re pretty biased. Also, the frustration of people not knowing how to fix the problem actually ends up being useful to you as a company because people will report most everything that goes wrong with it.
Say you’re a Google developer. You’re using the netbook and all of the sudden it locks up, turns technicolored, and the picture on the screen flips upside down. You’ll go “Oh shit… Better look at the code”. Considering that’s a very, VERY strange problem, you’ll probably spend a lot of time working on it. Then you might forget to report when the screen froze at lunch earlier, or last week when the mouse was just suck in the question mark form.
But other developers? Well they might try to open up the code too, but they’ll be annoyed with having to do that. That’s not part of their job description. And they’ll most certainly report it to you just because it was a road block. But they also have absolutely no idea how your product works on the inside. They’ll either look at the coding and: get confused, break something else, or fix the problem. Operating systems are much more complicated than browsers, so the most likely outcome is the first or second scenario.
What if they do break it? Well then you’ll originally get to square one. They’ll have to “start at the beginning” so someone else can diagnose the problem and then fix it.
What if they fix it? They’ll most likely be a little agitated at wasting their time on something they just want to use. Or maybe they’ll be disappointed that their new toy required tinkering. In that case they’ll report it too.
It’s not like external testing is anything new. Name five of your favorite things, be they video games, a cell phone, your daily vitamin, or your cable box. I promise you that they had external testers at some point.
Got this from their blog.
We’re not done yet, but Chrome OS is at the stage where we need feedback from real users. Some of the features of Chrome OS require new hardware, but we didn’t want to sell pre-beta computers. Instead we’re launching a pilot program where we will give test notebooks to qualified users, developers, schools and businesses. We’re starting with the U.S. and will expand to other countries once we get the necessary certifications. To participate in the pilot program, visit the Chrome notebook website.
The test notebooks exist only to test the software—they are black, have no branding, no logos, no stickers, nothing. They do have 12.1 inch screens, full-sized keyboards and touch pads, integrated 3G from Verizon, eight hours of battery life and eight days of standby time. Chrome notebooks are designed to reach the web instantly, are easy to share among friends and family, and simply by logging in, all of your apps, bookmarks and other browser settings are there. Setting up a new machine takes less than a minute. And even at this early stage, we feel there is no consumer or business operating system that is more secure.
So, there you have it. They didn’t publicize it because it is not done yet, and they are actualy gathering user input for finishing it. Also the notebook look is far from final.
I know it is your opinion, but to me your opinion was based on wrong information. My sugestion is that you wait and see, when the OS hits the market, if it is not good don’t use it. Right now it is too soon to form any opinions and that’s why they didn’t make much of an effort to publicize the event.
No, my opinion is based on LACK of information. The way the pilot program was presented was kind of cryptic, I think. All that info is kind of buried in there amongst other things and just isn’t accessible in a quick way. I understand that if you look hard enough you can find info about anything but come on this is the Google Chrome Notebook – should we really have to do a search at all?
I assume when it’s fully released to the public there will be more press. I just find the way they handled this kind of odd, that’s all.
I read this thoroughly but i can’t stop thinking about Google laptop!!
I think I agree with EVERYTHING you just said. Well put! They sort of seem to be trying to do to computers what the iPad did to Apple products. Creating a need for a ew cool quick easy to use computer thingy.
No.. Not at all. They’re completely not the same thing.
The iPad revived a dying market (tablets).
The Chrome OS is adding a new competitor to the thriving OS market and adding one to the flourishing netbook market.
When the iPad first came out tablets were almost completely out of production. There were one, maybe two, companies that produced a serious tablet. But they had clunky interface and spotty performance. Apple set out to change that with their iPad while using iOS to simplify and streamline it.
Netbook sales have been multiplying rapidly. Yes, desktops still outnumber them, but their number in operation is also staying pretty stagnant. There haven’t been significant desktop purchases, and more people are actually “losing the desktop” to go mobile. Most people opt for the netbook because it’s smaller, cheaper (that’s the main thing), operates just as smoothly as laptops, and most people don’t need the “extras” like a DVD drive. Google is trying to jump in to an obviously profitable market by offering something that their competitors don’t, and something not on the superficial level (which is about what netbooks are at right now).
Also, the fact that most everything would be cloud based presents an AWESOME opportunity for netbooks. Do you realize how much smaller it could become? Now I’m not sure if they’ll actually make it incredibly small, since we still need room for two hands, but they could certainly do something interesting with the outer case since there won’t really be anything in there. Just a few wires and a battery. They could literally make a curved indent for you to rest it on your thigh if they wanted to.
Although I don’t think they’ll go too gimmicky, seeing as how they already have their gimmick. But it’s something which sets them FAR apart from their competitors.
So no, it’s not like what Apple did with the iPad. It’s more of like what the Wii did to the PS3 and Xbox. Except without hitting below the belt and targeting children..
Valid point. Hittng below the belt and targeting children can be a dangerous sentence…just sayin’. lol
Yes, Google offers a whole range of applications and services, but not all of them are not for everyone. Try using the ones which will make your life better (like Search, Chrome, GMail) and don’t use the ones which were not meant for you.
Life will be simpler, and you will be left with less icons. And I think this is just a test run for the netbook. It’s too early to rant.
Gosh, I couldn’t even get through the video. It is so boring. You’re right Google Notebook or whatever it is, sounds extremely boring. I like my laptop, don’t see why I should replace it with something so random! I like your sarcastic, incredulous tone in this post! Good job!
Good inputs, leaves everyone thinking about it.
I completely agree with you, I never find out about new Google products because google never puts them out there where Google fans hang out, the only reason I find out is because it has a Google brand on it. I wish they sticked to something, and stopped moving around so much.
The Chrome OS sounds like a good idea… but it still needs work. Basically they’re charing me money to basically use an empty computer with only Google Chrome web browser installed…. yea right.
Your post made me change my primary blog domain to my dot com instead of my wordpress. =)
LOL!
Great post!
Though it’s new to know about google’s notebook, i was thrilled to see the variety of reactions from fellow bloggers on your opinion……….if you have a polling option…may be you could get some number on how majority of the society feels??..Anyway congrats on being FP!.
I haven’t even heard about this netbook, so I agree that the event must have been hardly publicized. Google’s HQ is in California, I live in California, and I haven’t heard anything about this so-called “netbook”
Google news is running, but it doesn’t give you news about Google. Blogs are a place where we should get information, and I think Google should have posted it on their blog.
Add to that the fact that I’m not happy with the fact that Google has taken over Picnik. Ugh.
nice product… 🙂
Great blog. Thanks for providing the information. I was totally unaware that Google is coming up with laptop computer.
I don’t know anything about the specifics of the laptop, but I agree with your general view about Google. When all they had was a search engine they were gold, untouchable. Just about everything since then has been half-done.
Gmail was great at first. For most of 2009 however logging in was like buying a lottery ticket. Am I a winner this time? I was not a winner often enough that I decided to look for a paid email service instead.
Again and again their thinking seems to be: if it’s got the Google name on it, they’ll come running in droves. Funny, isn’t that just the same thinking that brought old technology giants like General Motors undone?
Enjoyed reading the Google article, have a look at a few of mine http://rebeccacraft.wordpress.com Rebecca
Like the way you have put this. Certainly insightful for non-technie consumers like moi.
Congrats on being freshly pressed!
http://www.thisisthediaryofanotmadblackwoman.wordpress.com
thank you!
Hey, don’t worry about the naysayers, like the one above. There’s always someone who’ll knock you down and annoy you. It IS a matter of opinion. Isn’t that what blogs are about? Rant on my friend, rant on…. I’ve had my share of “slamming” myself. It’s nice to get comments, debate a little, but some are so rude.
I look forward to seeing this new Google Netbook. I’m not techy like some people are, but it fascinates me. I’m sure Google had a reason it wasn’t widely advertised.
Great post, and congrats on being Freshly Pressed!
hey thanks
Wife = Samsung Transform
Sister-in-law = HTC Evo
Sister = Samsung Moment
Me = iPhone
Love this article! I agree wholly! Google jumps into these markets and doesn’t fully commit. That’s what I’ve been trying to explain to my wife about her Android. I have an iPhone. When iPhone’s have a problem Apple fixes all of them(for the most part….lol!). When Android’s have a problem you replace them. Because…..well, there’s nobody to call about Android issues, but everyone can point fingers. It’s the hardware, it’s the software, or no……it’s the cellphone provider. Any who, I have way more problems with this Android crap than I can shake a stick at. I’m taking my wife’s phone back to Best Buy today to replace it for the same thing. Hopefully it will work correctly. My sister-in-law is calling me up asking me what I think about these 2 batteries that she is going to order from Amazon to increase her battery, because the HTC Evo battery sucks dirt! My sister, yes MY SISTER is calling me telling me she’s buying some super charger thing for her phone because the battery life is horrific. Dies before lunch. And my wife is having intermittent keyboard issues with her phone and she bought it last week. At this point I’m starting to think Google doesn’t like my family. Advice to anyone —– only buy android devices for people you don’t like or want in hell. Because my iPhone works fine and it’s going on 2.5 years.
Samsung makes crappy phones in general. And of course the HTC Evo is going to have horrible battery life, it’s touting one of the the biggest screens on a cellphone. AND it’s powering all of that on 3G or 4G. 4G will kill anything in half an hour, it’s a totally under developed technology. But I’m sure 3G was like that too when it was first released.
Personally, I have a Droid. And no one has done it better since then. It is totally an underappreciated phone. Although Motorola did something really funky with the keyboard at some point. My Droid has little bubbles on the keys, but my teacher has one and her’s is flat. My keyboard is even nicer than the Droid 2 keyboard. So I don’t know if I accidently got a prototype or something, because no one has a keyboard like mine. But that’s a different story.
I’ve over clocked my phone to 1.5 GHz and my battery will still beat anyone else’s battery life. If I just leave it on a desk all day then I’ll come home and it’ll still be at 80% battery life. If I use it heavily, I’m an avid texter /gamer and I also use the internet a lot on it, then I can still make it all the way to dinner time (8pm). I then charge the phone during dinner and it’s there for me the rest of the night.
My Droid.. Well I got it the first day it came out, so I guess that makes it about a year old. I’ve dropped it down concrete stairs, fallen on it, walked into desk corners with it in my pocket, ran it through the washing machine, and had it slide down a steep, icy road into the curb. It still looks mostly new. There’s a little knick on the pain on the side, but the screen still works and is just as responsive and not scratched. I accidently jammed a pencil into it once (long story..) and there’s a little indent where it hit the screen, there’s a few light scratches from my heavy abuse, and I think I might have made it water resistant from constant exposure, but it’s still fine.
All of that on the best rated network in America =]
Never heard of this until now. Google certainly isn’t doing great marketing…. Plus, the computer looks … fine. Nothing great. Even Dells look way better, and I hate Dells. Of course, in my mind, nothing can beat an Apple computer.
Chrome OS is not new, it was announced sometime back. Other recent stories have circulated where google has defined what platforms Android is targetted for and what Chrome OS is targetted for. Having been a Gen1 droid user, I have to agree with the level of frustration. While not all bad since it pushes the market to compete, it is very hard to commit to a company that does not commit. Simple things like GMail and how long it was considered a “beta”.
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Thank you Justin, for giving me an idea for my next blog. Your post goes to show that even big companies try to take on to much and can really only excell at 1 or maybe 2 things. Being a small business owner, I too have tried to do to many things at one time, and could never focus on making one of them work at it’s fullest potential, so I learned the hard way, and have picked myself up, dusted myself off and now start all over again. If Google can’t do it well then Hell I am in trouble.
Great post, congrats on making front page.
Leila
http://azsbsm.wordpress.com/
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Thats are greate
thanks for the nice post
From a business perspective Google appears to be doing everything right:
“First of all, the event was hardly publicized. Only tech journalists were allowed in, there are a few pictures of the presentation floating around the internet, and there’s no real official place to go for a full recap on this. Where do I go to learn about Google’s news? ”
In terms of development, Google’s operating system is its alpha testing stages. Of course they’re only going to send it to qualified testers and, no the public doesn’t need an email or recap on it because it’s simply a test. Does the general public that uses Google necessarily care about their new OS? I would argue no.
“First of all I must say that from a design perspective, this notebook looks pretty plain and boring. It’s certainly not a stretch to call it ugly.”
Its not ugly, look at any non-Apple laptop, with the amount of stickers and logo work on each, a roomful of laptops looks like a NASCAR race
I’m an all or nothing guy. Go public, or keep it private. This in between stuff seems kind of lame to me. They have the resources to test this internally.
Non-Apple laptops being ugly doesn’t make this prototype laptop non-ugly. I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make. And I don’t think it’s all that much worse than just plain and boring; I don’t call it ugly I simply say it’s not a stretch to say so. And besides that – this is such a subjective thing it’s pointless to even disagree with me – or anyone. I’m sure lots of people think it looks fine.
Anyway thanks for commenting
Well, testing externally will always be better, if you have a thousand people to test, there will be 2 thousand testing externaly.
The notebook is for testing only, so no need to be anything but plain looking.
In the end, I think your post would be spot on if this was an official launch to the public, but as it is, I think you missed the point.
Well, yes what you say maybe true. But have you thought that Google might be doing this intentionally? First of all, they are not launching an actual product if you haven’t noticed. It’s only a pilot program which is kind of same with a public beta. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Some companies, like Apple, like to keep their product a big secret so that it storms the internet. So what if Google give out unfinished products for public beta? It would be a stupid thing to suggest that internal testing is better than public testing just because that was how it was done till now.
Another thing you complain about is how you cannot find enough information about Google’s products and how consumers suffer. There is one thing on my mind about this issue: Google simply might not care. Clearly Google is not a product driven company. I like to believe they do stuff for the attribution it makes to the online community and for the fun of it. And in this case, they are just testing out a new crazy idea they came up with. They might not even want you, the average consumer as you define yourself, to actually buy the product (which you can’t anyways because it’s not an actual product yet). So there you go, another thing to think about.
I personally love how Google handles stuff. And I seriously don’t think they give a crap about their product being the next popular magical device. And the most beautiful thing about that is, it does turn out the be the best product out there.
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