I have since read that others have had this same surprise as their notebooks have arrived.  There was no advanced notification to expect the notebook and no emails with tracking information, etc.  So, the surprise factor just makes the entire experience all the more exciting.

So far, the laptop and OS live up to the expections I had based on my reading.  The laptop is almost instant on to boot.  It is graphical from the first moment it turns on.  It was very quick to get up and running – just 4 easy steps to set it up.  The laptop also includes both wireless and 3G data connectivity.  Once started, you’re prompted to connect to the Internet so that you login with our Google account.  You snap a quick picture of yourself using the integrated camera and then you’re all logged in and ready to work (or play).   Your GMail, calendar, Picasa web gallery, and all other Google Apps are instantly available to you.  All changes you make on the Chrome OS are automatically synced to the Google cloud, including bookmarks, themes and extension.   I have even noticed that these settings are replicated to my Chrome browser on Windows and Mac.  Sync takes no extra time or thought.  It is certainly handy and it is enabled by default in Chrome OS (in Chrome browser for Windows or Mac, its a feature you must enable).

After using it for a while, I can say, its made a believer out of me. I can see it as a viable laptop for several group so people.  And, I’m not just saying it because I received a free laptop.  But, I can say it may not be for everyone.

Several years ago, I made the GMail transition for my primary email and I found myself slowly, over time, using my Apple Mail desktop program less and less and using GMail’s web interface everywhere I went.  I became accustomed to it and it did everything I needed from my email – sometimes even better than the desktop programs.  So, I was already well prepared by having my email in the Google cloud.

I also began using Google Docs after their introduction and I have found myself using Microsoft Office less and less – primarily because I can share my Google Docs with co-workers and family as we create content that we need to share.  Anything I have created in a Word or Excel doc was ultimately for record keeping or number crunching for a project (like my home build) or for our family (like medical expense tracking).  All of these documents are really useful to be shared with my wife in real-time.

I bring those two points to the table to say that many people have not made the transition to the cloud for all of their primary applications and for them, Chrome OS may not be viable.  Google even states on their website that Chrome OS is for “for people who live on the web“.  (Check out the link to take their quiz to see if Chrome OS is right for you.)  Its not going to run any other local programs except those that run from the cloud or inside of a web browser.

For a recreational or occasional user, I can certainly say that this is an excellent choice for a computer.  For someone who wants to check email, who wants to Facebook and who wants to surf the internet, this is an excellent appliance.  I choose the word appliance because its a single purpose device – to use the Internet.  I also say its perfectly suited for a recreational or occasional user because it lacks the complexity of Windows, which I find to be a huge burden on most PC users.  It also lacks all of the complexity of a Mac — yes, Macs can be complex, too.  There, I said it.  Chrome OS is a very simple Linux implementation that does its intended purpose very well.

As a matter of fact, as I was riding home that evening using the 3G network for the first time, I quickly came to the conclusion that this would be the perfect thing for my mom or my aunt who mentioned wanting to buy and have me help her setup a computer (yikes!).   DSL is pricey for my parent’s (very very rural) area, so its not worth a subscription for their occasional use.  I have usually relied on dial up while there, but most recently we’ve been forced to use extended family member’s DSL when we needed Internet while visiting.  But for the first time, I think the CR-48 is a great choice for them to use – with bundled cellular wireless.

I also think that its an excellent travel laptop for almost anyone for a couple reasons.  First, you don’t have to worry about confidential data being lost on the laptop.  If you lose the laptop, all your data is safely in the cloud.  You can even require a password to wake from sleep as a extra level of protection.  A remote wipe or even “Find My Chrome Notebook” feature, similar to Apple’s “Find My iPhone” feature would be a welcome addition, but would require a GPS.    The second reason is rather simple – the hardware of the Chrome notebook makes it perfect for travel.  Its small, lightweight and has integrated 3G wireless inside.  Plus, the occasional traveler can use the free, bundled 100MB of data per month on their trips.  For a trip where you need to do more, Verizon Wireless is offering a $9.99 per day option with unlimited data or a montly 1G, 2G, etc. packages you can pay for in additional to your 100MB of free data.

Some things I have not tried, yet due to lack for time.  I need to try and load  photos into Picasa Web using the CR-48.  I am not sure if the notebook will recognize my camera or my SD cards – so that is a test to be done this weekend.  I also need to get Google Cloud Print setup at some point.  Right now, I’m all Mac, so Cloud Print is not an option for me.  I do like the way that Google is setting up Cloud Print.  It is bundled with the Google Chrome browser.  [What other things should I test?  Please leave comments...]

From my couple days of testing, I am able to watch flash video online (even video from NBC and CBS works well) and the performance of the laptop is fantastic.  The solid state storage is great and provides nearly instant boot and instant on from sleep.

A little reading online indicates that the chipset inside is actually compatible with UMTS/HSPA wireless networks also – like AT&T (or my primary workplace – HTC).  Apparently, the code for the GSM network is not fully baked, but I hope this means we will be able to eventually use it on a GSM network.  There is even a place to insert a SIM card underneath the battery.    One could hope that maybe I can experiment with that with AT&T in the future.

Apple introduced its Apple TV in September of 2006 and has since labeled the device a “hobby,” since it has not been an overwhelming success.  Apple wanted to leverage its iTunes Store for delivering TV shows and movies and using the Apple TV to access and view that content on the wide screen.  Apple relied on its Mac OS X on a relatively weak Intel processor to deliver a rather elegant set top box, connected via HDMI (while it was a relatively new interface) or component video jacks.  It also offered surround sound connections and wifi connectivity to other iTunes libraries.  The device was fairly progressive, but limited to only Youtube for video content outside of iTunes (unless you hack it).

In my opinion, one reason that traction failed with this device is that most people didn’t want to buy TV shows to own, when they could watch them for free over the air.  Too, many people didn’t want to buy and wait for a movie to download to watch it.  I know there are relatively few movies that I buy to own, though I am more of an audiophile than videophile.

Even earlier, Microsoft developed an interface to Windows for its Media Center PC’s.  Those too failed to gain much traction in the market, and although it was a special version of Windows at its inception, it has been relegated to a feature in many version of Windows 7.   In the same concept as Apple, Microsoft sought to leverage the existing library of content in the media folders of Windows users.

All the while these TV-specific computers were being developed, NetFlix began launching immediate viewing capabilities for PC and Mac online in addition to their via-mail DVD subscription.  The streaming IP delivery of movies has garnered a lot of subscriptions and is a growing success for the company.  Add to that the launch of Hulu and many TV networks own video streaming services and there is a growing amount of content available, for free or as part of a subscription, to IP delivery.

Hulu, for its part, is now experimenting with a $9 subscription that allows high definition streaming for users who want that.  The programming retains its advertisements, but the quality of the video is much improved from reports that I have heard.  Hulu also created a desktop application – Hulu Desktop – which allows direct and full-screen access to hulu.com content from within a desktop application.

Attempting to grow on this success, Google has announced the Google TV, which is a custom Android based software to run on set-top boxes or embedded in TV sets.  It connects users to these IP media repositories, like Youtube and NetFlix and allows users to stream their content directly to the TV.

Netflix also partnered with Nintendo to bring streaming to their game console.  I have also seen a number of DVD players with embedded NetFlix software allowing for streaming.

I expect that Apple will make a similar announcement of a service and/or hardware offering similar to the Google TV.  In the meantime of a direct announcement, the latest version of the Mac Mini desktop offers an HDMI port, which now allows Netflix, Hulu Desktop and iTunes/Frontrow directly on the set top.

And, I think its an important point to make that none of these services are live streaming services.  They are libraries of video that can be accessed anytime and on your own schedule.  In the same way that the DVR has changed live satellite or cable TV service, these IP libraries are offering new flexibility to vast libraries of video.

Honestly, this is a scary proposition for me – because I see a lot of innovation and new competition for the company I work for.  HTC happens to also be a cable company.  What is good about all of this is that it will ride on IP connectivity.  So, hopefully this will allow my employer to sell nice, big Internet pipes to offset our losses in cable — hopefully, I say.

A couple weeks ago, a close friend of mine announced that he was disconnecting his cable and opting for the $9.99 Netflix subscription and video streaming from Disney.com and other websites for the TV shows that he and his family wanted to watch.   This reminds me a lot of the same mass exodus from land-line telephone that has been occurring for the past several years.  It will be interesting to watch how things continue to play out.

My friends and I have created a few waves and now that the novelty has worn off, I’m left with the question of where this fits?  Its not instant messaging, per say, and it is more collaborative, but I’ve found it frustrating (perhaps because of a lack of friends on Wave) to try and carry on a conversation with someone in Wave.

But, I recall being the same way with GMail when I first got access to its beta program.   Early on, I despised the conversation view I now love in GMail and I couldn’t understand why Google would launch a new chat – as if I needed another one.  But those things quickly became assets to the platform that Google was building.

Wave is largely a re-think platform.  It is exciting that it can be extended and built upon to bring new tools to the table.  The playback feature is a good one that allows for all the communication to happen on the server and be stored there.  It is a convergence for email and instant message.

What is great about the hosted message platform is it removes the need for transport – the biggest problem facing email today.  I think that moving forward, a hosted conversation may be a much better way of communicating, but at this point – its only hosted by a single provider.  The beauty of email is that everyone can host their own or outsource their email server.  And if one goes down, the rest of the system survives.  Its architecture is distinctly different than Wave.

But Wave offers the opportunity to define a secure and verified transport between Wave providers.  Google seems to be supporting this to become an open standard for the world to use – not a closed system which Google controls.

And while discussing transport, regulation has become a major issue facing email today.  From HIPPA to SOX, government regulation now dictates how information can be disseminated.  A newly architected platform over secure connections could provide a much needed alternative to the largely insecure email used today.

So there is a lot about the system which offers promise, but it is different animal all together.  I can see how this could converge into Google Docs and offer similar collaboration that word processing, spreadsheet and presentation documents offer in that silo.    I can also see how this could neatly fit as a secure email replacement.  I’m interested to see what other think or envision for Wave.

1) Music – we’re a world accustomed to iTunes and buying our music online.  Where will that fit?  How will it — or simply will Chrome OS handle media files?

2) Video – Sure, like music, what about video playback?  YouTube is great, but there aren’t any video editing tools online as part of YouTube – you have to somehow capture and piece together your videos.   I’ve never encountered an online video editing software (yet…).

3) Gaming – Sure EA is making some of their games available online and it is generally accepted for game consoles to have online portals to download games – but how will Chrome OS accomplish this?  Will it shy away from this on its underpowered hardware ?

4) Photo editing  - Sure, Google has Picasa, but will it be packaged with Chrome OS?  It has Picasaweb, but its features are currently very limited and its space is also.

What else am I missing – I’m sure there is more…

It is a natural extension of the cloud platform that Google has been developing for years, and an evolutionary step for Google.  Until the introduction of Chrome, the browser, Google was largely at the mercy of third-party browser developers.   And while it shocked many that Google introduced their own browser, it made sense to control the main interface to their products and to be able to control that experience.  Apple has used the same, successful model in their business controlling the end to end of their user experience and its garned them a lot of success.

Google hails Chrome OS as a lighweight, open-source OS alternative.  Its key focuses are speed, security and simplicity.  Those three factors may put it well above the Windows learning curve, where viruses and malware are a major headache, speed is laughable (at least in the Vista releases) and the interface has grown disparate and confusing.

The product announcement indicates that the OS won’t be available until second half of 2010, and that may be its biggest hurdle.  That gives Microsoft and Apple a year to develop and beat Google to market with devices which fill this area.  And that is perhaps the biggest head-scratcher.  Linux is there and there are current windowing environments which could be leveraged to quickly move this project to market, so why take until 2010 and also why give this much pre-warning to your competitors?  Several reports I read yesterday hailed this as doomsday for Microsoft.  Time will tell.  Others said this won’t affect Apple, but that’s hard to believe too.  While Apple seems largely uninterested in netbooks – the inital target of Chrome OS, its hard not to think that this may apply to larger form factors.

I can’t help but think how similiar this really is to the old mainframe days and green-screen terminals.  All the processing is done back in a datacenter somewhere and just the screens are being piped to the user.  Everything is cyclical and here we go again.  I guess the big difference is that now processing is done on clusters of every-day hardware instead of multi-million dollar, monolitical machines.

Another byproduct of the announcement is the close working relationship of Apple and Google.  Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, even sits on Apple’s board of directors.  It is hard to see who this isn’t and won’t become an even bigger conflict of interest for him.  I think his days on the board are probably numbered.  And as smart as it was to include some killer Google apps in iPhone form, the decision to keep Microsoft compatibility and even Yahoo (hey, the got push email) in the iPhone looks smarter and smarter on Apple’s part.

Consumers are the clear winner from this, however.  Google has a long history for creating great, free software and supporting it with ad revenue driven by its core search service.  With that business model, the OS will likely not be much more than a browser and maybe a couple other applications and the web being the star of this show.   This is a clear departure from Windows, Mac OS X and even Linux desktop OS’es of today.  The timing is good too, with the advent and popularity of netbooks.  Telecoms are looking to bundle their internet service with netbooks and push the same subsidized hardware/internet service combination we’re accustomed to with our cell phones.

That’s not to say Chrome OS won’t face some problems.   Apple tried a similar approach when launching the initial iPhone.  One year later, they back-peddled and introduced native apps because customers were unhappy with the Internet only applications currently available.  They longed for the offline and native speed interactivity of applications.  But a netbook is a different form-factor than a phone, so it may work better for this type of device.

Even though Google is now taking control over its destiny in regards to the terminal used to access its services, its now going to be at the disposal of the network provided with these netbooks.  Sure, WIFI connections will be speedy, but Google will face similiar problems with wireless internet via cell networks that Apple and other hardware vendors face.  And, mobile internet isn’t fully baked in my opinion.  There are still lots of areas without service throughout the country and places where the service available is doggedly slow.  Its an adequate trade off in an emerging market – the mobile internet service will eventually get better.

When Google Gears first appeared, I asked myself, why’d anybody want that?  What does it buy you?  See, I can’t imagine the world without Internet – its always close by for me, but not everyone is that way.  I can’t say I really understood fully until this weekend.  My wife and I have been discussing building a house and so all our spreadsheets with potential scenarios are in Google Docs, so we can share (talk about its killer feature, right?).  Well, sharing is great, but we hadn’t had time to talk about some of the scenarios I’d put together.  See, I am the geeky numbers one in the family and my wife confessed she really didn’t understand what she was looking at…  So, we had an hour’s car ride Saturday while traveling to go see the circus with our daughter.  Enter Gears.  

I enabled Gears in Firefox on the Mac, let it download my documents (which it did quickly…)  and off we went.  With no Internet connection anywhere in sight, we were able to pull up and make changes to the spreadsheets that were created online and really use them as if we had internet backing it the entire trip.  It was great.  And, on top of that, when we were back online, the changes sync’d and all was online too.  Very very cool.  

What Google has managed to do is really create a wonderful Microsoft Works replacement online.  Granted, its not as full featured as Office, but its got more than enough features for the everyday home user.  And the ability to take it offline (for someone on dial-up — like my parents) or someone traveling, is huge.  And think of this, the update to the latest, greatest isn’t a $49.99 or $199.99 CD away, its a quick internet connection away.  The download is much faster than any comparable ‘compiled’ software package. 

But I also mentioned Gmail, right?  Several years ago, I left a not-to-be-named ISP which resembles a Loony Tunes character to become a company man, subscribing to my new employer’s internet service.   My biggest pain was switching my primary email which I’d used for many many years over to a new account.  I chose GMail.  I had had my GMail account for a while at this point and it was sitting there pretty idle.  It was cool and it was Google, but it didn’t get much use.  That changed.  I switched all my online accounts over and slowly but surely, it became my primary personal account. 

Up until about last November, I kept Apple Mail as my primary email client.  I left it open at home and used GMail’s wonderful IMAP implementation to keep my two mailboxes sync’d.  But, there were times that Apple Mail didn’t play nice and messages might still be showing new at home that I’d ready earlier in the day at work.  So, I slowly stopped opening Mail, because it’d gotten too painful to wait for the initial sync when I got home.  Instead, I’ve found myself relying on GMail’s excellent web interface for everything.

I’ve gotten GMail setup to check my other POP accounts, bring those in and label them accordingly.  I can send “from” them as well, which is nice.  And really, GMail’s web interface is as strong as a desktop app at this point, and there are tons of features that a desktop app doesn’t have – including chat, tasks, SMS from chat, Twitter via the TwitterGadget, etc.  

So, I’ve enabled Google Gears and offline access for Gmail at home too.  I think its a much better solution for my laptop and for the times when Internet isn’t right there with me.   I’m interested to try this over my s-l-o-w EDGE data plan and see how well the sync works now that Gmail doesn’t need to download the entire Javascript application.  I’m looking forward to my next time traveling.