Google 'in talks' over Googlenetbook

Google has been in talks with at least one hardware manufacturer about a Google-branded Chrome OS netbook, according to internet rumor. And it only stands to reason. We now have the Googlephone. Why not the Googlenetbook? Citing multiple unnamed sources, TechCrunch says that the Mountain View Chocolate Factory has sent an RFP …

[Il Midga di Macaroni]

Obvious way to subsidise

The obvious way to subsidise the cost of the hardware would be to have a banner ad at the bottom of every page served. That's a LOT of ad impressions, even if people only use it for half an hour a day.

Hopefully Google don't go down the path of getting the very cheapest possible components, I'd like to see some real quality in the hardware.

To really capture the market's attention they'd need some amazing new piece of technology and useability - I don't want to see a simple rebranding of some other manufacturer's netbook.

[Chronos]

Sounds like a shoe-in...

...for the now "defunct" CrunchPad, seeing as TechCrunch seem to know all about it. Or maybe I'm just seeing conspiracies again.

[Don Mitchell]

Thin clients, meh.

I'll look forward to not buying that! Having experienced the misery of timesharing in the 1980s, x-terminals in the 1990s, and broadband downtime in the 2000's, I will stick with my desktop PC.

[vincent himpe]

It's like a tv manufacturer saying :

Buy our tv set, so we can feed you ads we get money for ... and when you look at the program guide we will suggest programs to you ( of coure the one that get the most ad revenue fur us we will put at the top)

oh, and you can't store any data locally. so we have gone back to the mainframe eras of the 60's and 70's... only with smart terminals..

no thanks. i'll stick to a normal computer, so i can access my data even when not on-line.

[jameshopkins]

Its a netbook!

I think you guys are missing the point a netbook, or cloudbook isnt supposed to replace a desktop/laptop for all people, it is in addition to, for just browsing web etc, which is what the average user does 90% of the time!

[sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD]

On first impressions on what they are saying...

Don't want chrome.

I mean... why _buy_ a linux that restricts you to a browser with all kinds of hurdles etc....

The netbook however.. humm... hmmm...

If the netbook is cheap and well built (Asus we're looking at you) and decently spec'ed out or _can_ be decently spec'ed out... might be interesting just to buy it to try and chuck chrome out... Hack it, if you know what I mean. Can't be that difficult or so I am imagining given it boots linux anyways. Can't imagine they'd spend too much time and $$$ trying to lock it down...

Be fun to do...

Especially if it's a non-x86... Just for fun of course.

[frank ly]

More details needed

"...it will only run on a flash drives, and not traditional hard drives."

If it will only boot from a flash drive, I see no problem with that, since flash drives of adequate capacity are heading for a reasonable cost. The question would be, 'can it interface with a hard drive?' and the implication seems to be that it will not. Is this the case?

What about USB drives and network drives? So many questions.................

[Matthew Collier]

If the hardware is really cheap...

....who cares about the locked down GOS - super cheap hardware plus "proper"/normal install of you favorite flavour of Linux will be just the ticket...(and the chances of an onboard 3G modem sound likely, which is handy, in a Netbook)

[Jon 21]

I'd have a couple...

...to leave kicking around the house for a bit of gash surfing; same as I do on the iPhone now. Quick boot is the key and as the big G seem to be really keen to nail that, sounds that they're thinking of it in the same way.

Use as my main PC though? No thanks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Thin Client

Where google is the sysop? No ta, it's *my* computer, I should be able to do what I like with it.

[Mage]

GoogleNetbook, no it's a GABBLE!

Wrong name.

It's a Browser Appliance. A portable Internet Kiosk. Not a Netbook. If you want to add applications or save data or work without a connection get a real net book.

I name it a GABBLE.. Google Aided Browser Book Lightweight Electronics. A suitably stupid and meaningless acronym for the Chocolate Factory that can't spell Googol.

Suggests use of meaningless Web2.0rhea chat sites and an already in use name they can be sued for like Android, Cupcake, Éclair, Flan, Nexus and the like as anyone that buys this for real work rather than Web2.0rhea is a cupcake too.

[Adam Salisbury]

We already have these

Surely almost all red-blooded men with a notebook by definition already owns a GooBook!

[Nerd King]

Google being a bit too expansionist?

Is there anything they're not trying to own? Seriously, Google are getting too damn big for their boots. Frankly they're worse than Microsoft.

[Pandy06269]

Agree!

Hear, hear.

I have a Google phone (actually a HTC Magic but it's branded as Google.) But I'm seriously considering changing when the contract runs out because Google are starting to own too much, like you say.

I can't even sync my contacts, calendar etc to my main PC without going through the Gmail rigmarole first. Granted, I couldn't on Windows Mobile either, but at least my data wasn't stored on Microsoft's servers, it was on *my* PC.

[Lars]

The GPL!

Will be interesting to see if Google will comply with the GPL when using Linux.