I really wanted a thin client for PowerPoint presentations on the road, but I don’t foresee building websites from a hotel room in Denver. I got an OLPC XO because it was the first one out, but the SUGAR operating system baffled me. Then I got an Asus, but their custom linux wouldn’t update and I sent it back with an RMA number. Then I got an Acer Aspire One (AA1) with Windows XP and an Atom processor and got into the Chrome game.

Google wrote a whole Chrome Book, well, comic-style book that explains the technology effectively. The term “chrome” refers to all the stuff displayed on the screen that ISN’T the web page. You know, like the buttons, the URL, the search box, etc. This is not a problem on the big honkin’ screens I use for web design, but on the teeny-weeny netbook screen, real estate is at a premium. And Google Chrome has the least “chrome,” giving me the most web page for the money. The Google Chrome browser is clearly designed for netbooks.

We all kinda hoped that Android would work great on netbooks but, well, netbooks are not Class 5 switches. As fabulous as Android is, trying to force a lightweight, efficient telecom stack to ALSO work as a personal computer is like… well, trying to make a Formula One racer carry cargo.

Google decided to create Chrome OS as a new project, separate from Android. The Chrome Operating System, running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel, is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. Both Google Chrome OS and Android are linux, and there are areas where they overlap, but Google funded the Chrome OS project separately because they believe it will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.

Google is working with several netbook manufacturers using both x86 as well as ARM chips, with an eye to providing software for computers that will do their computing in “the cloud.” That is, use the lightweight netbooks to access programs that live on Google’s servers and using Google Docs and similar services to create business documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

A friend recently asked me which netbook to buy and I suggested that if she can wait a few months, she can get a dual-boot system that will offer EITHER Windows or Chrome OS in the same machine. That would give her maximum flexibility to create documents when she is on the road. Her work would live BOTH on her machine and in her Google Docs account or elsewhere on line, giving her an automatic backup system. I think this is the wave of the future. What do you think? Let me know your thoughts in a comment…

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Chrome Browser or Operating System?

Marc Andreessen spoke about how technology would help existing institutions evolve to be more responsive and more effective.  Online newspapers with immediate updates vs. newspapers, and a new kind of online financial services that would erode expensive credit card companies by supplying more reliable transactions with fewer losses.  The new banks would not need as much real estate or paper so costs could be lower.

Shoppers know that they pay the same price whether they pay by cash or credit card.  Few shoppers understand that the merchant pays as much as 5% of the transaction to the bank to process the credit card.  That cost is passed on the to customer.  New forms of electronic banking could squeeze out the cost of credit for shoppers who have the money in their account.  A new bank can verify that the funds are available for immediate transfer, BEFORE approving the purchse.  No credit is extended, it’s more like using your ATM card everywhere.  Transaction costs can be much lower, and risk is much lower.  This adds up to savings for the customer.  What do you think?  Please post a comment.

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The End of Credit Cards?

David Carr of the New York Times tells us, in The Media Equation, of how Obama tapped into social networks power.  The Web innovators in the Obama campaign did not invent anything completely new, Mr. Carr observes.  Instead, they mashed-up social networking applications and created a way to raise money that helped them topple the legendary Clinton fund-raising machine.  Ultimately, they leveraged it to organize locally and fight Republican smear campaigns.  Read more…

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How Obama Overtook Hillary

Andreas von Bechtolsheim is resigning as chief architect of Sun Microsystems to focus on Arista Systems, a start-up that is challenging Cisco. Arista’s new CEO is Jayshree Ulla who led Cisco’s $10 billion corporate switch business. They are going to make the world safe for cloud computing. Here’s what the NYTimes has to say.

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Sun Heavyweight and Cisco Honcho join Arista