Skype For Web Beta Coming, Half-Baked For Chromebooks

[scolaner]

Skype for Web has arrived (in beta), and it promises to let you make voice and video calls and conduct IM chats in your browser. However, support for Chrome on Chrome OS is still only half-baked.

Skype For Web Beta Coming, Half-Baked For Chromebooks : Read more

 

[js_72]

Who cares, nobody is using Chromebooks. Why waste time on the 0.001%?

Btw, I have yet to see a chromebook out in the wild

 

[r3dl1n3]

The funniest quote in the above article was "Chromebooks are pounding Windows PC market share"

Really? I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair. Thanks for the laugh

 

[tman247]

Well, lots are using Chromebooks actually. I'm typing this on one for a start. They actually do what they do extremely well, and I've see plenty 'in the wild'.

It's still early days for ChromeOS, but Chromebooks *are* trouncing all over WIndows sales, especially in the education sector. Schools love them. They're affordable, secure, and as most things are now web based, perfectly suited to the task in hand.

 

[kapitalistas]

Well, lots are using Chromebooks actually. I'm typing this on one for a start. They actually do what they do extremely well, and I've see plenty 'in the wild'.

It's still early days for ChromeOS, but Chromebooks *are* trouncing all over WIndows sales, especially in the education sector. Schools love them. They're affordable, secure, and as most things are now web based, perfectly suited to the task in hand.

i wanna see how students read books from CD on your chromeee.no offence im just saying.

 

[alextheblue]

It's still early days for ChromeOS, but Chromebooks *are* trouncing all over WIndows sales, especially in the education sector. Schools love them. They're affordable, secure, and as most things are now web based, perfectly suited to the task in hand.

Hey you're RIGHT! Schools always did have horrible, horrible taste in computers. Never once did I ever sit down in front of a school computer that wasn't junk. Best of all they probably paid a hefty premium above retail price, as usual.

 

[Steve Simons]

The school I manage technology for (started last month) has well over 100 chrome books. We are doubling our number in the coming month. Other schools in our district (the largest in MN) are doing the same or more. They are definitely out in the wild. There is a simple beauty in the Chrome Book, even with its limitations. Obviously the best aspect is its price.

 

[Steve Simons]

Alextheblue, the school I work at runs a mix of Chrome Books, year-old i5 imacs, and macbook airs. Though I'm not a huge fan of managing Apple (I'd prefer PCs 9 times out of 10), I would not categorize any of those machines as junk.

It is quite difficult to manage cost vs. student access. With set budget dollars, the push is to always maximize the quantity of machines even if it is as a detriment to overall quality.

 

[falchard]

I am pretty sure it would be Google snubbing Microsoft in this case. One thing Microsoft does well is port their products to many platforms even if it would be a detriment to their own services. This gives Microsoft a firmer foothold in the market that even if one pillar falls they still have things to fall back on. It maintains Microsoft's dominance in user base. It increases revenue.
Look at Microsoft Office. Despite it making other OSes more viable in the workplace, they still offer it on Mac and Linux because it generates 5% more revenue on the product.
On the other hand Google has been rather closed when it comes to offering competitors access to their android and chrome platforms. Google knows that Microsoft's flexibility and privacy put Google in a bad light while strengthening Microsoft's position. It only makes sense for Google to prevent Microsoft from taking such actions.

 

[EasyLover]

Support for every platform should be provided regardless.

 

[rob8129]

I'm a tech in a school district that has over 1200 chromebooks (with a ton more on the way) and I have to say that our instructional staff has really taken to these devices. I think the main factors are that they do what they are supposed to do very well and the tie in to Google Apps for Education is very instrumental to their use. I have started to see a big shift in the use of Gmail and Google Docs/Drive in place of our email and MS Office suite. These units work well for the education sector and are much simpler to admin than a traditional PC. In fact, when our state did a test run of our SBAC testing, all I did was spend 30 sections making the SBAC chrome app a kiosk app in the Google Apps admin panel and all of our CBs had it on the next reboot. It took our techs a ton of work hours getting the PCs ready to run the SBAC program. I'm tired of hearing people bash CBs, if you want to play high end games, get a high end desktop/laptop, if you want to run Abode Premier, do the same. For basic web, email and doc creation, you cannot beat the bang for the buck. For us education IT guys, these things are a cost effective and efficient way to get computing access to our students. Again, if you don't like CBs, don't use them, but don't bash something you don't completely understand.

 

[rob8129]

seconds, not sections

 

[Flying-Q]

I have a display in the shop with 5 variously spec'ed laptops and one ChromeBook. One out of every three notebook type sales is a ChromeBook