Google Chrome OS on Every Netbook in Every Classroom
Image from wired.com
Google made a key strategic move this week by announcing the existence of Google Chrome OS, which focuses on optimizing the user experience for those of us who “live on the web.” You can read more about the official announcement on Google’s Blog. Google’s new OS will be resources conscious, while easily working on x86 and ARM based systems. Simply put, it will be able to work on a vast amount of devices that are currently in our classrooms today, and those projected for the future.
Google also announced partnerships with multiple netbook vendors, so we should be seeing devices pre-loaded with Google Chrome OS in the not-too-distant future. The question I have is: How will the prices of netbooks be affected? One might assume that they will become “that much” cheaper, since the netbooks won’t be bundled with an OS that requires a license of any monetary value, but we’ll just have to wait and see. A post entitled, “The Google Chrome OS: Why You Should Care” further explains how this partnership between Google and hardware vendors will get the netbook back to the role it was originally intended to play.
If you read my post about the Google Wave, and how it has great implications for the future of education, you might have noticed that I’m pretty excited about what Google has been doing during the past few months. The announcement of the Google Chrome OS is equally as exciting because, like many aspects of the Google Wave, it will be open-source. This means we’ll have access to freely-distributed applications for our netbooks and other devices that can be tailored to fit our needs.
That sounds great I’m sure, but how can we be so sure applications will be developed that benefit our students and educators? The answer is simple, actually. Most free, open-source applications are developed to meet a demand; so if there is a call for education-centric, open-source applications that run on Google’s new OS, expect intrepid developers to meet that demand. It’s very important that you combine your voices, and tell these developers exactly what your needs are in the classroom so that they can create the necessary solutions.
2 Comments
Bruce
Thursday, 9th July 2009 at 10:43 am
I appreciate being interested in Open Source software and cutting edge technology. But why install an OS that will prohibit use of 20+ years of educational software written for Macs and Windows?
Joe Corbett
Thursday, 9th July 2009 at 12:08 pm
Bruce, I totally understand what you are saying, but there are some things to consider here. The first is that this development is in sync with many moves around the tech industry specifically the one that has us collaborating in cloud computing environments, so creating the perfect physical package to operate as a cloud user was a logical step. Just from that perspective it is exciting to see how these developments will impact education not to mention every other industry.
The next thing to consider are the financial barriers school districts face when trying to make today’s technologies available to their students. The model that uses netbooks and open-source software is far more obtainable than one that calls for massive IT contracts that require expensive annual upgrades that cause compatibility issues year to year.
10 years ago I was well on my way to becoming a huge tech consumer both personally and professionally. I was lucky that I came from an environment that afforded me access to those tech gems such as Adobe Photoshop, Windows 95-98, and office 97. Not every student is as fortunate as I was growing up, in fact few are so as a result the tech literacy gap grows wider. Inexpensive netbooks and open-source software seek to smash those barriers and as a result these student will be better educated and actually prepared to take on the jobs of tomorrow instead of the ones from 20 years ago.
Leave a Comment