Do you think ChromeOS would exist or be succesful if Windows was lightweight & easier for sysadmins to manage?

[Oneechan69]

I've heard a lot about why to use ChromeOS over Windows, I think its two things that made it successful (especially in education):

• Its much more lightweight than Windows, faster and much higher battery life.
• Much easier for sysadmins to manage many Chromebooks.

If Windows had those before ChromeOS existed, would it be as appealing as it is or was? Personally I don't think so.

 

[radow]

At the time Windows could run on crappy netbooks like Eee PC, and while ChromeOS management is more “streamlined”, one could argue Windows isn’t that bad.

I think the biggest factor would be Microsoft completely lost the war on Web and mobile.

 

[doanchu]

I've heard a lot about why to use ChromeOS over Windows, I think its two things that made it successful (especially in education):

• Its much more lightweight than Windows, faster and much higher battery life.
• Much easier for sysadmins to manage many Chromebooks.

If Windows had those before ChromeOS existed, would it be as appealing as it is or was? Personally I don't think so.

Well, the problem is that Chromebooks don't have a longer battery life. For the same price, Chromebooks are inferior compared to Windows laptops. Chromebooks aren't cheap, and indeed, you have very limited options when it comes to Chromebooks compared to Windows.

 

[maflynn]

• Its much more lightweight than Windows, faster and much higher battery life.
• Much easier for sysadmins to manage many Chromebooks.

Comparing an operating system that came out in 2010 to when windows came out in 1985 is not a fair comparison. ChromeOS could very have the same level of bloat and extra code in it, if it was released 40 years ago, well before networking, internet, viruses etc.

Its easier for sysadms to manage, because chrombooks does a lot less. If all you need to do is run a web browser, yes its much easier, but for an enterprise application with a large diverse population whose seems to have infinite variation of tools, applications, permissions, and computer configurations - not so much

 

[MiniApple]

Going by the recent reports Google is working to make Chrombooks into "Androidbooks", going from ChromeOS to Android so to speak, thus giving users access to apps and more.

Microsoft could (and should IMO) have issued a similiar lightweigt OS.
But it's the repeating tale of them not seeing it trough for multiple reasons - most recently it was Windows10X that never launched on Andromeda, aka the Surface Duo that eventually had to ship with Android, because the Hardware was build and the Software cancelled or not deemed good for release.

Supposedly Microsoft is - again - working on a more modular WindowsOS which consists of a modern core/baseOS + OS/Function modules that you (or the device manufacterers) can pick and choose to make it a good fit for certain tasks and devices.

Examples: From leigthweight "ChromeOS like" to a "Gaming Edition" for PC and Conole Games/Launchers to many things between to a ful on Windows Legacy backwards compatability (what we have now).

 

[maflynn]

Microsoft could (and should IMO) have issued a similiar lightweigt OS.

They have tried and failed - Windows 10 S, Windows RT for example.

 

[jackson6]

I think ChromeOS is pretty good, not as good as MacOS, but better than Windows, I even use a Pixelbook Go myself: