Microsoft Considering Chromebook Rival

Microsoft are reportedly considering a Chromebook rival called the Bingbook. The Bingbook will be powered by a light version of Windows 8.1 with key Microsoft Services, and is intended as a free or low-cost Upgrade to Windows 7.

Microsoft are that desperate to get people to Upgrade to Windows 8.1 that they would go against their anti-Google Scrooogled campaign to get people to Upgrade to Windows 8.1.

Microsoft need to seriously update their web services before even contemplating a Chrome OS rival.

1. The outlook.com web-mail service needs to be brought up to the same level as GMail as it's pretty basic.


2. The Microsoft Calendar within outlook.com needs to be brought outside of outlook.com.


3. OneDrive needs to be brought outside of outlook.com, and have an increase of free storage from the current 7GB.


4. The Office web apps need to be updated to allow direct printing instead of converting to a PDF and then printing at draft quality at best.


5. Internet Explorer needs to be made a little more lightweight to support lower screen resolution and hardware spec of a Netbook.

For Microsoft to make a competitor to Chrome OS they'd have to abandon the Modern UI of Windows 8.1 which I can't see them doing in a million years as they seem to think that it's perfect despite the dismal uptake of Windows 8/8.1.

I can see several catches to the Microsoft Bingbook idea and one of them being having to buy a yearly or monthly Subscription to Microsoft Office 365 once you've purchased a Bingbook, which is fair enough if they make a free version for people who have a Windows 7 Laptop or Desktop that works perfectly fine, but if people have to buy new Bingbook then people aren't going to be too pleased after paying $250 or £149 (based on current exchange rate and the proposed $250 retail price).

Microsoft will then have to suck up to Google to licence Google Cloud Print or develop their own version, as well as tailor the Office web apps for better printing as at present both the free Office web apps and the paid Office 365 versions convert documents to PDF before downloading them and sending them to your printer, and the quality is only Draft quality at best and not suitable for anything professional such as business use and for say job applications e.t.c, and since the largest group of Windows 8/8.1 hold outs are Enterprise users.

This proposal also contradicts Microsoft's announcement of extending the pre-install and support life for Enterprise users of Windows 7. But with the amount of U-turns that Microsoft have done since the initial release of Windows 8 then this proposal wouldn't surprise me in the least.

Conclusion

If Microsoft does go ahead with this proposal the initial release would be worse than the initial release of Chrome OS as Microsoft will probably rush through the initial release to try and claw back some of the money that they have lost due to the poor sales of Windows 8/8.1.

If Microsoft want to build a true competitor to Chrome OS then they will have to create a stripped down Windows 8.1 that doesn't use the Modern UI, and instead go down  the Chrome OS root and build a lightweight Internet Explorer and call it the Bing Browser and build a kind of Bing OS around it with all the apps e.t.c being web apps and browser add-on's as the main selling point of Chrome OS is being that a Chromebook is light weight and portable with excellent battery life. I can remember my first Netbook ( an Advent one, can't remember the model) it had a 10" screen a keyboard that was so cramped it was impossible to use, the battery life wasn't the best and it wasn't that light. It also ran Windows XP when it was more than capable of running Windows Vista, which I then put Windows Vista Ultimate on before installing Windows 7 Ultimate on which it still had on right up until dying earlier this year.

Since then I moved on to an Acer  C720 Chromebook that's lightweight with excellent battery life. It's so light that I carry it around with me everywhere I go even if it doesn't get used.

Microsoft need to take note of Chrome OS if they really want to create a Chrome OS rival, and I think they're going to struggle to get many OEM's on board as Bingbook partners since Chrome OS's popularity has risen in recent months and the Scroogled campaign hasn't done Microsoft any favours. I think that the only realistic way that Microsoft can make a go of Bingbooks is if they retire the Microsoft Surface RT line of Tablets and replace them with the Bingbook line.

The proposition of giving away the Bingbook OS to OEM's or even making it a free Upgrade to Windows 7 is probable all talk by Microsoft as Windows licence sales both to OEM's and through Retail channels makes them money, buy giving the Bingbook OS away to OEM's and possibly even as a free Upgrade to Windows 7 means that they're going to have to find a way to make money from Bingbooks, but then the increased sales of Office 365 Subscriptions or OneDrive Storage Upgrade Subscriptions will more than make-up for the loss of revenue from Bingbook licences, but considering that Windows 8/8.1 take-up has been slow I can't see anyone adopting the Bingbook concept as the Microsoft Services aren't as mature as their Google counterparts, also Microsoft really need to make a cloud version of the VBA Scripting language to allow for people who have spent time creating Scripts or even extensions to the likes of Word and Excel to be able to use the Microsoft Office web apps and re-create all of their Scripts.

The real beauty of Google Services is that the Google Apps Script language that's used to create custom functions, extensions and scripts for the various services is all cloud based and stored in Google Drive meaning that they'll be available no matter if you're using a Mac, Windows, Linux or Chrome OS Device meaning that your Google Sheets functions and extensions will work no matter what OS you're using.

Chrome OS is being constantly updated with new features and you can always switch between the Current Stable, Beta and Development releases without too much trouble, but I can see Microsoft abandoning Bingbooks once Windows 9 is released as supporting low-end hardware isn't really Microsoft's thing, also the Bingbook concept is about boosting Windows 8.1 take up.

Roland

Learning to Program In Google Apps Script (Part 2)

In part two I'll go through some more of the Google Apps Script tutorials.

The third Script

The third Script is basically just creating a custom function that uses Google Sheets to convert from Inches to Millimeters, it's not as complex as the script used in the first of the Google Sheets Scripts that was the second of the tutorials that I did in the last part.

The fourth Script

The fourth Script is still pretty basic but it's a little more advanced as it uses a Google Sheets Spreadsheet to send messages to multiple recipients, this could be used to send basic emails to multiple contacts. But in reality I think it's just an example of what you can do with Scripts in Google Sheets.

In the next part of this series I'll go through some more of the tutorials.

Roland

Previous

What's New In Chrome OS 33

Since I briefly talked about the features in  part 9 of the Living with the Acer C720 series Chrome OS 33 has gone to the stable channel in the form of Version 33.0.1750.124.

What's changed in Chrome OS 33 stable

In the stable release of Chrome OS 33 the new full Screen mode that was present in the beta version has made its way to the stable, Google Now seems to be somewhat missing from the stable release even though there is a Google Now flag in chrome://flags, but it seems to be hard disabled as even when it's enabled Google Now doesn't work even though I've got it set up on my Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini, Asus Google Nexus 7 and iPhone 4S. I'm wondering if Google Now in Chrome OS has been omitted from the stable release due to it being a bit buggy with its location reporting, as when I was using the beta release of Chrome OS 33 reported on occasions that I was in Manchester or Birmingham, which is a bit strange when WiFi Location reporting is usually quite good.

A nice addition that's going to be helpful to new Chrome OS users is the first run tour. The first run tour is an interactive tour of Chrome OS that overlays info on the key parts of Chrome OS onto the Desktop.

Another new feature of Chrome OS 33 is Contacts search right from within the search bar on the top of the app drawer. This feature is a nice idea, but if you're like me and use outlook.com for email a lot of your contacts will be stored on the outlook.com website then it's not going to be that much use. Also I've found that not all off my Google contacts show when I do a search.

Chrome OS 33 Conclusion

Chrome OS 33 is a minor improvement over Chrome OS 32. One thing from the change log for Chrome OS I've noticed that doesn't seem to work is the renaming of files in Google Drive in offline mode doesn't work as I fried that this morning and couldn't get it to work.

If Google re-introduce Google Now into a future release of Chrome OS 33 or a future build of Chrome OS, and sort out the reliability of renaming files in Google Drive in offline mode along with improve the Contacts search feature then Chrome OS could become a serious contender as an OS.

Roland

Learning to Program In Google Apps Script (Part 1)

Setting up Google Apps Script

The first thing that needs to be done is to Install the Google Apps Script web app from the Chrome Store, using the web app for Apps Script will prevent you from losing the bookmark in your bookmarks folder in Chrome and will make it easier to open Google Apps Script when you're using Chrome OS as you'll be able to pin it to the Chrome OS Shelf.

The Google Apps Script IDE

The Google Apps Script may look lightweight and simple when you first open it, but from reading what Apps Script can do on the Google Developers Apps Script tutorial site it looks like a very powerful scripting language.

Creating a first Script

Google Apps Script is based on the JavaScript scripting language so anyone proficient in JavaScript should feel right at home and only need to learn how to use the Google specific pieces of code to write a script or customization. for anyone who doesn't know how to code in JavaScript the I'd recommend using the tutorials here and set up your workspace so you can follow the tutorials without having to switch between Chrome and Google Apps Script (if you're using Chrome OS I'd even alter the resolution of your Chromebook, Chromebox or Chromebase so that you can snap Chrome and Google Apps script to the sides without any overlap 1536x864 resolution, it's not the best for playing YouTube videos, but if you need to maximize your screen real estate then it'll be ok, just remember to drop down to the recommended resolution when you've finished )

The first script in the tutorials

The first script in the tutorials is a simple one, but when I tried it I keep getting an error saying TypeError: Cannot find function getbody in object Document. (line 6, file "Code")

[caption id="attachment_1954" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Error message[/caption]

But yet if I copy and past the code into the Apps Script editor it works without any problems what so ever.

Extending Google Sheets

The second example in the tutorials is a simple case of downloading a sample Google Sheets Spreadsheet into your Google Drive library and copying the sample code into the Apps Script editor and following the tutorial instructions for running the script. it doesn't teach you much in the way of coding the particular Script but you can always look through the code that you've copied at your leisure, but the tutorial shows you some of the advanced scripts & customization that you can do with Apps Script.

In the next part I'll go through another two maybe three of the tutorials from the Google Developers website.

Roland

Next

iPearl mCover Hard Shell Case for Acer C720 / C720P series Chromebook Review (Part 1)

In this two-part series I'll review the iPearl mCover Case for the Acer C720/C720P series Chromebook.

The iPearl mCover comes in a choice of 9 colours, as I had to purchase one for this review and they didn't have the black(possibly clear) one on Amazon UK I opted for the Orange one as it looked the best choice of colour for me to have to live with, and as Orange is the colour of my home town Hockey team then it was the perfect choice. See picture above for the colours that are available.

Design

The iPearl mCover is a two-part cover that has a base cover with cut-outs for all the ports and a top cover that covers the lid of the C720 so it's fully protected while still easily being able to use it without having to take it out of a pouch or sleeve.

[caption id="attachment_1935" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The two-part design of the iPearl mCover[/caption]

The iPearl mCover also has a unique feature in that it sports two pop-out legs on the back of the base cover allowing for it to be popped up at an angle on a desk, which is a handy feature if you use your C720 on a desk with an external Keyboard and mouse.

[caption id="attachment_1936" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Rear legs of the iPearl mCover popped out[/caption]

The iPearl mCover is just see-through enough that the Acer and Chrome branding shows through the lid cover making it look as if it's the real colour of the Chromebook.

[caption id="attachment_1937" align="aligncenter" width="300"] iPearl mCover from the back with lid open[/caption]

When the lid of the C720 is closed it still looks as stylish as it does without a cover, but it has more protection with the cover than what its got naked.

 Installation

Installation of the iPearl mCover is simply a case of making sure that the lid is clean and dry, I used a baby wipe to clean the lid of my C720 and dried it with a micro fibre cloth then attached the lid making sure that the two cut outs lined up with the hinge then pushed it down until all the tabs snapped into place. I then followed the same procedure for cleaning the base of my C720 then it's just a case of placing the C720 into the base cover starting with the back and pressing down until all the tabs snap into place.

Conclusion

The build quality seems pretty good and the cut-outs on the sides seem big enough that the ports can be used without having any problems with plugs staying in place. There is an added feature on the front right where the power & charging indicator is as the cover has been notched out creating a flat spot on the cover to allow for the indicators to show through without being obscured by the case, a big bonus of using a cover is that the brightness of the LED indicators is toned down a bit.

I'll post another part giving my opinion of the cover along with a full Conclusion after I've used the cover for a week.

Roland

Next

Programming in Chrome OS

When it comes to programming in Chrome OS the main language and IDE is Google Apps Script. Google Apps Script is a Scripting language based on JavaScript. Google Apps Script can be thought of as similar to the VBA Scripting language used to develop automation style Add-ons in Microsoft Office.

Google Apps Script is used to develop customizations and automation Scripts for Google Services such as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms and much more.

[caption id="attachment_1941" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Google Apps Script project selection window[/caption]

Google Apps Script's IDE looks like the IDE from any other language, but with several differences.

1. Google Apps Script can't be used to create complex applications like you can with Python, C, C#, C++, Visual Basic as it's more like VBA meets JavaScript.


2. Google Apps Script can't create Scripts for Microsoft Office as that requires VBA (but it might be possible to create Scripts for anything written in JavaScript).


3. If you want to create anything big and complex like an OS and OS Kernel then you might be better with something like Assembly language or C or C++.

[caption id="attachment_1942" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Google Apps Script Code Editor[/caption]

If you are proficient in JavaScript then it's entirely possible that you can write some pretty complex customizations or even automation scripts for Google services.

If like me you're new to Google Apps Script or even writing code then a wealth of tutorials and information can be found on the Google Developers website.

If you want to create something a bit more complex than what you can create in Google Apps Script while still using Chrome OS then there is the Nitrous.IO IDE that can create Python, PHP, Ruby/Rails, Node.js & Go programming languages, but for the average Chrome OS user then I think Google Apps Script will be more than adequate. Google Apps Script will be enough for professionals that are ether using Chrome OS or just the plain old Google Apps service on a Windows, Mac or Linux setup as Google Apps Script is a cloud based scripting service and your scripts are stored in Google Drive then it makes it a truly cross-platform  language that can be used on any of your devices (I'm not sure if scripts or customizations will work on the mobile versions of Google Drive or not).


My next Chrome OS series will be on learning how to create scripts and customizations for the Google services that are supported by Google Apps Script.

Roland

Living With The Acer C720 Chromebook for A Month (Part 10)

This part will be a short but very detailed conclusion to my Living with the Acer C720 Chromebook series.

Conclusion

The Acer C720 Chromebook maybe under specced and use an older Haswell based Intel Celeron 2955U processor instead of a newer Baytrail based Intel processor and only have 2GB of DDR3 RAM.

The specification of the Acer C720 really hide the fact that it's one hell of a fast machine and in the month of owning it I've not come across any lag or slowdown due to the 1.4GHZ Celeron 2955U Processor or the fact that it's only got 2GB of RAM, but that could be due to the fact that the Acer C720 packs a 16GB SSD (out of that 16GB of SSD Storage only 8.4GB is usable by the user with the rest being reserved for Chrome OS) and with Chrome OS being a lightweight OS it takes full advantage of the 2GB of RAM and the Celeron 2955U may be an older Intel Processor and only have a clock speed of 1.4GHZ but it gives exceptional battery life without sacrificing on performance like what you have to do in Windows with a faster processor, but with 100GB of free Google Drive Storage for 2 years on top of the free Google Drive Storage that you get as standard with a Google Account then the 8.4GB of internal Storage doesn't really stop it from being a usable machine.

If you want a Ultrabook that looks like a traditional Windows-based Ultrabook then I'd recommend the C720 or if you want a touch screen then the C720P as apart from the Chrome branding in the upper right corner of the lid and the lack of a Windows COA on the bottom it looks like any other Windows-based Ultrabook out there.

If you're in the market for a low-cost Ultrabook with excellent battery life and don't need any of the bloat associated with a Windows machine and can live with cloud computing or are already invested in the Google ecosystem then I'd recommend the Acer C720 Chromebook.

My next Chromebook related post I'll be reviewing the iPearl mCover Hard Shell Case for 11.6" Acer C720 / C720P series Chromebook case that I'm expecting to come in the Post on Monday.

Roland

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