Thread: Chrome OS Announced

Originally Posted by khh

I think I've read that mac viruses are getting more common.

That's wrong. There isn't a single active Mac virus. Viruses on Macs are close to impossible. The common misconception is that Macs have less viruses because less people use them and there are less hackers trying to make them for it.

While I'm sure that's true, Macs can't get viruses because they have a UNIX operating system. The security of UNIX is embedded into the file system. A virus can not access any files that it doesn't own. Window's security, on the other hand is a level way above that near the user interface level. The reason Wndows is so vulnerable, is that once it gets past that, it's free to do whatever it likes because the files are not protected at a system level.

DP, you've never seen a Mac crash. In the billion to one chance that it does, that's not what happens. It shows a kernel panic screen, which is equivalent to the BSOD.

In response to your post in the confessional, this forum is full of anti-windows feelings because the majority of us are computer professionals. We need a stable, fast system for the DB management, or programming, or whatever else we do, and Windows isn't it.

Originally Posted by ninja9578

hackers

Hey hey hey, the word you're looking for is cracker.

And, I wonder, what will it be like? They weren't very clear...obviously it's linux. Obviously they're making their own DE. But, what will it feel like? Is there an accessable Terminal? Is there a desktop? Wallpapers? Workspaces?

Or it it Google Chrome + linux Kernel + login Screen?

This OS won't compete with Windows at all, since Windows is an all-around OS, while Chrome will be a micro-OS with hardly any support for anything, except surfing. However, this will most certainly promote Linux a lot, probably making more people check out the possibilities in Linux. Google did say they might expand on the capabilities of Chrome, to a more all-around OS.

If somebody actually starts to compete at like 20% market shares or higher levels with Microsoft, I'd bet $10 that Microsoft actually gets off their asses and fixes a lot of the problems in Windows. Windows 7 is already very promising, and I've yet to see any people having trouble, except the few bugs from the beta. The RC, which I'm using on both of my computers at the moment, seems to be almost bug-free and a very good OS. People also say that Windows 7 works better than both Vista (obviously, I can't imagine how Microsoft could make a more ineffecient piece of crap OS) and XP. By working better than XP, people mean that the performance is generally smoother and it's just as stable, if not more. Some people even say, that Windows 7 runs better on their netbook than XP. This is probably because Windows 7 is as flexible as it is. It's also more power-effecient than Vista.

Windows 7 will still lack all those basic features, that you Mac and Linux people are asking and criticising Windows for, but in the end Windows 7 is an excellent OS that works pretty much flawlessly, atleast in my experience.

Originally Posted by [SomeGuy]

Hey hey hey, the word you're looking for is cracker.

And, I wonder, what will it be like? They weren't very clear...obviously it's linux. Obviously they're making their own DE. But, what will it feel like? Is there an accessable Terminal? Is there a desktop? Wallpapers? Workspaces?

Or it it Google Chrome + linux Kernel + login Screen?

If they're going to be competing with easier to use OSs like Windows and OS X, I'd think it's safe to assume it won't be a full Linux experience. Since they are trying to get more people on Linux, they will have to make it easy to use, since the difficulties of Linux are something that will keep most people away.

And ninja, I'm fairly certain that this forum is not full of "professionals". Knowing a coding language does not make you a professional, and while some people here might do something with computers for a living, that doesn't make them a professional. And it's funny how you think they are only a professional if they use a Mac or Linux, because there are plenty of professionals who use Windows.

I'm sure that Chrome will have a terminal, but it won't be reliant on it. I'll bet absolutely everything can be done without touching the terminal, but the terminal will be there for those of us who need it, just like it is for Windows and OSX users.

The guys who post the most in this forum are the professionals. I mostly was referring to myself, MoS, and Ynot, but if I remember correctly marvo is a gd. The only developer I've met in the past couple of years who used Windows more than *nix is ironically my boss. He's too stubborn to migrate his own stuff to OSX. In fact, the reason that I was hired was to lead the company migration of our software to OSX/Linux/Solaris.

I still occasionally write Windows-only stuff, and it's a pain in the ass because I have to compile the same code 3 times. Once for XP, once for Vista 32, and once for Vista 64. I have to have special preprocessor for each one.

So THAT'S why there are compatability issues! I honestly never knew.

What does gd mean exactly? I am a student at a technical high school atm., but I will first start learning about programming and other more hardware related subjects next year. My plan is to most likely start reading datology (danish term) once I'm done, or perhaps something more related to graphics. I'm not entirely sure. Right now I don't really know that much about programming languages

On-topic, do any of you guys think you're gonna use this new Chrome OS? Right now I only have a laptop and a desktop computer, so except for perhaps a dual boot on my laptop (for fast boot if I just need something off the internet), I probably won't be using it.

I have never heard of having to compile everything 3 times on 3 different processors.

Also, just being a professional doesn't make your opinion more valid or mean you can't be biased. There are plenty of professionals out there who are biased towards each operating system, I'm sure, but that doesn't make any of them right.

Depends on the program and what it's supposed to do Demon Parasite. However, it sounds a bit weird that Ninja has to compile a third code for Windows Vista 64 bit. Software that works in 32 bit tends to work fine in 64 bit aswell.

I've never understood having a 64bit system, then loading it up with 32bit software
completely negates the benefits of having a 64bit system....

I actually never understood having a 64 bit system...my Ubuntu is 64, feels the same, yet less supported than 34. Bad choice, should have went with 32.

Originally Posted by Demon Parasite

I have never heard of having to compile everything 3 times on 3 different processors.

Also, just being a professional doesn't make your opinion more valid or mean you can't be biased. There are plenty of professionals out there who are biased towards each operating system, I'm sure, but that doesn't make any of them right.

Vista has different administration privileges than XP, and that annoying "security system" restricts application's access to certain folders without consent by the user, so we have to put them in different folders that don't require that.

64 drivers are very different than 32 bit ones, applications have to load the write one, which requires recompilation if using static libraries, which are far more common and much faster for almost all cases.


This code requires 3 compilations

Code:

#ifdef _64_Bit
   #include <wx64/thread.h>
#else
   #include <wx/thread.h>
#endif

wxString configuration(wxSystem::GetCurrentDirectory());
#ifdef _PLATFORM_VISTA
   if (configuration.EndsWidth(_T("Program Files"))
      configuration += "../../MyApp_tmp";
#endif

Being a professional means that we have more experience and more knowledge of the underlying systems, I think that does make our opinions better. More educated = better judgement.

Originally Posted by [SomeGuy]

I actually never understood having a 64 bit system...my Ubuntu is 64, feels the same, yet less supported than 34. Bad choice, should have went with 32.

well, the obvious advantage is increased address space

I've said a few times before,
but 32 bit systems can address a max of 2^32 bits (or 4 Giga-bits)
The system cannot address more than 4Gb

I think you're probably aware of the RAM limitations of 32bit systems, but the 4Gb ceiling rears it's head in a few other places - One of which is memory mapping files

Large files (greater than 4Gb) are all too common
Single layer DVD's are 4.7Gb, but also think databases and other large sets of data

If you want to mmap a large file, on 32bit systems you have to do it piece-meal
This means you're doing more work, in order to overcome an architectural limitation - therefore it'll be slower

Also, there's quite a few operations (encryption, media encoding / decoding, other processor intensive operations) that can get significant speed increases when utilised in 64bit systems
There's a particular sorting algorithm (I forget which one) which gains a 60% performance increase when written for 64bit

Software has to be written to take advantage of 64bit CPU registers, but the benefits are quite real

Originally Posted by ninja9578

Vista has different administration privileges than XP, and that annoying "security system" restricts application's access to certain folders without consent by the user, so we have to put them in different folders that don't require that.

64 drivers are very different than 32 bit ones, applications have to load the write one, which requires recompilation if using static libraries, which are far more common and much faster for almost all cases.


This code requires 3 compilations

Code:

#ifdef _64_Bit
   #include <wx64/thread.h>
#else
   #include <wx/thread.h>
#endif

wxString configuration(wxSystem::GetCurrentDirectory());
#ifdef _PLATFORM_VISTA
   if (configuration.EndsWidth(_T("Program Files"))
      configuration += "../../MyApp_tmp";
#endif

Being a professional means that we have more experience and more knowledge of the underlying systems, I think that does make our opinions better. More educated = better judgement.

Oh, I didn't know that, thanks. Although Vista is just adding more security, while not the best, it's better than what XP lacks. You shouldn't really be blaming Vista for something that XP doesn't have.

Originally Posted by Ynot

There's a particular sorting algorithm (I forget which one) which gains a 60% performance increase when written for 64bit

Radix sort.

Originally Posted by Demon Parasite

Oh, I didn't know that, thanks. Although Vista is just adding more security, while not the best, it's better than what XP lacks. You shouldn't really be blaming Vista for something that XP doesn't have.

I can blame them when AT&T invented an alternative which is infinitely better 40 years ago which is open source. The PC industry isn't even that old.

Originally Posted by Ynot

Well, if people are clueless, then Firefox has a problem

It doesn't advertise
It's up against a pre-installed competitor
people (these clueless people) have to make a choice to use it over IE

Yeah, Firefox will never get anywhere
Oops.....

Anyway,

people may be apathetic in the short term
but most are not stupid
show them a better service, and they'll come

Windows is starting to collapse in parts of Europe now
http://gs.statcounter.com/#os-FR-dai...80701-20090708

Dude.

That's really interesting, but there's a big difference between a web browser and an OS. You can't compare the two.

Most people just don't care about linux. They're happy with either Windows or Mac, it comes pre-installed on most computers anyway.

inb4 fanboy baww

Originally Posted by Katia

Dude.

That's really interesting, but there's a big difference between a web browser and an OS. You can't compare the two.

Most people just don't care about linux. They're happy with either Windows or Mac, it comes pre-installed on most computers anyway.

inb4 fanboy baww

I like how you signed up just to post this.

It's an operating system IN a web browser, not a comparison of Google Chrome and Linux.

Originally Posted by Demon Parasite

I like how you signed up just to post this.

It's an operating system IN a web browser, not a comparison of Google Chrome and Linux.

no no, I was talking about Ynot comparing the success of firefox to linux.

Because switching web browsers isn't a terribly big deal while changing os is a little more work.

Originally Posted by Katia

no no, I was talking about Ynot comparing the success of firefox to linux.

Because switching web browsers isn't a terribly big deal while changing os is a little more work.

Yeah, that's true. Sorry for the misunderstanding

Originally Posted by Katia

no no, I was talking about Ynot comparing the success of firefox to linux.

Because switching web browsers isn't a terribly big deal while changing os is a little more work.

Someone call for a Linux fanboy?

Originally Posted by Katia

Dude.

That's really interesting, but there's a big difference between a web browser and an OS. You can't compare the two.

Most people just don't care about linux. They're happy with either Windows or Mac, it comes pre-installed on most computers anyway.

inb4 fanboy baww

I was meaning to make this post aswell, but this nice girl did it for me

FYI, Dell, HP, and IBM all sell computers preinstalled with Linux. All of them are Ubuntu, but HP is hard at work on it's own operating system.

HP is the largest computer vendor in the world, Dell is #2.

Yeah, I hear HP is also working on a way to send data through lasers instead of wires, and it will be incredibly fast.