Stuck in the cloud with Google’s Chrome OS notebook

Four years ago InfoWorld published a tale of cloud woe in which our intrepid guinea pig, Oliver Rist, spent a week without Microsoft Office, forced instead to use Google Apps, Zoho, and a couple of other browser-based productivity suites. The experience left him … traumatized.

Well, that was then. For the past few days I’ve kept my boring old ThinkPad zipped in its bag and relied entirely on a prototype Google Chrome notebook running a beta of the Chrome OS, which basically means I’ve been living in the Chrome browser and running Google Apps. My slim little four-pound Chrome notebook is a true Web appliance — a browser in a box. I couldn’t “compute locally” if I wanted to.

[ Also on InfoWorld: See Galen Gruman’s first look for a deeper view of Google’s Chrome OS, the prototype laptop, and the current state of Google Apps. | Read Paul Krill’s report on the Chrome Web Store. | Stay up on the cloud with InfoWorld’s Cloud Computing Report newsletter. ]

All in all, I’ve had a much better time than Oliver did, whose distress came mainly from being at the mercy of random Wi-Fi connections as he wandered from client to client in his consulting job. If only reliable 3G had been widely available — and free! — four years ago. Perhaps the most amazing detail about the Google Chrome notebook is the 3G Verizon Wireless deal that comes with it: 100MB per month at no cost for two years.

The great Google-Verizon giveaway

I should hasten to add that Google will not confirm anything about the data plan that will come with Chrome notebooks when they ship next year. On the reference model I’m using right now, there it is in black and white: 100MB for free (and affordable plans starting at $9.99 beyond that).

Assuming the Verizon deal is for real, then the carrier will surely be a Chrome notebook vendor as well, just like you can buy netbooks from Verizon now. (That really, really makes me wonder how much Chrome notebooks will cost, but Google won’t say.)

What a way to outfit mobile workers! They wouldn’t even need to pay for hotel Wi-Fi. Here’s your notebook, folks, just no YouTube or you’re fired. Although, streaming video or not, it would be hard for salespeople to view presentations and stay under that 100MB limit.

You have to wonder about Verizon Wireless’ motivations. For years, one of the cellular carrier’s two parent companies, Verizon, has been making aggressive moves into cloud hosting for business. Is this Google deal part of some major Verizon business play?

There’s just one problem, of course: the little matter of air travel. I don’t know about you, but I do my best work on a tray table. Unless Google and Verizon Wireless also have deals going with all the major airlines, the inability to compute offline is a showstopper for mobile workers.

Always connected — or else

The way I see it, the Chrome notebook is a device that ideology built. Google thinks you should be computing in the cloud, period. You can access a few system settings, but aside from caching, that’s it for anything local. Your computing life hangs on Wi-Fi or 3G.

The iPad, iPhone, and Android all have apps you can use offline, but not the Chrome notebook. The only applications you can download and “install” are Web apps (from Google’s newly launched Chrome Web Store).

Yes, I understand the fact that you can’t store a document locally is a “feature” to keep your data safe in the fluffy embrace of the cloud, but I’m flying to Boston this week. Would it really kill Google to give me just a little offline capability? When I land, guys, the next time I connect you can spirit my docs back to the cloud in the blink of an eye. Really.

One thing I’ll say about Google’s little wonder is that it’s the first notebook I’ve used with the same persistent network connectivity as a smartphone. What I’m typing on now is just a reference model, but I’m certain all future models will behave in the same way: When you close the lid, it goes into standby like most notebooks, but when you open it, it comes to life and reconnects to the network almost instantaneously.

That may seem like a small thing, but it’s absolutely necessary for living in the cloud. And when all your apps live in the browser, you start to feel the way Google wants you to feel — your computing experience shifts from “here” to “there.” That sensation begins when you start the notebook for the first time and it asks you for your Gmail login. Everything, from Craigslist to Google Docs (or Zoho or whatever alternative you prefer), is a Chrome browser tab.

An idea whose time has almost come

I actually think the world is almost ready for a Web appliance like this. Few of us need the monster functionality of Microsoft Office. And the patch, upgrade, maintenance, backup, and troubleshooting woes — not to mention endpoint security risks — of fat client computing are killing us. A Web appliance like the Google Chrome notebook could be just the ticket for mobile workers with simple needs.

With one big caveat: Some offline capability is absolutely essential. All Google needs to do is support the offline storage spec for HTML5. Unless a flight attendant crushes my Chrome notebook with a rolling cart, my recent data will be just as safe. By default, everything would fly back to the cloud the next time I connected.

Plus — if it’s not asking too much — how about a local email client? Whether Gmail or Outlook Web Access, the slowness and awkwardness of doing anything except opening recent messages and creating new ones make me yearn for a simple solution like the iPhone’s email app. Also, before the Chrome notebook ships, Google Apps needs to gain some essential features (how about the equivalent of Paste Special and Format Painter, to start?).

Google may be closer than it realizes to a big win. Yes, there are some funky things about the reference model I’m using now (the nonstandard trackpad has got to go), but hey, it’s a prototype. Just a baby step into offline capability could put Google within striking distance of a viable solution for light-duty computing.

This article, “Stuck in the cloud with Google’s Chrome OS notebook,” originally appeared at InfoWorld.com. Read more of Eric Knorr’s Modernizing IT blog and get a digest of the key stories each day in the InfoWorld Daily newsletter and on your mobile device at infoworldmobile.com.