Chromebook Shipments Up 67%
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@Carnival-Boy said:
Not that amazing. 67% of bugger all is still bugger all and Chromebooks are still a really niche market. I wouldn't be surprised to see Windows 10 killing them off.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/22/chromebook-sales-pc-acer-hp-samsung
Considering Windows 10 has a real start menu again and is looking really nice so far, it's entirely possible. However, Chromebooks are so cheap, they will always have a place, for people like Scott's kids and people who just need the basics. Cheap, well-built, and efficient for average tasks.
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I doubt Chromebooks will make too much splash in the business world, outside of the occasional C-level guy, or senior-level manager, but I suppose it's possible.
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I think Chromebooks for business are great because they are low maintenance and the lack of features and applications can actually be a positive - particularly in terms of security. Whereas at home, it's nice to have access to dodgy software and games.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I think Chromebooks for business are great because they are low maintenance and the lack of features and applications can actually be a positive - particularly in terms of security. Whereas at home, it's nice to have access to dodgy software and games.
Yes, but I don't believe you can join a Chromebook to a domain. You obviously can't roll out GPO for it. In an SMB, it might work. However, it would never work in an enterprise.
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You can't join an iPad to a domain either, yet they're widely used in the enterprise.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
Not that amazing. 67% of bugger all is still bugger all and Chromebooks are still a really niche market. I wouldn't be surprised to see Windows 10 killing them off.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/22/chromebook-sales-pc-acer-hp-samsung
This begs the question... are Chromebooks PCs? Some are not, but are any? I'm not aware of them being. They have to redefine PC to put them into that category.
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@thanksaj said:
I doubt Chromebooks will make too much splash in the business world, outside of the occasional C-level guy, or senior-level manager, but I suppose it's possible.
They already are. They are a major force in new deployments.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I think Chromebooks for business are great because they are low maintenance and the lack of features and applications can actually be a positive - particularly in terms of security. Whereas at home, it's nice to have access to dodgy software and games.
I agree, it is business where they are most impressive. It is mostly video game support that keeps them out of homes.
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@thanksaj said:
Yes, but I don't believe you can join a Chromebook to a domain. You obviously can't roll out GPO for it. In an SMB, it might work. However, it would never work in an enterprise.
No you can't. They are completely different types of devices. A domain doesn't make sense in their context. It works fine in an enterprise. AD and GPO are great tools but only necessary when you run Windows. There is no point for them with other products.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
You can't join an iPad to a domain either, yet they're widely used in the enterprise.
And you can still centrally manage them too.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@thanksaj said:
Yes, but I don't believe you can join a Chromebook to a domain. You obviously can't roll out GPO for it. In an SMB, it might work. However, it would never work in an enterprise.
No you can't. They are completely different types of devices. A domain doesn't make sense in their context. It works fine in an enterprise. AD and GPO are great tools but only necessary when you run Windows. There is no point for them with other products.
What about various compliance standards? Restrictions in terms of web browsing, etc.
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@thanksaj said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@thanksaj said:
Yes, but I don't believe you can join a Chromebook to a domain. You obviously can't roll out GPO for it. In an SMB, it might work. However, it would never work in an enterprise.
No you can't. They are completely different types of devices. A domain doesn't make sense in their context. It works fine in an enterprise. AD and GPO are great tools but only necessary when you run Windows. There is no point for them with other products.
What about various compliance standards? Restrictions in terms of web browsing, etc.
Granted, most companies that do that have proxies or filters in place that have nothing to do with the computer, but still...
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@thanksaj said:
What about various compliance standards? Restrictions in terms of web browsing, etc.
You have all that. Why do you associate control of an environment with Windows' tools for controlling Windows? Windows can be restricted and managed separately from those tools. UNIX has always been managed with its own tools. Chromebooks are no different. You use the Google management console to control them.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@thanksaj said:
What about various compliance standards? Restrictions in terms of web browsing, etc.
You have all that. Why do you associate control of an environment with Windows' tools for controlling Windows? Windows can be restricted and managed separately from those tools. UNIX has always been managed with its own tools. Chromebooks are no different. You use the Google management console to control them.
I have never even heard of Google management console. o.O
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@thanksaj said:
Granted, most companies that do that have proxies or filters in place that have nothing to do with the computer, but still...
You are missing the point. AD and GPO are the Windows way to do that and only one way with Windows. They are not the only tool for that and lacking them doesn't imply lacking any capability.
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@thanksaj said:
I have never even heard of Google management console. o.O
It's the Chromebook equivalent of AD. It's how companies manage Chromebooks.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@thanksaj said:
Granted, most companies that do that have proxies or filters in place that have nothing to do with the computer, but still...
You are missing the point. AD and GPO are the Windows way to do that and only one way with Windows. They are not the only tool for that and lacking them doesn't imply lacking any capability.
I was just thinking a lot of businesses would avoid them because that means you now have these other machines you have to manage completely separately and differently than your Windows and Macs. Linux is its own thing and people are fine with that. I just saw having yet another standalone system as inhibiting growth in the business world.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@thanksaj said:
I have never even heard of Google management console. o.O
It's the Chromebook equivalent of AD. It's how companies manage Chromebooks.
Interesting.
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The biggest issues we see with Chromebooks is unless the business is fully chormebook they are a nightmare! Most companies have Windows environments (not all but most) where their files are stored etc. Chromebooks make it difficult to access any of that.
Chromebooks can't print in a way that isn't a huge pain and causes bottlenecks with their cloud print software when you try to print more than 10 pages in the course of a half hour.
For a sales team that never has to print things and does everything online. Doesn't need to have things in a MS Office environment and can do everything via Google docs. Would be fine.
For anything else in business I just don't see how it would work unless they were fully on Chromebooks
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@Minion-Queen, yeah, if a business uses Google Apps, I could see this working really well. However, I could see there being a lot of compatibility issues with a multitude of programs.
Just out of curiosity, are you able to do things like open zip files (extract and open contained files) on a Chromebook?
