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Why Google Chrome ?

Three reasons why it matters3. Because Windows needs more competition
Nearly two decades after Microsoft Windows conquered the PC, very few real challenges have been mounted against its dominance. Long-time rival Apple Macintosh has recently had a resurgence, but it’s still hovering at less than 10% of the total market. This market is ripe for innovation and a new competitor. In many quarters, Windows fatigue has set in, especially in the notoriously price-conscious consumer market and in light of the Vista debacle. The virus, spyware, and security troubles of Windows are its biggest weaknesses and Google is wise to target those soft spots with Chrome OS.

2. Because Chrome OS will be cheap
Google has confirmed that the Chrome OS will be open source and will not have any licensing fees. That will enable Chrome OS-based netbooks to be cheaper than both Windows-based netbooks and ARM-based smartbooks from Qualcomm. Plus, once we start talking about nettops, it’s entirely possible that we could see a $100 PC (without monitor) running the Chrome OS.

1. Because it’s from Google
Google is the 800-pound gorilla of the Internet. Because of its brand strength and star power, it’s always a big deal when Google enters new markets. Nothing that Google does will go unnoticed or fail simply because it didn’t get enough exposure.

Four reasons why it’s virtually irrelevant4. It’s running Linux
So is 2010 going to be the year of Linux on the desktop since Chrome OS is based on Linux? Every year for the past decade was supposed to be “The Year of Linux on the Desktop.” It hasn’t happened and it’s not because it was an idea ahead of its time or it needed a stronger champion. The mass market has rejected Linux on the desktop. Linux is nothing more (or less) than a niche OS loved by a loyal group of highly-technical users. Even Google can’t change that, unless it’s prepared to write Linux device drivers for all of the world’s printers, digital cameras, keyboards, and mice.

3. It’s too late
By the time Chrome OS is released, Windows 7 will be everywhere (at least in the consumer market) and Mac OS X will be faster and simpler with the release of Snow Leopard. If Google really wanted to make a powerful entrance into the OS market, the time to do it would have been mid-2007 when it was obvious that Windows Vista was a failure and it would take Microsoft a couple years to fix it. The opportunity for an OS to make a major impact on the PC market has passed. The OS just isn’t that important anymore. Windows and Mac both do a pretty good job of making the OS get out of the way as quickly and easily as possible. Chrome OS probably won’t be able to do that because it will start out with massive device driver incompatibilities with PC accessories.

2. Google hasn’t proven it can build an OS
Google hasn’t exactly knocked anyone’s socks off with Android, its mobile OS. While Android has potential and still has time to develop, it feels like beta software in a market that demands greater “finish” and attention to detail (see iPhone and Palm Pre). Plus, Android itself was originally touted to be a netbook OS. Therefore, the release of Chrome OS is a de facto indictment against Android, despite the fact that Google executives have tried to downplay it. Maybe Google has realized that the Java software sitting on top of a Linux codebase in Android would have severe performance limitations on a PC. Whatever the case may be, the fact that Google will have overlapping netbook operating systems does not inspire a lot of confidence that Google knows what it’s doing in the OS market or has a sound strategy.

1. It’s limited to netbooks
So here’s the skinny on netbooks. They have two great features: They are small and cheap. They also two big drawbacks: They are terrible and a lot of consumers regret buying them (verified by a recent NPD survey). The consumer backlash against netbooks has already begun and by the time we see Chrome OS netbooks from Google’s hardware partners in the second half of 2010, the netbook phenomenon will either have retreated into the background or morphed into something better. And then Google will have to scramble to make Chrome OS available on a wider variety of notebooks computers, as well as on nettops.

Popularity: 33% [?]

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Hibernation on Windows:
When Windows entrees in hibernation mode, it saves all its memory content in a file on the hard drive (hiberfil.sys) then powers the entire system off. Yes, it really does that, it is not a stand-by mode of some sort, it is fully powered off (however, modern computers still keep a small amount of power going on even in off mode, but that is by design). In this state you can unplug the computer from the main power supply and, if it is a laptop, you can also remove the battery with no danger in losing the data. There is no danger in losing any data since the memory is safely saved on the hard drive. However if something fails with the “wake up” from hibernation, Windows may delete the hibernation file and start all over.
Powering up
When the computer is powered on again, Windows reads the memory content back from the hard drive and resumes from the point it was before hibernation. This means that all open programs are still open, open documents are still open, network connections are resumed and so on.

What to do before hibernating your computer
First of all save all your open documents. It is not necessary to close them, but saving them ensures that if there is a problem with waking up from hibernation the documents are intact. However if you keep them unsaved, when you resume you can still save them safely in most of the cases. Second, ensure that you don’t have downloads or file transfers in progress because all network connections are reset before hibernation and all transfers will fail on wake up.
Enabling hibernation
To enable or disable hibernation open Control Panel (Start > Settings > Control Panel) then go to Power Options. There open the “Hibernation″ tab. If this tab is not visible then your computer does not support hibernation. In that tab make sure that the checkbox is checked to enable the hibernation or unchecked to disable it.
Hibernating the computer
Use the normal Start > Shut down… procedure and choose Hibernate from the list. If you are under XP and you have a shut down box with three buttons on it (Stand by, Turn off and Restart) press the Shift key and the Stand by button transforms into Hibernate and you can click it. You can also use the Power Options applet from Control Panel where in the Advanced tab you can choose what the computer should do when you press certain buttons or switches like “Power”, “Sleep” or when you close the LID on your laptop.
Advantages
The main advantage is that all your programs and documents stay open so you can continue your work later. Another advantage is that usually it takes less to wake up from hibernation than powering up from zero, especially if the computer is slow or you have many programs in the start up list.
Disadvantages
1. The RAM is not getting refreshed in the case of Hibernation. This may lead to the memory leakage.
In the normal shutdown- Boot up process the RAM will get refreshed every time the system boots

2) Biggest disadvantage is that this way you don’t shut down the computer for days, weeks or even months, so sometimes the system gets chocked and chocked and goes slower with no apparent reason. Some reboots now and then or normal shut downs are recommended. Also, a big file (hiberfil.sys) will be created on hard drive with the size equal to the ammount of memory you have (1 GB memory >> 1 GB file size).

Popularity: 22% [?]