Some History.
I was raised in a household that used Windows machines. When I was 16 I owned my first Mac, a Powermac G4, I have yet to look back, however due to the nature of my surroundings I spend a lot more time in Windows land than I ever would like to. So to summarize. I know my way backwards and forwards in Windows, and Mac. But I love the Apple, and Mac experience.
I recently transitioned from a Blackberry Storm to the Android Incredible. So I have already been falling in love with the Google syncs my entire life, Dropbox.com / box.net to move files back and forth from phone to computer and to other users way of life. So this transition on a laptop was nothing if not and amplification of this experience.
One more thing before I go crazy, full discretion, I have never been in a situation where someone has given me a free laptop and said, "Hey, we are giving you an experience that, at this point, only about 65,000 people are able to have so we want to know how it goes," So while I am very giddy I am going to try and keep this fair.
The setup.
Its quick. Its easy. It makes sense. They give you enough explanation that you understand things are going to be different, heres why, and here is how. All in all it was about 5 minutes to read through the getting started instructions and get my account setup and I was browsing and installing web apps.
Standard Operation.
It became pretty obvious to me that there were some gaps in my normal usage and my new usage. I had someone bring me some music that they needed me to cut, when I grabbed my Macbook Pro, they looked at me with a puzzled look on their face and asked, "Didn't you just get a new computer? Why don't you use that?" So word to the wise, you are going to have to change the way you approach things, and somethings you are just not going to be able to do, for now. I want to emphasis this. For now. No one really knows what the future brings. A lot of the complaints I am hearing are about what it can't do yet. But keep thinking, that doesn't matter. Thats the whole point of this right? lets get some of these things out there and see how people want to use them and see what we can do to make sure they can do it, and enjoy it.
I am a bit puzzled because I expected something to happen when I plugged in a usb thumb drive. When nothing happened I thought to myself, maybe they would handle an SD card better, seeing as its built into the side. Again, the same experience, nothing. Both of those things I am looking forward to as things I am going to be able to fully utilize in the future.
Here is where it started to hurt. I had some work that I needed to get done prior to a presentation that I was going to give Friday morning. I thought to myself, what I great opportunity to see what this thing can really do. I opened up the computer and to my surprise Google docs didn't want to load. I get it, It was online, now its not, it is confused. Nope. It would not open at all without being connected to the internet long enough to open. OK so that is a small issue, but wait. It's not. Lets say this is your work between work computer. The biggest thing I want to do on this computer is work on docs, and now all of the sudden I need a taste of internet every time I accidentally close the window. I understand that this laptop is going to be crippled with out the internet, but I think it should try and be one step above useless.
As long as I am in a location where I can get either wifi or a good 3g connection. The experience is slick. I was able to complete a history final online while waiting for my wife to coach a dance competition. This experience really hit it home for me that. If a browser is what you need then you are going to completely forget that this computer is not your normal computer. I can forgive it's limitations for now, because they are still working on things. Speaking of working on things, here are some things I would like them to fix.
Give me an option of how I use the computer. If I am Suzie down the street who doesn't know how to check if my computer is plugged in, don't give me a file system. If I know how to run iTunes, and log in to Facebook, give me a simplified file system. If I think that I can handle a full on file system, Please!, give it to me, I know I can switch to developer mode, and I am going to, probably about the time I finish this post. But Please, I have an 8gb SD card that is just sitting here. Let me throw some music on it, so that I can download podcasts to it or music to it and use my crippled laptop and listen to something at the same time if I am away from the net.
Another thing that you guys have to fix is the track pad. I don't know if it is a hardware thing or a software thing, It seems to me like a little bit of both, but come on. I don't mind using a usb mouse if i m playing a game or using Photoshop, but for the love all that is holy. If I am cursing at my track pad while trying to write a post about how much I like your new OS, It may just hurt your situation.
Overall.
A good start, with a lot of room for improvement. But Google, you have told me to be patient so I will be. Let's just hope you get to the level, we are all hoping you are capable of getting to.
The Built in 3g is nice, but it also has me asking myself how many times a month am I going to pay for internet.
Web apps are not where they need to be. But we have all seen this before. Remember the original fart apps for the iPhone. Wow.
At this point I have to give Google an A for effort and and B- for follow through. Lets see what the next 3 - 6 months are going to bring us
