Hello, Google

Yesterday, I posted about my love affair with Apple coming to an end.

This was a little scary – as over the last few years, my brief encounters with Windows machines have not been happy ones. Never-ending updates, relentless malware attacks…

What was the alternative?

Since 2014, I have been using Google Apps – now suggestively renamed GSuite. It allows me to use Google’s e-mail, calendar and other apps under my own domains.

I had vaguely heard about something called a Chromebook.

These are typically pretty low specification machines that run a web browser, specifically, the Chrome browser. The processor is old, the memory is tiny. There’s nothing to them. They are cheap though. And fast.

The principle is that you keep everything in the cloud. All of your files. All of your e-mail. All of your programs.

Useless. How could that possibly work? I do far more than online stuff.

Actually…No. I don’t. Or, rather I do very little that cannot be done with a chromebook.

What do I actually do with my device?

All the top procrastination tools are online – Social media, online shopping, email.

Spreadsheets? GSuite has Google Sheets that can view and edit Excel. Likewise for Word and Powerpoint. There is even a work offline mode should the broadband go down or if I’m on the road. Microsoft programs are all available as web apps.

This post is being written on WordPress – a web app.

So – I bought a Chromebook. I’m writing on it now. Naturally, being me, I bought one that is premium. This is an HP, with a metal body, a gorgeous high definition screen, B&O speakers. Frankly, it looks a lot like a Macbook. Currently there are 8 tabs open. The machine is like lightning.

The laptop boots up in seconds. There are no programs taking an age to start up. Virus protection is done server-side by Google. As there are no programs, there are no updates. I like it.

Oh…and you can have two for the price of a Macbook. Three or four for the price of a high spec Macbook Pro.

I’m told that I will struggle to mix my next single or edit my 4k video release on this machine. Not things that I do.

Are there limitations?

Maybe.

First. Everything is stored on GDrive, in the cloud. Navigating around that does not come naturally to me – but I I suspect a little research and I will discover a quicker way.

Second. I write (not enough) on Scrivener. Scrivener is great on a Mac, OK on a Windows machine, doesn’t work on a Chromebook. I will need to write elsewhere. Thus far, Google Docs looks favourite. It has only a tiny fraction of the functionality of Scrivener – but it has the bit that I need. 99% of Scrivener is wasted on me.

My Iphone has been retired too. I have a phone made by Google, called a Pixel. I tried an android phone before – and regretted it. This one however is great, and just works. A bit like Apple used to.

My hardware is built for Google apps. I’m using Google apps. Unsurprisingly, it’s seamless.

I suspect the real cost of this is that Google has everything. I have no doubt that it hoovers up all this data. Privacy? What’s that?

But, truth be told, I suspect that the privacy ship sailed a long time ago.