Subscribe via e-mail: - Chromebooks – Eight disadvantages – Part 1: Security
- Chromebooks – Eight disadvantages – Part 2: Accessibility and ability
- Chromebooks – Eight disadvantages – Part 3: Updates and backup
- Chromebooks – Eight disadvantages – Part 4: Usability and cloudability
- Chromebooks – Eight disadvantages – Part 5: Costs and conclusion
Last week, I outlined why I believe that Chromebooks are no match for Windows netbooks when it comes to accessibility and the ability of their applications. Today, I will address two topics that Google explicitly names as two advantages of Chromebooks—that is, the fact that you need not worry about backups or updates.
4. Backups
That you don’t need to take care of backups if you store all your data in the cloud is a claim often put forward. Of course, this is supposed to also be one of the alleged advantages of Chromebooks. From my point of view, it is one of the major disadvantages.
First of all, you really need a lot of confidence in a cloud provider if you assume that the provider will ensure that none of your data ever gets lost. You’ve probably heard that some data recently disappeared in Amazon’s cloud. Amazon customers who didn’t back up their cloud data have learned their lesson.
Cloud technology is very new and very complex. Even though all big cloud providers have sophisticated backup solutions, this doesn’t guarantee that data won’t get lost simply because cloud admins underestimated the complexity of their systems. The main question is whether you completely want to rely on a third-party organization to secure all your data.
The recent outage of Blogger shows that Google is not immune to cloud crashes. Thus, if you don’t have on-premises backups, not only will you be unable to access your data when the cloud is down or you have no Internet connection, but you might also lose important data.
I really, wonder, how you can back up your Chromebook data if you can’t even install backup software or backup agents. And what about the data that users of your organization store in the cloud, perhaps at different cloud providers? No standard exists that allows you to download all data to your datacenter from different cloud providers. And even if there were such a standard, it would cost a lot of bandwidth and additional workload for your organization’s admins.
However, the main reason why data backups are necessary is not data loss because of technical issues. Most restores in businesses occur because users accidentally deleted data or simply need an older version of their data. If the application itself doesn’t have a rollback feature, you need a backup of third-party backup software.
The lack of professional backup solutions for the cloud is one of the major reasons why businesses should avoid moving important data to the cloud. As long as Google doesn’t offer professional backup software for Chrome OS, businesses should think twice before taking the risk and allowing their employees to use Chromebooks. The fact that Google stresses that the lack of backup software is an advantage of their “new kind of computer” doesn’t sound promising.
5. Automatic updates
Sometimes it appears to me that Google’s engineers are so excited about web technologies that everything you can’t do easily with HTML, CSS, or JavaScript is something that only tortures users and has to be abolished and advertised as an advancement in computer technology. Backups in the cloud are a problem, so it is an advantage that you don’t need it for Chromebooks. A professional patch management solution needs more than a little JavaScript code, so it is an advantage that Chrome OS doesn’t have one.
Of course, Linux and Chrome code contains bugs and security holes just like Windows does , so it has to be patched and updated as any other software. The fact that users and admins have no control over the update process is not a feature; it is a serious disadvantage of Chromebooks.
There is certainly a reason why organizations test software updates before they distribute them in their network. Updates can cause compatibility issues. This is certainly also true for web applications. No responsible admin would deploy a new browser version before testing it thoroughly with all of the organization’s web apps. Imagine Google deploys a new Chrome version overnight without your knowledge to make the web interface of your main business app produce only HTML salad.
A similar problem exists for automatic updates in the cloud. Google tries to sell it as an advantage that users and organizations don’t have to bother about updating their software because the cloud provider takes care of this. Did you ever log on to a web app to quickly get some important work done, only to realize that everything has changed overnight but not really for the better? Now imagine what your inbox looks like if hundreds of your users have this experience Monday morning.
The fact that on-premises solutions allow organizations to decide when and what to update is a major advantage, not a disadvantage as Google claims. If you don’t like a new version of an application, you can simply skip it. If you have to prepare your users first for a new user interface, you can decide when they are ready. And if you first need to ensure that no compatibility issues exist, you can determine the pace of testing and deployment of the new version.
With the “new kind of computer,” Google gave up all these advantages of modern operating systems. To sell the lack of functionality as a feature is what dubious marketers are always trying. I just hope you won’t buy it.
In the next part of this series about Chromebooks, I will talk a little about usability and support for the cloud.
I have to say, I’m not following the logic with your backup argument.
There isn’t anything to backup on the chromebook itself… it’s just the OS and temp caches.
Any user specific data would exists on the web, and it would be located at whatever services/applications the user is using. The problem of backups moves from the local system to the cloud along with the apps, and yes that makes it a more complex problem (not that it isn’t already complex enough in traditional PC environments).
The issue of how to deal with backup and restore for data in cloud applications though is in no way a problem unique to chromebooks by any means. You seem to be arguing against cloud applications in general, not against chromebooks. The issues of backup in cloud services and applications is a very fair concern to have, but you’ll have to face those same issues no matter what platforms your organization uses… unless you plan to just not use cloud apps ever (good luck with that, then!)
Stephen, you summarized my critique very well. Of course, the problems I described apply also to other cloud operating systems. But why is critique not valid if it is not unique?
What is the logic behind your argument? The problems I described are good reasons not to use Chromebooks. What else do you need?
Well i guess i found the one sysop who really likes to test updates, lucky you. But serious: How long can you skip updates and is it for the better (think of all the IE6-business-users out there)?
And is it wise to be able to skip security-updates?
These advantages by far exceeds the theoretical breaking web-apps. HTML and Javascript are standardized (interpreted) languages, if the app is non-standard that not the fault of the browser.
Stefan – that’s nice in theory, but try explaining that when your business is loosing hundreds of thousands dollars for every hour that your employees cant do any work because this update broke one of your main business web apps…
I hate window updates. And having windows interrupt me in the middle of what I’m doing to restart my computer is a pain. I will be getting a google chrome book as soon as possible.
Stefan, the point is that with Windows you can decide if you test updates or not. With Chrome OS you don’t have this choice. I don’t see how this could be an advantage.
James, maybe you just have to configure automatic updates.