Tag Archives: DownloadSquad
DownloadSquad Policy: We Delete Blog Posts When We’re Wrong
Posted on 15. Feb, 2011 by Daniel Cawrey. 
3 Comments
It’s interesting. When you blog about something and you’re incorrect, you usually just append that information and then update your post. Apparently over at AOL’s DownloadSqaud blog, if you get something wrong you simply delete the post. Earlier today I came across an article from Jay Hathaway about Eric Schmidt’s talk today at the Mobile World Congress and Chrome’s active users. Here’s the intro:
Google’s Eric Schmidt gave the keynote at MWC 2011, providing an immense amount of information about the state of Google. One number jumped out at us, though: 120 million active Chrome users. This is the first time Google has revealed the size of Chrome’s userbase since last year’s Google I/O, when they reported 70 million users. We knew Chrome was popular, but we didn’t know exactly how popular until now.
Video: Newest Chrome OS Build Booting Up
Posted on 28. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
DownloadSquad has put up a video of the latest Chromium OS booting on a Gateway LT netbook. While it’s not overly quick, it does demonstrate the UI changes that have happened since the initial launch last November.
Those Repository Files Must Mean Something
Posted on 21. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Last week, DownloadSquad’s Lee Matthews discovered some public repository files that referenced three hardware manufacturers: Dell, Acer and HP. A few days later, those files were then replaced by a different listing that included some legacy hardware such as Amiga, Atari and Commodore, among others.
This has got to mean something. One thing that jumped out in my mind when Matthews first reported this story was that Dell is not on the official list of hardware partners. When I contacted a source who is working closely with some official partners on hardware about Dell, I was told that there are no new announcements for the time being.
It seems the three manufacturers and there repository files on the Chromium site point to the logical conclusion that they will be the first companies associated with official Chrome OS products. It’s a different move than the route that was taken for Android where a more upstart company, HTC, took the first leap into the mobile OS and rode that platform to the success that it is today. I really don’t see HTC having the same spotlight it now holds with smartphones if it had continued down the Windows Mobile path it was on a few years ago.
Regardless, I have a great deal of respect for Dell, Acer and HP as longstanding companies producing computer hardware. The fact that they are getting behind this project further validates to me that Chrome OS will be a strong competitor in the consumer computing market over the coming years.
Dell an Official Chrome OS Partner?
Posted on 14. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Recently, DownloadSquad deftly discovered that the Chromium repository referenced three manufacturers and their private hardware builds – from Acer, HP and Dell. While the first two companies were already on the list of known partners with Google on the project, Dell was left out for some reason.
However, the Dell Linux team has periodically been releasing updated builds of Chromium OS, announcing this fact in the Chromium discussion board. It is hard to speculate at this point, but one must start to wonder if the three hardware manufacturers plan on announcing releases of their Chrome OS products at the same time. Whatever the case may be, we know to expect any release information to come directly from these manufacturers at some point in the fourth quarter of 2010.
The releases that have been put out by Dell have been aimed at their Mini series of netbooks, so it’s easy to wonder whether they will be launching a Chrome OS product that is a 10″ netbook.
It is really hard to say at this point since we have seen such a precipitous decline in the popularity of netbooks since the arrival of Apple’s tablet, so it would most likely do Dell and the other two companies well to find some middle ground on a netbook/laptop hybrid that encompasses an innovative form factor paired with performance specs to wow enthusiasts, all at a competitive price.
Sounds like a tall order. No wonder Google is letting the manufacturers do the talking on this one.
thechromesource Weekend: Links for 6/13/10
Posted on 13. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
Dell, Acer and HP Chrome OS devices appear to be coming out first, based on Chromium repository info found by DownloadSquad.
Does open source software have more vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit than closed-source?
Potential Chrome OS tablet competitor WePad will come with ad-supported widgets that cannot be removed from the system.
Legal problems are still ahead in the Google wi-fi fiasco, and a class-action may be in the cards.
In order to further push Google Apps, the company has launched the Gone Google site, complete with a “cloud calculator”.
