"This is the right device for student learning," said Bryan Weinert, technology coordinator for the Leyden Community High School District in Illinois. "We plan to deploy 3,500 to students next year. Every single student will be issued a Chromebook they can use at school and at home."

The Chromebooks will replace Netbooks, he said. "We were looking for a device that can be invisible. We want teachers to focus on instruction," not technical support, waiting for laptops to boot, or making sure they're charged, he said.

Oh, yeah, Chromebooks. They were going to destroy Microsoft's business once upon a time.

"Unlike with, say, an iPad, it's unclear if the tradeoffs to the Chrome OS-based systems make a lot of sense for typical consumers. And unlike a typical netbook, you're losing out on a lot of valuable Windows-based functionality.<br />
"I just don't know what to make of it.<br />
There's certainly a lot of promise here, and if you're a big consumer of Google services--especially Gmail, Google Calendar, and Picasaweb (photo sharing)--Chrome OS may eventually make a lot of sense. I say "eventually" because Google will improve its services this summer to support offline usage, a key problem with the system today. And I say "may" because, let's face it, anyone can just run Chrome on a Windows-based netbook or notebook. Why limit yourself only to Chrome OS?"<br />
<br />
Amazing how many people review the Chromebook as though its prime audience was going to be consumers. It isn't.

"Even as hardware majors like Dell , Acer and HP are laying big bets on the tablet and mobility devices, Google wants to sell Chromebook in many markets -- European and Emerging markets included. 'Our goal is to redesign end-to-end desktop computing. We are excited about Chromebooks. It is a new way of web based computing with under three minutes of boot,' says Pichai."<br />
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Could be quite interesting.