Chromium vs Ubuntu Netbook - Let the war begin

My latest craze has been Netbook oriented as I want to find out why a lot of people have started adopting this approach to their daily needs. I started out by trying Google's famed Chromium OS and subsequently visited the Ubuntu solution from Canonical as well. Here's what I found and maybe it can be useful to people that are trying the same.

The setup

Both Chromium and U-Netbook can be installed on a USB stick and just booted up by changing the BIOS options to load the OS from the desired location on boot. I found that Chromium offered the faster experience on load and this might be attributed to the fact that the entire OS is built on the Chrome Browser. The Ubuntu release didn't really take much longer but it did take a whole extra three seconds on my laptop and then finally did load.

The quirks on load

Chromium offered no wireless support for the version I tested and hence I was forced to run my entire experience via a cable connected to my laptop which lead to a rather unpleasant first start. The Ubuntu client however, loaded up and then offered me a list of Wireless networks to choose from. A click of my choice and a WEP PWD enter later I was browsing the internet with no cables at all. The only place where the Chromium OS just put U-NetBook to shame was related to the delay in response from the client when U-NB loaded. My entire notebook froze and I was only able to move the mouse till it loaded something that never really stopped loading through my entire experience.

The User Management and Login

Chromium gave me the universal Google way of handling things which let me into the OS via a simple username and password screen that took my Google account and then offered me all the rest of my Google services at a simple click away as I was logged into the service(s). Ubuntu on the other hand just loaded up and froze for a bit before it offered me all the standard Ubuntu functionality that I have come to expect from my Ubuntu box that I run with a Desktop version of Ubuntu.

Managing the Experience

This is where Chromium dropped the ball and for the most part you can understand why Google have done this. The Chromium browser is your one stop shop into how the entire OS runs and everything is done in a browser window offering applications that are web-based ranging from a calculator all the way to Google Docs and the integrated Google Talk component inside Gmail. Ubuntu offers users the ability to change preferences, install hardware/software and gives any hardened Linux user the standard options they are used to.

First Impressions and Verdict

I am a fan of speed and Chromium OS is the faster of the two. It handled the load quickly, got me into my mail, provided me some standard links to utilities I might need and actually got me running as a standard web-user. Ubuntu Netbook is something a power user who just wants a quick loader for themselves will stick to. It offers enough to leave your slow Windows-based machine and migrate to it without even blinking an eyelid. The speed of the applications was very good and it all just fit on a USB stick offering me a chance to install it locally.

Google Chromium vs Ubuntu Netbook

1. Chromium is a great out-of-the-box experience - it offered me browsing (with Flash), widgets for my daily work and the ease of sign-in with my Google ID/PWD
2. Ubuntu is great until you get to the home screen and then it just hangs. It didn't come Flash ready and it wasn't until I installed Google Chrome on it that I managed to get my Flash experience back on track. Hardly, something that a person requiring web-access should have to do but some will argue that its a one-time installation and that it shouldn't hamper the experience.
3. Chromium is still in Beta and will probably remain that way for a while until Google feels its public ready. The system did hang in certain instances where I wanted it to load specific information that was very heavy but it didn't really hamper my ability to browse pages.

If your a hard-core web fan then Chromium is probably something you'd use to get an average joe introduced to the whole netbook experience. It turns on quick, gets you on even faster and if they can sort out the whole WiFi issue then they will have a winner.

If you are the kind of person that needs all the fancy customizations and everything to look all glossy and pretty with a hand under the hood at all times then Ubuntu Netbook is the way to go. The Ubuntu One sign-in offers great synchronization across all PC's using U-NB and this is also true for Chromium. The Firefox that comes with it needs to be seriously repackaged with some better in-house support, however, with the advent of HTML-5 I don't see that being a real issue.

I hope this helps anyone out there who is looking at a Netbook OS option and I am always willing to hear back from you'll about your experiences and how its worked out for you.

Music Listened to while writing this post - Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel

The List #2 - June 2010

Here's another thirteen things I have observed recently in no particular order of precedence.

1. Don't start a fight with an Apple fan-boy. The chances of you winning the fight are great. The chances of acquiring permanent mental damage are higher.
2. Not everything you read on the internet is true (Gosh I wonder why)
3. Web 2.0 is the beginning of the end of validated and correct information
4. Every politician on the planet has traded favours either with other humans or animals (aka other politicians)
5. A Vuvuzuela is not a noise-maker its a cultural cacophony in the making.
6. Software is meant to break. If you start cursing it, it will only get better (at breaking that is)
7. Your manager doesn't always know what's right so double checking never hurts
8. There is no substitute for naturally acquired talent. These people have something that a book doesn't offer - it's called skill.
9. A Dosa is a rejected Frisbee [Personal opinion of course]. Why anyone would put such a horrid thing in their mouth and lick their lips post it still baffles me. I have been trying hard for many years to understand it and in the process have subjected myself to this torture many times.
10. Tom Cruise might practice Scientology but that's because he doesn't get paid enough to follow anything else.
11. Adidas is and always will be better than Nike
12. Chaos at its peak is more entertaining than getting laid
13. Teaching is better than preaching

The List - June 2010

List of me musings for 2010 (so far) - Thirteen per day only

1. People don't know how to wear a suit properly. Sometimes you'll see people wearing the most ghastly suits with even more ghastly shoes and ask yourself why they even bother putting on a suit only to look more like a monkey when they do.
2. People just lack manners and any kind of professional etiquette in India. Yes, I am Indian and I am not particularly fond of how people say you know I want a job in XYZ and it will be better for me when you can actually start now and save yourself (perhaps the country too). Someone always comes back and tries to tell me better by trying to blow rainbows up my ass here. My only reply is George Michael might like it from you more than I will.
3. Telling someone your not capable of mentally growing is already destroying your credibility with them. Don't waste your time trying to move on in life if you've got this attitude. Chances are you've already condemned yourself to a life of meaningless existence and you haven't realized it yourself.
4. High-Definition Television is only 720P and above. Anything else is pointless and shouldn't be advertised as such. MPEG-4 isn't high-def by itself nor will it ever be.
5. People in the country which I live in thrive on "I'll do it yaar" or "Chalta Hai". I'd love a doc to tell them that when someone they care about or they themselves are on their death bed.
6. Zero is the new infinity. Think about it.
7. Companies that claim that they want new and fresh ideas really want older people with proven ideas to work for them.
8. A slut is a male definition not a societal one. Got any other explanation for it? Go ahead I am all ears.
9. Cricket is good as long as its on a channel that is far away from what I want to watch.
10. South Africa has done a good job for the World Cup and probably will do for the rest of the WC as well.
11. England will not make it past the quarter finals in the WC. When they do crash the tabloids in the United Kingdom will do what they do best ... move onto bashing the players personal lives.
12. SAAS is the future and sadly no one is seeing how big it is going to be and capitalizing on it.
13. Steve Jobs is going to die soon and when he does, Apple will still churn out hot products because he's only selling them not making them. The next time that someone says that Jobs made the iPod I will point them to Google and remind them to read first then post.