Why Desktop Modes are bad but Desktop Browsers are good
My ongoing search for a decent 2-in-1 device and the computing model of Chrome OS.
Almost to the day 4 years ago I mused what I really want out of my computing device. I summed it up with Desktop-like productivity & Tablet-like ease-of-use. Examples:
I want to be able to write in my Note Taking-App with keyboard and with pen.
I want to play first person shooters with mouse and board games with touch in local multiplayer mode.
I want to use macros in Excel and flick through mails with my finger.
I want a web browser where I can install extensions and read my saved articles on the couch.
I want to edit my pictures with multitouch and the photo files to sync onto the device automatically without opening an app first.
In a better world the iPad would have evolved to solve such tasks. I consider the attempts with the Surface line and the iPad line as very different in their conceptual approach but very alike in their failing to deliver.
It’s frustrating to notice all the building blocks that are right there, all in one company, but that company [Apple] doesn’t want to combine them — mainly for business bottom line reasons.
It’s even more frustrating when you are desperately waiting for a breakthrough (from the Microsoft or Apple ecosystem) year after year at least for a decade.
Going back to what I really want:
From a conceptional perspective I want to use my device like Samsung Dex: Touch-first on the go, Desktop-first (keyboard, mouse, monitor) when docked in.
For once, Samsung kept improving their custom-added feature — Dex got better. Huawei, LG, Xiaomi and recently Motorola jumped on the Desktop Mode bandwagon. There seems to be demand! Prediction: In the next 12 months Google will add this to stock Android.
But it’s not where I see the future. The different Desktop Modes don’t add new capabilities besides “Apps are in floating windows you can drag around”. Visual familiarity over function. It looks like you get the power of a desktop while that’s only true on first glance.
Pro stuff like shell access or a desktop grade browser are not part of the deal.
Which is the segue to Chrome OS.
I think most people already know the Operating System based on the Google browser and that it’s popular with schools. Mainly because of price (cheap hardware bundled with free classroom software).
While the OS got more convoluted over time, I’m still admiring the (initial) design of reducing layers of interaction to a minimum.
Maybe that’s what got me into buying the Lenovo Duet Chromebook when it was on Black Friday sale.
Anyway, I’m impressed that only 4 GB of RAM are sufficient for Chrome on ARM (not so much for Android apps to be honest, but I don’t have the need to use them a lot). The more important point why I like the device is that I didn’t need to change my workflow.
Consider me old school, but 90% of my daily computing usage can be fulfilled with a desktop class web browser.
- I rather open a new tab and search in [cloud sync provider of your choice] than opening the finder.
- I prefer instacalc.com to any built-in calculator.
- I like twitter.com more than their native client because I don’t like switching between the app and the browser on opening a link.
“Desktop class” is more than changing the user agent and being able to access the latest web apps. Fundamentally it’s being able to form my personal web experience. Be it with inspect tools, extensions, custom search engines, custom styles or custom shortcuts. On a browser where I don’t have the right to do so I feel severely limited and not at home.
In a sense every time I visit a website I renegotiate the terms: I interact with content or functionality but I am allowed to alter the functionality or hide certain content (like ads). On mobile I’m the consumer and only the consumer, while on desktop I can choose to step up and become something more.
The iOS app ecosystem is one hell of a moat. Yet, if I had to decide between it and the “full” web I would pick the latter.
I need to say Apple beat Google in bringing extension capability to their mobile browser. A narrative violation to the whole Apple is hindering the web (good post by Alex Russell). I’m starting to wonder if Google is very motivated to push web apps on Android. Why doesn’t the Play Store search show webservices?
Chrome OS runs on ARM machines. Chrome has a specialised build for M1 Macs. Why is there no real desktop Chrome available on Android? Not even on something like Samsung Dex?
If Google had a competent program management they would let Android for tablets die and go with Chrome OS only. Android tablets copied another mistake from the iPad: It’s the same conceptual model of the smartphone just on a bigger screen.
Back to the trend of Desktop Modes. The correct way for Google to implement such a mode would be to launch Chrome OS when plugged into a monitor.
Not only would the user get the full web experience with the advantages listed above. Chrome OS is built on Linux. And unlike Android or iOS you don’t need to jump through hoops to access the command line. Learning about it makes daily life so much easier on a Chromebook.
It seems absurd, but you can even go so far to install (real) Firefox on Chrome OS. Like any good product it doesn’t need to hinder competition from entering the platform.
The refreshing things about Chrome OS:
- It builds on what folks already know about how to use computers.
- It works both with Touch / Stylus or Keyboard / Mouse reasonably well.
- It has a built-in “Pro” mode that unlocks more use cases.
To paraphrase Bushnell’s law: It’s simple to begin with, but hard to master. A stark contrast to modern operating systems which dumb down and enclose the user without a switch that would set the device “free”.
There will be kids that tinker around with the CLI and they will become software engineers later. Apparently we need every single one of them.
