Google: Chromebooks are Cheaper, Faster and Stronger than YOU ( Aimed at Corporate IT Depts?)

Marketwatch ^ | May 12 2011 | Business Insider

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) just explained the business case for Chromebooks in a press briefing at I/O, and it’s crystal clear that they’re not a consumer product.

Rather, Google is going after Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) heart — the corporate IT department.

The pitch: Chromebooks are so much cheaper and easier to manage than PCs, it will free up the IT department to do other more interesting (and profit-centered) things.

According to Gartner, the cost of managing each Windows PC in an organization is between $3,000 and $5,000 a year. That’s how much it takes for an IT person to do things like push Windows and Office patches out every month, install and maintain antivirus software, answer helpdesk calls, and so on.

Google isn’t claiming that Chromebooks will push these costs to zero, but Chrome OS business manager Rajen Sheth said that they could total cost of ownership in half.

The best example: today when a new employee starts, it can take several hours to image a new PC with all the right apps and get them set up on all the different accounts they need.

With a company that’s already set up to use Chromebooks, all a new user has to do is sign on and he’s up and running. All applications are delivered over the corporate network or the Web.

The IT manager from Jason’s Deli, a chain of 230 restaurants, said that they gave a bunch of sales managers Chromebooks as part of a pilot program. Last month, the company had 70 trouble tickets from regular laptops. It had zero from Chromebooks.

But what about Office? What about specialized corporate apps that only run on Windows?

Those are taken care of through a deal with virtualization company Citrix (NASDAQ:CTXS).

[Still Thinking]

Good point.

[Cronos]

thin-desk clients make a lot of sense in the corporate world — most business users just need a few applications and most of these run on the servers in any case. Using a thin-desk can cut costs by 2/3rds in the best cases. 30 years ago network connectivity wasn’t as reliable and quick as today, nor were business users (0 tech knowledge people) using computers for their day-to-day jobs.

[Cronos]

While I dislike MS OSes, they do have a lot of advantages -- as you pointed out one -- that they are available on other machines. Hence the costs are lower.

At the server end of the market SUSE Linux and MS do rule.

I don't believe MS will die, but it will no longer be dominant -- neither will Apple or Google or IBM in their markets. Healthy competition is good.

[adorno]

thin-desk clients make a lot of sense in the corporate world

You are correct, for the most part.

However, Google Chromebook is not intended as a thing client for business users, and it's targeting the masses instead.

Microsoft has released to production, their ThinPC client, which will be more directed towards the business user. The ThinPC is not browser based like Chromebook.

However, your larger point, regarding what businesses need, is valid.

But, even on the Microsoft side, most of what Microsoft intends and prefers, is for businesses to give up running any applications on their end and move their every need, including applications and files, to the cloud. That's giving up control to an outsider, just like Chromebooks would do for the regular Joe out there.