Windows is not "torturing users," despite the claim of Google's Brin

By Preston Gralla

Google co-founder Sergey Brin unloaded on Microsoft yesterday, claiming that Windows is "torturing users." The phrase has a nice ring to it, but it's way off base.

Brin made the claim yesterday when he unveiled Chrome netbooks. Here's what he told the audience at the Google I/O conference, according to Network World:

"With Microsoft, and other operating system vendors, I think the complexity of managing your computer is really torturing users. It's torturing everyone in this room. It's a flawed model fundamentally. Chromebooks are a new model that doesn't put the burden of managing the computer on yourself."

According to Brin, because applications and data will live on the Web, rather than on a local computer, machines like Chromebooks will be easy to set up, use, and manage, unlike Windows and other operating systems.

But how about Chromebooks? Certainly they'll be simple. But they'll have their own set of problems as well, which may "torture users" just as much as Windows.

The biggest problem is Internet access. Without broadband access to the Internet, the devices will be largely useless. In a perfect world, we'd all have broadband access to the Internet everywhere. But the world isn't perfect. The Internet isn't available everywhere, and it certainly isn't available via broadband everywhere. Having a Chromebook but not being able to use it certainly qualifies as torture. Even where I live in Cambridge, MA, there are bad zones and bad times. 

That being said, I think there are plenty of good uses for Chromebooks, especially in businesses, although I don't think they're well-suited for consumers. As for Windows, it certainly has its share of problems. But torturing users? It would not have become the dominant operating system in the world if it were torturing users. So while Brin might have turned a nice phrase, that's all it is, a phrase that doesn't reflect reality.