Remember, Google doesn't build Chrome OS primarily for today's infrastructure. They build for the future, with tomorrow's technology.

A few early adopters will take the hit, accept the flaws of an OS runs best when online in a world where the infrastructure doesn't support it everywhere. These are probably mostly going to be urban people in areas where Turbo 3G and WiFi connections are no problem.

You don't even have to visit the future in order to experience a world where you are can be online virtually everywhere - even in rural areas (and for peanut money). Just visit Scandinavia for instance.

I was on a train between Gothenburg and Stockholm about two years ago. Too cheap to pay for the Internet connection on the train, I used my ~$12/month unlimited Turbo 3G with my laptop. I dropped connectivity 3 times, the longest time was about 5 minutes. That was two years ago and that train goes through some very rural areas!

4G is around the corner, and that is probably what Google has in mind for Chrome OS. High-bandwith and low-latency connectivity available virtually everywhere.

In the near future, Internet connectivity will not be an issue 99.9% of the time in any places most people are ever likely to go. With Google Gears as a backup-solution for those few occations, I don't really see connectivity as being a major problem.

Why not? Have you ever heard of Spotify, Joost or Voddler?

Actually, that's not really what Wikipedia says.

No, it is a geek issue. Sure, cloud storing isn't for all data and web based apps isn't the best solution in all cases, but that doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of cases where they do make perfect sense.

I wouldn't store anything in the cloud or edit anything in a web app that I wasn't willing to send in an unencrypted e-mail message over the Internet. I also wouldn't use web apps for things that are critical and possible to perform offline, but for everything else, it's definitely mainly a geek issue.

No, they caught on because people obviously care about different things than you do.

See, not many people care if they need to download a 30k executable or a 100k javascript. They also don't care if that executable can perform whatever they need done in 0.2 seconds instead of two seconds for the web app. And they definitely don't care that you think that it's almost parasitic. Really? Why should they care about anything else than getting the job done in the most convenient way?

They care that they can get things done that they doesn't do very often, without having to find, install and run a piece of software locally - and risk getting malware at the same time or slowing down their computers.

Web apps are convenient. The user doesn't have to bog down his computer with tons of applications that he doesn't use very often and he doesn't have to worry (to the same degree) about malware. He will always have the latest version and he can access it no matter if he is at an Internet cafe in Thailand, at a friend's house or home at his desktop.

You may not like it, but web based apps definitely have several advantages over traditional, local apps and they do make sense a lot of time for a lot of people. Especially simple tools that may not be used very often, but also Office Suites (if you want to access your documents from everywhere), translation software or other software that constantly needs updating of data.

Sure, they may not - from a purely technical standpoint - be the most efficient applications. They may use up more bandwidth and total resources than local apps, but as long as they smoothly enough and are simple enough to use, noone except for the most pedantic programmers will care or even notice. They will just notice that it's simpler and takes less effort for them than downloading and installing a local app.

Because a free man who works gets paid and gets to decide what to do with that money.

A slave who works gets room and food, but isn't free to choose to get money in his pocket to do what he wants for instead.

Taxation is money that you've earned but don't have the freedom to decide how they will be spent.

So the less taxes you are forced to pay, the more freedom you have over the resources you've earned and freedom over the resources you've earned is one imortent aspect of freedom.

Plus, the less taxes you pay, the less money the government has to do stupid things with, like sending troops to kill people in foreign countries or overcrowding prisons with people for victimless crimes, so it actually gives you more freedom in two ways.