I agree--the current picture of ChromeOS is that of an "applicance OS"--much like iOS is for Apple.

But as I said before, if they simultaneously take it in the desktop direction there is no reason why there could not be a "full blown desktop" version of ChromeOS *if* they do the reverse of what Apple did.

The reason this would be preferable to Linux for people coming from Mac OS X would be the better end-user polish it would provide and better windowing system (not X11).

I think there is a substantial number of us for whom Linux still is too clunky in a number of UI areas that even though we love using bash for development and sysadmin work, we want something a little more polished for everyday end-user stuff.

It's really not all that implausible that ChromeOS would be able to run Java and Java IDE's just fine. Google itself does tons of Java development.

You don't think they would have some interest in being able to develop on ChromeOS? It seems entirely possible that Google could do what Apple has done going from OS X to iOS, but in reverse, to the point where ChromeOS can do everything Linux can do, only prettier :)

I was really disappointed to see this. It does feel like Apple is so hyper-focused on iPhone/iPad/etc technologies that they are completely neglecting the support that the developer community has provided for OS X as a developer platform.

I know that many, many devs like myself use Macs, and many of us either code in Java or a JVM-based language (Scala), or we use Java-based tools (NetBeans, Eclipse, IntelliJ). Honestly this comes across as a slap in the face to developers, and so many of us who have put our trust in the Mac as a development platform are really going to feel betrayed by this. We love our Macs, the bash shell, the quality and stability of the OS, and we love developing on them! Apple, please think about the ill-will you are spreading to the development community!!

Considering all that, I think all we can do at this point is hope that Oracle will be fast in getting their distro of Java ready for OS X. I wonder would there be any chance of native OS X Aqua support or would everything be relegated to X11?

In the meantime I will hope for the best while preparing myself for the possibility that I will have to move to Linux for my primary desktop environment. Having grown accustomed to the polish and quality of desktop apps for OS X over the last ten years, this will be a tough pill to swallow. Perhaps ChromeOS will evolve into a true competitor to OS X over the next few years.

Costs $2000-4000 and up, with crappy interface even on a $200,000 Mercedes.

But other organizations can do all kinds of nasty shit to us *unless* the government has laws and regulations in place to protect us from them.

Not really true. Check out "Section 527" groups.

Seriously? Have you ever used this app called Microsoft Word. I still can't figure out how to stop it from changing fonts on me whenever it feels like it, (or creating those damn outline-mode lists). It's always doing all kinds of automatic shit and has a host of incomprehensible menus that scatter options all over the place.

I agree with what you wrote except for this:

I have found this to be _very_ untrue. Although most of my friends that are my age (about 30) are OS X users, my friends that are (or were) Windows users, and my corporate coworkers (telco) I've worked all hated Windows. Also included would be the many people in my immediate and extended family. I don't think they often say, or think of it as, "I hate Windows," but rather identify the problem as "this computer is always crashing," or, "why is my computer running slower and slower," or "why does it keep doing this all the time," or "why's it so hard to do X Y or Z on this computer," which invariably is a Windows computer. The central theme for me is that pretty much every Windows user I have contact with is generally very unhappy with how well their computer is working for them. Why they don't identify Windows specifically as the problem, and why they are so unwilling to consider alternatives, I am not sure. The strangest thing to me is how prejudiced against OS X people are who have never really used it. At least I can say, hey I used Windows for years and know how much it can suck in many ways. Personally, I find the configuration/System Pref/Control Panel(s) in Linux to be utter crap; it's terribly scattered and cryptic. In Windows you have way too many categories, and the usual hokey MS bullshit, but at least you can find the config option you need if you dig a little. Anyone that wants to know how to make System Config powerful yet easy, so that nearly anyone can handle it, needs only to look at what Apple has done with OS X.