Initially targeted at Netbooks (incredibly small laptops with relatively low specifications), Google Chrome OS will be a lightweight, open source alternative to Windows.  It will be designed primarily for online [...]]]> The big news this morning was that Google is to release its own Operating System during the second half of 2010.

Initially targeted at Netbooks (incredibly small laptops with relatively low specifications), Google Chrome OS will be a lightweight, open source alternative to Windows.  It will be designed primarily for online use, with the entire OS essentially consisting of the Google Chrome browser running on a Linux backend.

The vision is that in the future rather than a developer producing a software package that requires a download and installation they would instead create a web based application that could be run from any Internet browser.  In many ways the idea makes a great deal of sense; you wouldn’t have to worry about updating your software, transporting files from one machine to another or indeed creating backups of your files.  Everything would be stored online and as such none of these usual factors would be an issue anymore.

Developers also wouldn’t have to worry about creating multiple versions of the same application for different Operating Systems because as long as the user had an up to date browser they would be able to run the software.  Regardless of whether you were using a computer that ran Google Chrome OS, Mac OS or Windows, you would still have access to all your favourite online applications.

The ambition Google holds is that eventually Chrome OS will develop in to something that could be seen as a viable alternative for use on all types of computer, not just Netbooks.  Personally, I both love and hate this idea of shaking up the way we use our computers in equal quantities; the possibilities are huge but the disadvantages are potentially crippling and too obvious to ignore.

First and foremost consider the fact that the whole idea is pretty much reliant on the user having a continuous connection to the Internet.  For many, this isn’t a problem as most home and office based users already have an ‘always on’ broadband connection, however if you find yourself in a situation without Internet then your Operating System immediately becomes useless.  While mobile broadband is becoming faster and cheaper for those that travel away from a fixed Internet connection, it won’t help if you’re stuck on a plane for eight hours!

A workaround to this would be to allow the OS to download web applications to your computer then run them as if you were connected to the Internet.  Unfortunately, as soon as this becomes a consideration we neglect the primary purpose of having an online based OS in the first place.

It is also undeniable that at present most Internet applications are a little primitive.  They have to be given credit for evolving incredibly quickly in recent years however they’re still a long way off representing a viable alternative to the large, installed applications most of us currently use.  In the past I have discussed Internet based software such as Google Docs and in the future I plan to cover advanced online applications such as the drawing application SplashUp but these online versions still lag behind their desktop equivalents in both speed and functionality.

No one knows exactly what the future holds.  It is undeniable that in the last couple of years our computing activities have become a lot more oriented around the Internet but whether we are ready for them to be entirely transferred remains to be seen.

I’m a student doing art studies and also a regular reader of your column ‘Click’ in the Heard Express. To assist me with my course I’m currently [...]]]> This week I’ll once again take the time to answer a question recently sent to me by a Click reader.

I’m a student doing art studies and also a regular reader of your column ‘Click’ in the Heard Express. To assist me with my course I’m currently looking for a good quality colouring program that I can download for free. Whilst I have downloaded programs in the past which were excellent they are all limited by 30 day trials and as a schoolgirl I don’t have enough money to buy to buy the full versions.

I was wondering if you would be able to recommend a good program that is available free of charge?

Lisa Penny, Torquay

When you say ‘colouring program’ I’m assuming that you’re after a drawing package which is capable of handling basic functions such as line, text and fill tools as well as more advanced features such as layering and if this is the case then there are two programs that I can confidently recommend. They are both completely free of charge and are very compact in size which will result in you having to spend little time on the Internet downloading them.

The first application goes under the name of GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) which I actually reviewed a couple of months back so won’t go into great detail here but to summerise my previous review, GIMP is quite a capable drawing program which is completely free of charge. It can be easily downloaded by heading to http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html and remember that if you do happen to miss any of my Click articles they can always be read online at www.computerarticles.co.uk

An alternative I discovered just recently is Inkscape which again can be downloaded free of charge from www.inkscape.org. The application, like GIMP is open source meaning that members of the public rather than big companies are responsible for its development and for adding new features

The first thing that you notice about Inkscape is the user interface which is very well laid out making the program extremely easy to use. When you first start up the program it looks very much different to the standard Windows application with many icons unique to Inkscape and they are used to great effect to clearly indicate their respective functions and the relation to similar functions present in the application. The user interface also relies a great deal on you learning keyboard and mouse combinations which whilst making the process of using the application faster also results in a fairly steep learning curve.

If we look at the features of the application they include shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and grouping. Whilst these are all fairly basic functions which are standard on most drawing applications, Inkscape sets itself apart from the competition by making them very easy to use and manipulate.

Inkscape is currently running at revision 0.43 and as this version number suggests is very much a work in progress application but nevertheless it is very capable and of course completely free of charge. Both applications I have mentioned here are extremely competent and as I am reluctant to recommend one over the other I would recommend that readers who have an interest in drawing should download them both and then pick the one that suits their particular needs best.