[lug] Jeffrey, please add me to your LinkedIn network

[Jeffrey S. Haemer]

As another option, I use an Acer C720 chromebook ($199) for personal
puttering. I'm content to use Google for things like
email/calendar/hangouts, and various Amazon cloud services for
mp3/streaming video/Kindle books/general shopping. A chromebook is
tailor-made for this use case.

It's a browser-in-a-box.

When I need a Linux box, I spin one up in the cloud, from my browser, and
use my chromebook as a thin client. I get a server, not a desktop, so I
don't worry about Gnome vs. KDE, and I haven't bothered to figure out how
to use the X server running on the Acer to display Xeyes running on the
cloud box. For shell scripts written to run in a terminal, the setup's fine.

Chromebook shortcomings that annoy me are that neither Audible nor my
corporate, Cisco VPN has a ChromeOS client. Audible pretends they're
working on the problem. Cisco doesn't, and probably thinks I should just
run Windows like everyone else.

It does mostly require a WiFi connection. So mostly do I.

Friends have expressed dismay at my willingness to let Google know my
schedule, Gmail be my mail client, Google Docs be my LibreOffice, etc. Plus
"What? No Xclock?" I'm okay with it. My life's boring and my needs, simple.

$199. Buy now and I think Google throws in 1Tb of free cloud storage for a
couple of years. (I only got 100Gb. Bummer.)

Plus, actually, they throw in some free, Gogo WiFi passes. Gogo's my
company, so I was eager to try it out when my girlfriend, Kristina, and I
flew to Maine to visit her parents. To my relief, it worked. At 40,000
feet, I exchanged email with my boss, streamed Amazon MP3s and YouTube
videos without a stutter, and -- because I couldn't help myself -- launched
a cloud box from the clouds.

What happens after 2 years? Beats me. I couldn't have predicted I'd be
doing this two years ago, so I'll wait and see. I'll probably buy something
else, which'll mean I'll have paid $100/year for a disposable,
computer-like appliance.

Anyway, works for me. YMMV.
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