It’s my first working day with a Google Chromebook.

I needed a replacement for a broken Macbook and was very curious about the Google Chromebook, so I decided to give it a go. I still have a backup for more demanding things (another much bigger laptop running Ubuntu)  but the Chromebook will be my main machine for at least one month – and hopefully after that.

I can do this because most of my work happens on my email or in online applications: Cobot is on the cloud, and so are most of the tools we use to run it: Intercom, Basecamp… I have been using Drive to create and store documents for a while, and our company shared drive is stored in Dropbox. If I spend all my day in a browser… why do I need anything else than a browser?

Something I will need to work out is how to replace my abusive use of Skype. There’s probably some plugin out there. In fact, chrome has plugins for almost anything you can think of! I will probably be sharing a list of my favorite plugins at some point.

So far, the setup has been smooth: just had to connect to a wireless network, enter my Gmail address and password to import all bookmarks, plugins passwords… pick a desktop background and I was ready to go.

• Pros: The transition from one computer to another is very, very smooth.
• Cons: This makes it super easy for anyone to have a machine running with all my details. If anyone has access to my Gmail password they will have access to everything!
• What can I do? Change my Gmail password often – like when back in the days I had to change all my system passwords at least once a month.
• What can Google do? What about a two steps verification process, with my phone or something like that? Or sending an email or an sms with the mac address of the machine where my session is open for the first time?

I will keep you posted about how my day works today (it’s only 8am in my end of the world now, so there’s not much to say yet!). In the meanwhile, you may want to take a look at another post I wrote about the Google Chromebook: Why I believe in Chromebooks.

Have you tried one? Would you be willing to give it a try? What are your concerns about using a Chromebook? What do you think about this new generation of, erm, computers?