Showing posts with label Chrome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chrome. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Our plans to support modern browsers across Google Apps
(Cross-posted on the Gmail Blog and Google Docs Blog.)
For web applications to spring even farther ahead of traditional software, our teams need to make use of new capabilities available in modern browsers. For example, desktop notifications for Gmail and drag-and-drop file upload in Google Docs require advanced browsers that support HTML5. Older browsers just don’t have the chops to provide you with the same high-quality experience.
For this reason, soon Google Apps will only support modern browsers. Beginning August 1st, we’ll support the current and prior major release of Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari on a rolling basis. Each time a new version is released, we’ll begin supporting the update and stop supporting the third-oldest version.
As of August 1st, we will discontinue support for the following browsers and their predecessors: Firefox 3.5, Internet Explorer 7, and Safari 3. In these older browsers you may have trouble using certain features in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs and Google Sites, and eventually these apps may stop working entirely.
So if it’s been a a while since your last update, we encourage you to get the latest version of your favorite browser. There are many to choose from:
As the world moves more to the web, these new browsers are more than just a modern convenience, they are a necessity for what the future holds.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
New computers for the browser-based world
Posted by Rajen Sheth, Group Product Manager, Chrome for Business
Today at Google I/O we unveiled the first Chromebooks. These mobile devices are a new kind of computer designed specifically for people who live in the browser. Chromebooks are made for people seeking uncompromising speed, simplicity and security, while providing features that will delight the IT department, too. For businesses and schools, we’re offering a subscription that includes the Chromebook, a web-based management console and 24/7 support from Google starting at $28 per month for businesses and $20 per month for schools.1
The concurrent rise of cloud computing and powerful devices like smartphones and tablets is dramatically changing the way we work. But to date the innovation has stopped at the PC. We still worry about crashes, long boot times, software incompatibilities, endless program updates, outdated hardware, viruses, and all the other headaches associated with a personal computer. What’s more, managing a PC is expensive when you include setup, maintenance and security - not to mention the lost productivity when things break. According to Gartner Research, the total cost for a desktop computer is between about $3,300 and $5,800 per year and laptops can cost even more.2
Chromebooks relieve these pains. They boot in 8 seconds, resume instantly and have WiFi and optional 3G so that users can always stay connected. Since Chromebooks update automatically, the software gets better over time, delivering the latest features as soon as they are released. Chromebooks are the first PCs designed with ongoing security threats in mind, which is critical for businesses. Chromebooks employ the principle of “defense in depth” to provide multiple layers of protection, including sandboxing, data encryption, and verified boot - to help keep your organization safe.
We also recognize that organizations want to centrally manage their Chromebooks, so we’re happy to announce we’re making this easy, with the ability to control accounts, applications and devices from a single web-based console. The new Chromebooks pricing model and simple, central maintenance means that Chromebooks are far more cost-effective than traditional PCs. Companies can save thousands of dollars per employee each year!
The browser is the platform
Chromebooks arrive as the browser is rapidly replacing the desktop as the platform for business applications. 85% of new software vendors will be focused on developing web-based apps by next year, and pretty much all software innovation takes place in the browser today.3 Typically businesses would have to rewrite or repurchase applications when moving to another operating system – not with Chrome OS! Chromebooks work with your existing web apps, browser-based apps behind the firewall and we even have a solution for your desktop applications via our collaboration with Citrix. By navigating to an HTML5-based version of Citrix Receiver, users can access virtualized applications such as Adobe® Photoshop® right from the browser.
We believe that a combination of web and virtualized apps will suit most business users today; in fact, a recent survey we commissioned found that two-thirds of companies could already switch the majority of their employees to an exclusively browser-based computing environment.4
What we learned from the pilot program
Since December more than 50,000 organizations have applied to our pilot program for testing Chromebooks. Participants ranged from the Intercontinental Hotels Group, Logitech® and MeadWestvaco to KIPP Academy and the City of Orlando. We heard from sales managers that the long battery life and integrated 3G helped them work more often from more places. Teachers told us that fast boot times and a reliable operating system meant more time to teach not troubleshoot. And IT administrators reported that Chromebooks were easier to manage and reduced security concerns, especially around viruses and the loss of sensitive data.
How to get your Chromebooks
Starting today, businesses and schools can contact Google regarding Chromebooks for Business and Education. This hardware and software as a service includes the Chromebooks themselves, a web-based management console to remotely manage users, applications and policies, full enterprise support, device warranties and replacements and regular hardware refreshes. Initially Chromebook subscriptions will be available in the US, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Spain, and we’ll be bringing them to other countries soon.
Learn more about Chromebooks for Business and how pilot customers are using them.
You can also join us for a live webinar on Chromebooks for Business and Education on Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 9 AM Pacific Time. Register here.
1Plus applicable taxes and other fees, subject to change without prior notice.
2Gartner Research, 2010. "Desktop Total Cost of Ownership: 2011 Update”
3IDC, 2010. “Worldwide Software as a Service 2010–2014 Forecast: Software Will Never Be the Same.”
4Google-commissioned 2011 Hall & Partners online survey of over 400 IT decision makers.
Today at Google I/O we unveiled the first Chromebooks. These mobile devices are a new kind of computer designed specifically for people who live in the browser. Chromebooks are made for people seeking uncompromising speed, simplicity and security, while providing features that will delight the IT department, too. For businesses and schools, we’re offering a subscription that includes the Chromebook, a web-based management console and 24/7 support from Google starting at $28 per month for businesses and $20 per month for schools.1
The concurrent rise of cloud computing and powerful devices like smartphones and tablets is dramatically changing the way we work. But to date the innovation has stopped at the PC. We still worry about crashes, long boot times, software incompatibilities, endless program updates, outdated hardware, viruses, and all the other headaches associated with a personal computer. What’s more, managing a PC is expensive when you include setup, maintenance and security - not to mention the lost productivity when things break. According to Gartner Research, the total cost for a desktop computer is between about $3,300 and $5,800 per year and laptops can cost even more.2
Chromebooks relieve these pains. They boot in 8 seconds, resume instantly and have WiFi and optional 3G so that users can always stay connected. Since Chromebooks update automatically, the software gets better over time, delivering the latest features as soon as they are released. Chromebooks are the first PCs designed with ongoing security threats in mind, which is critical for businesses. Chromebooks employ the principle of “defense in depth” to provide multiple layers of protection, including sandboxing, data encryption, and verified boot - to help keep your organization safe.
We also recognize that organizations want to centrally manage their Chromebooks, so we’re happy to announce we’re making this easy, with the ability to control accounts, applications and devices from a single web-based console. The new Chromebooks pricing model and simple, central maintenance means that Chromebooks are far more cost-effective than traditional PCs. Companies can save thousands of dollars per employee each year!
The browser is the platform
Chromebooks arrive as the browser is rapidly replacing the desktop as the platform for business applications. 85% of new software vendors will be focused on developing web-based apps by next year, and pretty much all software innovation takes place in the browser today.3 Typically businesses would have to rewrite or repurchase applications when moving to another operating system – not with Chrome OS! Chromebooks work with your existing web apps, browser-based apps behind the firewall and we even have a solution for your desktop applications via our collaboration with Citrix. By navigating to an HTML5-based version of Citrix Receiver, users can access virtualized applications such as Adobe® Photoshop® right from the browser.
We believe that a combination of web and virtualized apps will suit most business users today; in fact, a recent survey we commissioned found that two-thirds of companies could already switch the majority of their employees to an exclusively browser-based computing environment.4
What we learned from the pilot program
Since December more than 50,000 organizations have applied to our pilot program for testing Chromebooks. Participants ranged from the Intercontinental Hotels Group, Logitech® and MeadWestvaco to KIPP Academy and the City of Orlando. We heard from sales managers that the long battery life and integrated 3G helped them work more often from more places. Teachers told us that fast boot times and a reliable operating system meant more time to teach not troubleshoot. And IT administrators reported that Chromebooks were easier to manage and reduced security concerns, especially around viruses and the loss of sensitive data.
How to get your Chromebooks
Starting today, businesses and schools can contact Google regarding Chromebooks for Business and Education. This hardware and software as a service includes the Chromebooks themselves, a web-based management console to remotely manage users, applications and policies, full enterprise support, device warranties and replacements and regular hardware refreshes. Initially Chromebook subscriptions will be available in the US, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Spain, and we’ll be bringing them to other countries soon.
Learn more about Chromebooks for Business and how pilot customers are using them.
You can also join us for a live webinar on Chromebooks for Business and Education on Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 9 AM Pacific Time. Register here.
1Plus applicable taxes and other fees, subject to change without prior notice.
2Gartner Research, 2010. "Desktop Total Cost of Ownership: 2011 Update”
3IDC, 2010. “Worldwide Software as a Service 2010–2014 Forecast: Software Will Never Be the Same.”
4Google-commissioned 2011 Hall & Partners online survey of over 400 IT decision makers.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Chrome is Ready for Business
When we announced that Chrome is now used by over 120 million users and showed off some of its latest features last week, we saw a tremendous amount of excitement from both users and businesses. Many businesses asked how they can get the benefits of increased security, speed and the modern browser capabilities that Chrome offers with the configurability and customizations they need.
The good news is that businesses don’t need to wait any longer to deploy Google Chrome. Today, we’re announcing that Chrome offers controls that enable IT administrators to easily configure and deploy the browser on Windows, Mac, and Linux according to their business requirements. We’ve created an MSI installer that enables businesses who use standard deployment tools to install Chrome for all their managed users. We’ve also added support for managed group policy with a list of policies and a set of templates that allow administrators to easily customize browser settings to manage security and privacy. For your users that need access to older web applications not yet qualified for Chrome, we also added group policy support to Google Chrome Frame, an Internet Explorer (TM) plug-in that provides Chrome-quality rendering for the broader Web, while defaulting to host rendering for any web applications that still require IE.
By deploying Google Chrome, organizations can take advantage of improved security and web application performance without needing to upgrade other expensive software licenses or buy new hardware. Deploying Google Chrome also gives users access to productivity-enhancing HTML5 web applications. Since Google Chrome is the same as the browser on Chrome OS, admins considering Chrome OS for their organizations can start testing their mission-critical web applications by deploying the Google Chrome browser.
Support for these new administrative features is available to Google Apps for Business admins by phone and email as part of their Apps deployment. For those who are not Google Apps for Business customers, we’ve also posted documentation to assist administrators deploying Chrome inside their organization.
Over the past few months, we’ve worked to test Chrome with admins in a diverse set of large organizations interested in moving to a more secure, modern browser. Organizations such as Vanguard, Boise State University, and Procter & Gamble (and Google!) have already successfully deployed Chrome to thousands of users. They’ve provided us with excellent feedback, and we’re continuing to work on the next set of features that they’ve requested.
What we’ve built is just the start of what we’d like to offer businesses with Google Chrome. We’re excited by the features built so far, and we’re working hard on polishing the next set of policies that will make Google Chrome even more customizable and useful to users in the future. Please give the new features a try and let us know what you think!
The good news is that businesses don’t need to wait any longer to deploy Google Chrome. Today, we’re announcing that Chrome offers controls that enable IT administrators to easily configure and deploy the browser on Windows, Mac, and Linux according to their business requirements. We’ve created an MSI installer that enables businesses who use standard deployment tools to install Chrome for all their managed users. We’ve also added support for managed group policy with a list of policies and a set of templates that allow administrators to easily customize browser settings to manage security and privacy. For your users that need access to older web applications not yet qualified for Chrome, we also added group policy support to Google Chrome Frame, an Internet Explorer (TM) plug-in that provides Chrome-quality rendering for the broader Web, while defaulting to host rendering for any web applications that still require IE.
By deploying Google Chrome, organizations can take advantage of improved security and web application performance without needing to upgrade other expensive software licenses or buy new hardware. Deploying Google Chrome also gives users access to productivity-enhancing HTML5 web applications. Since Google Chrome is the same as the browser on Chrome OS, admins considering Chrome OS for their organizations can start testing their mission-critical web applications by deploying the Google Chrome browser.
Support for these new administrative features is available to Google Apps for Business admins by phone and email as part of their Apps deployment. For those who are not Google Apps for Business customers, we’ve also posted documentation to assist administrators deploying Chrome inside their organization.
Over the past few months, we’ve worked to test Chrome with admins in a diverse set of large organizations interested in moving to a more secure, modern browser. Organizations such as Vanguard, Boise State University, and Procter & Gamble (and Google!) have already successfully deployed Chrome to thousands of users. They’ve provided us with excellent feedback, and we’re continuing to work on the next set of features that they’ve requested.
What we’ve built is just the start of what we’d like to offer businesses with Google Chrome. We’re excited by the features built so far, and we’re working hard on polishing the next set of policies that will make Google Chrome even more customizable and useful to users in the future. Please give the new features a try and let us know what you think!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Chrome notebooks check-in to the world’s largest hotel chain
Editor’s note: Bryson Koehler is Senior Vice President for Global Revenue & Guest Technology at InterContinental Hotels, the world’s largest hotel group. IHG owns a portfolio of well recognized and respected hotel brands including InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites and also manages the world’s largest hotel loyalty program, Priority Club Rewards with 52 million members worldwide.
At InterContinental Hotels, we’re always looking for the latest and greatest technologies to better serve our customers. For instance, our IT staff develops most of our new internal applications as web apps using Google Web Tooolkit, a set of development tools that make it easier to build complex browser-based applications. So when we heard about Chrome notebooks, we jumped at the opportunity to try them out in several different parts of our business. The speed, simplicity and security benefits of this pure cloud computing model were too compelling to resist, particularly in contrast to the costs and hassles of desktop computing.
Some compelling use cases for Chrome notebooks include:
Call centers: We have 13 call centers around the world with thousands of agents whose goal is to get our customers the information they need as fast as possible. We believe the Chrome notebooks will provide our agents with the fastest experience for the web apps and sites that they use to support our customers. By reducing the average time per call, we’ll both increase customer satisfaction and significantly reduce our costs. And from an IT perspective, we won’t have to spend countless hours manually installing security patches and upgrades to operating systems and client software. Instead, we’ll be able to focus our time on creating more innovative apps to the benefit of our customers and our agents.
Business service centers: We have thousands of business service centers around the world that provide Internet access to our guests. The guest login feature of the Chrome notebook is great for this situation since it gives our hotel guests an extremely secure, state-of-the-art browsing experience while preventing them from leaving behind any sensitive information. With the Guest Mode feature, a user doesn’t even need to login to the notebook and all of their information including browsing history, cookies, etc. is deleted when they log out of Guest Mode.
Hotel guests: We’re even looking into providing Chrome notebooks to some of our hotel guests during their stay. Imagine leaving your laptop at home on your next trip, and just picking up a Chrome notebook from the front desk at check-in. You log-in and it’s just like your notebook at home: all your apps, bookmarks and preferences are available at your fingertips!
This is just the beginning. We are excited to pilot Chrome notebooks in all these areas of our business and begin exploring using them for every employee at the company. For us, the web is the platform and we’re excited at the potential of Chrome notebooks to delight our users, save us money, make us even more secure, and allow IT to focus on what makes our business unique. I look forward to making Chrome Notebooks our default computer!
Editor’s note: If you’re interested in getting Chrome notebooks for your team or entire organization, apply for the Chrome notebook Pilot program.
At InterContinental Hotels, we’re always looking for the latest and greatest technologies to better serve our customers. For instance, our IT staff develops most of our new internal applications as web apps using Google Web Tooolkit, a set of development tools that make it easier to build complex browser-based applications. So when we heard about Chrome notebooks, we jumped at the opportunity to try them out in several different parts of our business. The speed, simplicity and security benefits of this pure cloud computing model were too compelling to resist, particularly in contrast to the costs and hassles of desktop computing.
Some compelling use cases for Chrome notebooks include:
Call centers: We have 13 call centers around the world with thousands of agents whose goal is to get our customers the information they need as fast as possible. We believe the Chrome notebooks will provide our agents with the fastest experience for the web apps and sites that they use to support our customers. By reducing the average time per call, we’ll both increase customer satisfaction and significantly reduce our costs. And from an IT perspective, we won’t have to spend countless hours manually installing security patches and upgrades to operating systems and client software. Instead, we’ll be able to focus our time on creating more innovative apps to the benefit of our customers and our agents.
Business service centers: We have thousands of business service centers around the world that provide Internet access to our guests. The guest login feature of the Chrome notebook is great for this situation since it gives our hotel guests an extremely secure, state-of-the-art browsing experience while preventing them from leaving behind any sensitive information. With the Guest Mode feature, a user doesn’t even need to login to the notebook and all of their information including browsing history, cookies, etc. is deleted when they log out of Guest Mode.
Hotel guests: We’re even looking into providing Chrome notebooks to some of our hotel guests during their stay. Imagine leaving your laptop at home on your next trip, and just picking up a Chrome notebook from the front desk at check-in. You log-in and it’s just like your notebook at home: all your apps, bookmarks and preferences are available at your fingertips!
This is just the beginning. We are excited to pilot Chrome notebooks in all these areas of our business and begin exploring using them for every employee at the company. For us, the web is the platform and we’re excited at the potential of Chrome notebooks to delight our users, save us money, make us even more secure, and allow IT to focus on what makes our business unique. I look forward to making Chrome Notebooks our default computer!
Editor’s note: If you’re interested in getting Chrome notebooks for your team or entire organization, apply for the Chrome notebook Pilot program.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Chrome notebooks for business
Today we launched the Chrome notebook Pilot program. Chrome notebooks will be great for businesses, schools and government agencies -- especially Google Apps customers -- because they deliver a faster, simpler and more secure computing experience, with lower total cost of ownership than traditional PCs.
Learn more on the Official Google Blog and visit the Chrome notebook site to apply for the pilot.
Learn more on the Official Google Blog and visit the Chrome notebook site to apply for the pilot.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)