Chromebooks are the future. That’s bad

It’s been about a month since my laptop’s screen died on me. My 2015 Macbook Pro had taken a beating over the four or five years I’ve had it. A keyboard dying here, the battery not charging there. It’s what you’d expect (sadly) from an old machine. Old things break, so when my screen suddenly died on me with only a semester left in college, I decided the best solution would be a temporary one.

I went to Best Buy with no expectations. How hard would it be to get a cheap laptop able to use Google Drive and send emails? I’m a Journalism major focusing on digital publication–we don’t do a lot of heavy processor work, and I figured I could take a brief break from my web development obligations and focus on my last semester.

Looking around, there were plenty of machines that could do what I needed, but I didn’t want to invest in something I’d feel obligated to use after graduation other than as lightweight workstation. I had plans to build an office with a powerhouse stationary machine and spending a lot of money on a laptop that wasn’t another Mac didn’t seem appealing. I decided on a Chromebook. It’s Samsung, has a 15 inch display, a good keyboard, and all I needed to spend was $300. All for a machine I’ve slowly begun adoring.

It’s no Mac. I can’t do any of my programming work, other than managing droplets through the terminal in my Linux on Chrome OS beta. The screen’s viewing angles are horrible, and after using at Retina screen for the past half decade I feel like I’ve spent this month staring at a solar eclipse.
Still, the machine has been able to do all of the everyday tasks I’ve thrown at it. It can run plenty of Chrome tabs, the speakers are fantastic, being able to access Android apps has been a blessing–I use Google Tasks and there’s no web-based interface outside of a sidebar in some Google products–and manipulating downloadable files has not been an issue. That’s all with only 32GB of flash memory, 4GB of RAM, and an Intel Celeron processor.
Not bad for $300.

The fact that this computer is so capable scares me. I share many of the attachments of Simon Pitt, a writer for OneZero, who wrote an account of his emotional attachment to downloadable files.

I miss files. I still create many of my own, but increasingly, that seems an anachronism, like using a quill rather than a pen. I miss the universality of files. The fact they can work anywhere, be moved around easily.

The file has been replaced with the platform, the service, the ecosystem. This is not to say that I’m proposing we lead an uprising against services. You can’t halt progress by clogging the internet pipes. I say this to mourn the loss of the innocence we had before capitalism inevitably invaded the internet. When we create now, our creations are part of an enormous system. Our contributions a tiny speck in an elastic database cluster. Rather than buying and collecting music, videos, or other cultural artifacts, we are exposed to the power hose: all culture, raging over us, for $12.99 a month (or $15.99 for HD) as long as we keep up our payments like good economic entities. When we stop paying, we’re left with nothing. No files. The service is revoked.

I’m unapologetically a capitalist. I believe in the free market and the advancements made through competition, but I can’t say I find the thought of all my tasks being run through a multi-billion dollar company’s servers comforting. Especially one with such a poor privacy track record.

Google’s not the only company pushing for a remote services based future. Microsoft, with its recent introduction of Windows 10 S, which limits app installations to only the Window’s Store has established its interest in growing Windows as services-based revenue generator. Even going so far as to essentially give away its operating system for free.

The truth is that services are the future. Apple’s recent investment into music, games, and TV is evidence of this. Pull out your iPhone and open the App Store. Apple moved app updates to a sub-menu and supplemented its position with their new Apple Arcade.

This article serves as a brief highlight of the transition towards a services-based future. While subscriptions and simple machines that operate primarily through proprietary platforms and apps are inevitable, the reasons why companies are pursuing this future are primarily driven by data and control.
Still, even as we shift further into a sour-capitalistic ecosystem, it’s important to question what’s next? Is this really the long term solution to adpocolypse or will service based computing evolve into an unsustainable business like digital advertising today?