Google has explained why its staff have not all been shifted over to Chrome OS, with two senior Googlers explaining that they believe people should move over when they choose to.
Google is a big believer in what is termed "Dogfooding" – the company's first consumers of any of its technology is the staff itself.
When asked in a briefing why many senior Googlers are still seen using Macs and Windows PCs, Vice President of Engineering Linus Upson and Product Management Director for Chrome OS Caesar Sengupta explained exactly why.
New hires
"The way it works at Google is that when new arrivals come in they can choose what kind of computer they want," said Upson. "We're just now making Chromebooks available to all new employees when they come in.
"The thing is that, unlike many companies Google is a very diverse culture, and so when we launched Chrome [browser] I'd show up at meetings and see what people were projecting and the odds were it was going to be Firefox.
"It wasn't like everyone started using Chrome overnight but after a year when we made Chrome better and better… then you were more likely to see Chrome projected in meetings.
Upson:
"We're not forcing it on anyone – we want to delight people with it so they choose it."
"We're seeing the same thing with Chromebooks. We're not forcing it on anyone – we want to delight people with it so they choose it, and we're starting to see the same kind of adoption as we did with Chrome one year in."
Sengupta pointed out that Chromebooks are a cheaper computing option, and that people can opt for more expensive computers when they join.
"Remember that we have fairly big IT budgets within Google so people can choose from three times the price of the Chromebook
"What we're seeing is that a very large of people are starting out with Chromebooks."
