A lot of people might be asking where is Google going with its Chrome OS roll-out. Will it be of any use? Or will it end up as just another novel yet misguided experiment from Google. The idea behind Chrome OS is to have everything stored on the Cloud. Until people might have wondered how will an operating system be more or less a browser? Most importantly what about the other tasks that people do from their computers – playing games, taking print-outs.
Google has introduced Cloud Print which will now allow us to publish our documents from the cloud. It is already available with the latest Chrome beta version
How to enable Cloud Print?
- You need a Windows PC and Chrome installed on it. On Chrome browser just click on the wrench icon at the top and look up “Options”.
- On the “Under the Hood” tab look up right at the end and you will see a button called “Google Cloud Print”.
- Click on it and it will ask you to sign-in with your Google credentials.
- You should see the Success message like in the image below. If you computer is connected to Printer, go ahead and test it out.
Why Cloud Print can potentially rock?
Cloud Print is still in beta phase but what it wants to achieve is eliminating the need for driver to use a printer. Drivers are the main obstacle any cloud based OS like Chrome OS will have to overcome to become a viable product.
Cloud Print which can be used to take print outs from any Cloud Print enabled app, computer or smart phone.
The Bad News
Cloud Print is a great idea but at the moment as it is being tested, it needs a computer and printer attached to it. It still does support Linux and Mac. This is like classic Google, which often puts out a not so complete service and start innovating and refine the features during beta. It really works when Google is focused and a fine example of this is Gmail. But sometimes Google tends to lose its focus on new innovations and we get disasters like Google Wave.
All things said and done, I still feel Google trying to cut the need for drivers for hardware devices is a rocking idea. What are your views on it? Do drop in your comments.
Link: Google Cloud Print