The expert view Jon Honeyball

Should you roll out Chrome OS laptops across your business? The answer is simple. Try it. But try it seriously. A few laptops scattered here and there is not a true warts-and-all trial. This requires planning and determination. After all, you’re probably on the cusp of deciding whether to go down the Office 365 path for the next decade, or to switch trains to the Google world. Such a decision massively impacts not only the desktop side, but also the server and infrastructure. And hence any decision requires deep thought.

But the reality is that moving to a full Office 365 cloud infrastructure requires equal planning and care too. So whichever is the outcome, the work is going to be the same if you do things properly.

For myself, I think that Windows is turning into a legacy platform, and the cold, hard reality is that most people don’t need most of the functionality that full Office brings. Even Microsoft admits this with its Office Lite apps for Android and iOS. These aren’t limited because of the platform – they’re limited because Microsoft wants to keep full-fat Office strictly on Windows. Yes, there is Office for Mac, but that’s a miserable and pale imitation of the Big Daddy.

All tasks that can’t be handled by a basic word processor and spreadsheet should be done inside carefully considered HTML5 web-based applications. The OS is merely the platform that boots you to this working set of tools. Viewed that way, do you want one with 30 years of legacy crapware, malware and exploits, or one that was designed to be tougher and more “disposable”?

The answer is clear. If you don’t give Chrome OS serious consideration, then you are mad. If you do, and decide to stick with Windows, then do so based on honest decision making.