What's this sudden uncertainty about Google Chromebook?

There has been a dramatic change in the Betanews poll asking readers if they would buy a Chrome OS laptop. The number for respondents answering "No" dropped significantly, while the yeses and maybes are way up. That's all just today. What does it mean?

The first Chromebooks went on sale today, from Acer and Samsung, ranging in price from $379.99 to $499.99. About seven hours ago, I posted the obligatory launch day story and included the buying-intention poll first posted six days ago. During the first days the poll was up, more than 85 percent of respondents said "No" to Chromebook. When I posted the earlier-day's story, the number was 69.4 percent, from 562 respondents. The number answering "Yes" was 11.57 percent, while 19.04 percent answered "Maybe."

Now, with more than 1,400 respondents, the nos is 58.45 percent. There are now 27.87 percent maybes and 13.68 percent yeses. The big shift is in uncertainty -- fewer respondents are absolute "No," while more are "thinking about it."

A poll like this one is by no means scientific. The only filter is against voting twice. But otherwise anyone can vote, and respondents are unqualified by profession, age or other demographic criteria. I know respondents' countries, which are automatically collected based on IP address. Seventy-three percent of respondents are from the United States.

As Jacob Bourgeois observes in comments: "Don't need a BN account to vote, but you need one to comment. Makes a difference."

Still, it's fascinating to see such a dramatic change in the poll results, which surely isn't coincidental on launch day. There are lots more Chromebook reviews now, then there is the response to actually being able to order the product. I would go so far as to call the poll indicative of a changing trend in reception but otherwise regard the results cautiously.

Quick refersher: Chromebook runs Google's Chrome OS, presenting the browser as the user interface. For anyone using Chrome on Windows, Mac or Linux, Google's operating system will feel familiar. Chromebook is meant to stay constantly connected to the Net, storing data in the cloud and accessing services from websites or apps installed in the browser.

Real-World Reviews Needed

"A Chromebook is a good tradeoff for some people," writes commenter malin. "It is about the same price as a normal laptop or netbook, and it gives you some perks: instant on, automatic backups, bulletproof security without any fears even if you are a novice or an idiot."

In December, Google started dispatching 60,000 Cr-48 test Chromebooks. "I have been beta testing the Cr-48 and I am totally going to buy a Chromebook, but I'm going to wait for the price to go down a little," Michael Wilson comments -- "maybe before Christmas. Everything is expensive when it first comes out. A video game costs 60 dollars new. : ( The Chromebooks have everything a online guy like me needs. set-up is simple,there is no need for any maintenance. no defragmenting, no patches, no virus scans! : )"

Commenter alephnaut sees no future for Chromebooks: "I predict that google will cancel this silly project within 2 years. Most of the retail channel will disappear within a year after dealing with the high rate of return due to complaints like: 'What do you mean I can't print this email?' 'How do I scan a photo?' and 'Where do I put my home movies?'"

What would be helpful: To get some feedback from people who actually bought a Chromebook. I posted my first-impression review yesterday. So if you got one, can you share in comments what you think of Chromebook and Chrome OS.

Meanwhile, there are six reviews at Amazon for the Samsung Series 5 3G model in Arctic white -- the same one I have. Two 5 stars, three 4 stars and one three stars.

Steven Farnell, who gave the Chromebook five stars writes: "This is a great match for me, but life in the cloud is a drastic change from traditional computing. You will not be installing traditional software on this computer. You will be using websites for everything. Some things do have offline support using HTML 5, but right now offline functionality is really lacking."

D. Bui, the three-star giver, is still enthusiastic, writing: "For a gen 1 product, I love it!"

So, again, if you got a Chromebook, please help those people answering "Maybe (I'm thinking about it)" decide whether to buy into the great Google experiment or skip it altogether.