Smartbooks: an old dream and a long shot at revolution

Many have described or even built an Internet appliance over the last decade or so.  These attempts have failed.  Perhaps things are changing now.  One can now try to live with applications provided solely as Internet services:  File backup & storage, email, word processing, real-time collaboration, content readers and so on.  So many years after the browser became the killer application of the Internet...  it still is.  The amusing Atwood's Law states that any program that can be written in JavaScript eventually will be.

In 5 years or so it is quite possible most Internet users will have a mobile Internet appliance as their primary computing and communications device.  Does this grow from the phone and eat the PC or does the PC re-invent itself and shrink or do both compete?

Google announcing Chrome OS will support both ARM architecture (smartbooks) and IA (netbooks) makes one think Google is not yet betting either way.  Running various Linux-based operating systems won't cut it for smartbooks or any Internet applicance.  What is needed is a software platform (platform vendor bringing together software developers and end users is appropriate numbers) not just simply an operating system.  Google gets this and has it with Android and we can guess they will with Chrome OS.  Google provides a long shot for a smartbook revolution and the resurrection of the old Internet appliance dream.  Apple is the dark horse.

Update:  Some market projections for netbooks and smartbooks at EETimes