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Version 19 marks a welcome update for existing Chrome OS users, and should suffice for the classrooms that are already issuing Chrome devices to students. Heck, it might even be time for curious early adopters to give Chrome OS a second look.

If much of what you do happens in the cloud anyway, a Chromebook has a lot of advantages -- it's cheaper, fast, simple to operate and gets great battery life. Google's other OS has grown up a lot in the past year and a half.

It's been an interesting two weeks living in the cloud -- enough so that I'm thinking about turning my vacation into a permanent residence.

The ChromeOS and the devices based on the OS have reached a point in maturity where they can be used as an “optional” or second computer. It is also benefitting from the fact that most of us have become used to living and working inside the browser.

Chrome OS struggles with the delineation between apps and Web sites, even though they are fast growing together. Great for students and casual home use, the day is coming when it'll be competitive, but it's not yet a replacement for a more mature OS.

I applaud Chrome OS and its simplicity, but if you want a taste of it, here's my advice on how to get it for free: download the Chrome browser on your computer, and then install your choice of apps from the Chrome Web Store. There, you're done.

Chrome OS has been hit with some fierce criticism in its short lifetime – some merited and some mean – but this incarnation answers several of its most difficult questions acceptably, if not perfectly.