Chrome Platform
With all this news of soon to be released Chromebook and Chrome computers, there is no doubt that Google is preparing to profit tremendously. I've gotten to use my Dell Chromebook for a couple of weeks now and I understand why these machines are rated/reviewed so highly (just check out the number of Chromebooks listed the top-rated laptops on Amazon); and Amazon doesn't even sell the great Dell Chromebook 11!
The software is light and speedy as one would expect from the Chrome OS where majority of the usage will be on the web browser. I'm up and browsing the web on my Chromebook from a cold boot in under five seconds (including entering my Google password to log in). Google Hangout conversations are displayed with profile pictures icon instead of large tabs on the Mac OS version; it certainly takes up much more space and for us, humans, it's more natural to recognize images than reading words.
It was estimated in 2013 that over 20% of US school districts were using Chromebooks in their schools (beating out Macs but not close to the dominant Windows with about 68%). Chromebooks are inexpensive and simple for children yet reliable, safe, and practical. This is beneficial to the students since they will have their account with Google setup and learn how to use the Google platform early on. They will learn to use the Google platform which will help in the "real world".
Google will continue to grow in education with its effort it is putting into it:
Google will gain from all this while helping in the field of education. Chromebooks will essentially force the buy-in of all its users to the Google platform whether that be good or bad. Since the users, teachers and students, will already be familiar with all the Google products (e.g. Chrome, Google Drive, Google Docs), they will probably continue to use the Google platform outside of their schoolwork. Potentially, Google customers for life.