A little mentioned fact about the new Google CR-48 notebook is that it's designed to be jailbroken. This was announced by Sundar Pichai, during Google Chrome's recent preview presentation. There's a switch on the inside of the battery compartment that slips the unit into developer mode.
You can then get a virtual console (such as a Linux command-line prompt), from which the world is your oyster; you'll be able to install new software, update the system, or wipe the entire disk, if you so wish.
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