I disagree that its negative to reduce the computer to the level of a TV. But this is a subjective argument and I'll spare you my perspective for want of this argument to end.

I understand that you're not optimistic, but you don't have to be. ChromeOS is for the layperson who's been living behind a closed wall since they first touched computers, and are living behind it still. Engineers, DIYers, etc, use specialized tools -- this will not likely change.

I also don't believe that open is going to go away. You can bet that open projects like Apache and Mozilla will draw their resources to building new solutions off of this paradigm and have competing projects.

I don't believe that computing cost is going to skyrocket, though the types of computers that we use will likely change. But this happened with the desktop-notebook switch, and is happening more and more with tablets and smartphones.

I'll say this again: I don't believe that Chrome OS will be the be-all-end-all OS that everybody will use. I expect that it will be a popular product and that popularity will increase in time changing that way that computing is generally done. I believe there will continue to be competition, innovation, and openness as we learn to be more productive.