Google Chrome OS

July 8th, 2009 | by richfreedman |

It was widely reported today that Google is working on “Chrome OS”, a Linux based operating system targeted at netbooks.

The apparent purpose is to have an OS that boots very quickly on low-end hardware, and which mainly supports running Google’s Chrome Web Browser.

To sum it up, instant-on access to Google and Google Applications like GMail, Google Docs, etc., which directly drives Google’s ad revenue.

Many of the business and tech web pundits have been offering their opinions that this project is ill conceived and doomed to failure.

They complain that it won’t allow users to run desktop programs like Photoshop, MS Office, or whatever.

Frankly, these pundits just don’t get it.
This has the potential to be huge for Google and the general computing public.

One person who does “get it” is Adrian Kingsley-Hughes at ZDNet.

Here are my thoughts, in no particular order:

  • Google will have a great jump on this, because they don’t have to actually write an OS, they just need to customize an existing Linux distro. Or will they just use the Linux kernel, and build their own lightweight distro?

  • Given how quickly the latest Ubuntu version (9.04) boots, it should be possible for Google to actually deliver on their promise of an OS that boots in just a few seconds

  • The pundits that complain about not being able to run heavy desktop apps on the new OS miss the point of netbooks entirely. The point is to get connected to the internet, and use Software as a Service (SAAS) apps, not to lug around a heavy, slow-booting piece of hardware with proprietary software. They also miss the point that Google is not positioning Chrome OS to compete with desktops OSes – it’s meant to capture the new netbook market.

  • This is likely to be successful because it’s aimed at the low end of the price scale. In these economic times, that just makes sense. Google doesn’t need to make a profit directly from Chrome OS – it can probably give it away for free (and it is rumored that it will be open sourced). The whole point here is to drive more eyeballs to Google ads. Period. Microsoft does not know how to compete in this arena. It should be interesting to watch

  • Those who complain that the Google applications will be useless when they’re not connected to the web apparently missed the whole Gears thing

  1. 3 Responses to “Google Chrome OS”

  2. By krid007 on Jul 8, 2009 | Reply

    Smaller, faster, cheaper that’s the trend Google is hopping on.
    We don’t actually need a faster PC, there’s plenty of power.
    Hitting a lower price point, sure why not. This may be the
    way to get the $100 computer.

    The world is flat and for much of the planet PCs cost way
    too much. How about the emerging markets of China
    and India? I’ve already seen a news blurb in a Chinese source
    that speculated about a locally produced netbook.

    This is a longer term strategy that Google is now laying
    out for everyone to see. As my fellow grey-bearded
    geek (actually mine is prematurely blond :-) notes, Google’s
    future revenue is coming from cloud services, everything
    else is to drive folks there. The *bigger* news today for
    me was Google taking the Beta off of Google Apps. No
    cooincidence that both were announced the same day.

    Of course, we’ll have to see
    if this actually works, the pot has just begun to boil.

    I have also seen some speculate that this is a kick in the
    pants to Apple. I dunno, I think of Apple has being more
    of an elite PC (i’m on one right now) and if anything this
    explains why Apple hasn’t jumped into the netbook market.
    BTW, the Google CEO is on Apple’s Board, so it’s safe
    to assume some exchange of strategy does happen.

    Google has livened up the web browser market with Chrome
    and now they have a co-chair on the HTML 5 standards
    committee. And who is their co-chair? Someone from Apple.

    Not that I think this is going knockout MS. Nah, that’s way
    too simplistic. More nearly level the playing field in market
    share and who drives the technology directions. MS has
    and will continue to have lots of really smart folks, and
    no doubt this will be a challenge for them to respond to.
    I look forward to seeing something way better than they
    are talking about today in their Software and Services
    approach, which is like “lipstick on a pig” :-)

    And don’t forget about IBM. They’ve gotten over their loss
    of the mainframe and getting out manuevered by MS
    on the PC. IBM has lots of smart people too.

    This is shaping up to be quite interesting, thanks to
    Stanford for starting something good in Sun, er uh Google!

    PS, Stanford does have the patent on the Google PageRank.
    Think their endowment is hurting?

  3. By Jenny Lee on Aug 22, 2009 | Reply

    Chrome OS is based on Linux and is only available for Netbooks. I wonder if Google would make an OS that would compete with Windows XP or Windows 7.

  4. By Pinoytech on Nov 18, 2009 | Reply

    i tried Chrome OS and it is pretty much like a scaled down version of Ubuntu. Chrome is just based on Linux and there is nothing new about it.

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