Forum Moderators: goodroi
In a post on its company blog, Google said the operating system would initially be aimed at netbooks, the compact, low-cost computers that have turned the PC world on its head. It said the open-source software, called Chrome OS, would be available in the second half of next year.
The announcement on Google's blog [googleblog.blogspot.com] says,
Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code... and we'll soon be working with the open source community...Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. ... and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.
Google is fashionalably late to the party with it products and tends to get killed by the competition.
Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS.
Interesting comment in light of the fact that the Chrome browser has about the worst password security imaginable (i.e., effectively none). Speed and simplicity, yes, but in the current environment, I would have reversed the order of priorities: security, simplicity and speed. In that order.
The OS market is tough to crack. Ask Steve Jobs (success with Apple II, Mac OS and Mac OS X; failure with Lisa, Newton, NeXT and BeOS). But Google will do something Jobs has never done: make it free.
so why not just run ubuntu with all of googles stuff installed on it?
Because anyone who isn't a geek thinks Ubuntu is an African language or tribe.
Google has tremendous brand recognition and consumer trust. On a netbook (which most people use for Web browsing, e-mail, notetaking, and a handful of other undemanding applications), a Google-branded OS that boots faster than Windows, runs faster than Windows, and makes it easier for the manufacturer to sell the netbook at a lower price makes a lot of sense. Especially if it's integrated with "cloud" applications from Google.
I think that what ties some people to their OS are the programs associated with it. Will popular software companies have to port their programs over to Chrome or will Chrome emulate a Windows/Mac environment?
[edited by: martinibuster at 4:33 pm (utc) on July 8, 2009]
Because anyone who isn't a geek thinks Ubuntu is an African language or tribe.
Ubuntu is an African (more a South African) philosophy, but not an African language or tribe.
Will people shift from OS X to Chrome. Will people stop buying mac hardware because they need another computer to run Chrome, or will Chrome OS be allowed under Boot Camp or parallels (and will the average person even want to twiddle with all of that stuff)?
Do Apple see this as competition, and will that incentivize them into limiting Google's exposure from within Apple software (safari search, google maps on iphone, etc.)?
Chrome emulate a Windows/Mac environment?
Unless they do, they have very little chance of getting users and companies who have spent a lot of money on software over the years to switch. So they get the netbook crowd, big deal. Those 2 and 3 hundred dollar systems are not what businesses are using.
Never thought the day would come, but Google is now officially trying to take the reins of "evil empire" away from Microsoft.
I think the Government needs to step in and look at Google more closely. They are a monopoly that is only getting bigger. Why do they get a free pass and others don't?
Google is fashionalably late to the party with it products and tends to get killed by the competition.
Like its search engine and PPC advertising? :)
Google should stick to what they as a company are good at.
1) Think of the free advertising that Google gets with every "Google Chrome OS" sticker next to the "Intel Inside" sticker on a Netbook. (Not to mention the built-in user path to Google's online applications.)
2) For netbook/laptop/desktop PC manufacturers, a Google OS represents an opportunity not only to save on the cost of the OS in a product category with razor-thin margins; it also means creating a clearer distinction between netbooks and other "Internet appliances" and their more profitable laptops or desktop PCs.
Need a carry-anywhere device for the coffeeshop or the university library? Carry a Google-equipped Notebook. Need a full-fledged computer for heavy-duty productivity applications? Buy a Windows PC to use at work, in your home office, or in your dorm room.
(My son, who enters grad school this fall, is a perfect case in point: He was going to buy a new laptop to replace his four-year-old Toshiba Satellite, but then he realized that he could buy a desktop PC and a netbook for the same cost. The desktop PC will have a bigger hard drive, screen, etc. than a laptop would, and he'll have an ultralight netbook to use in the classroom, in the library, or while killing time between classes. He won't need Windows 7 on a netbook; a fast, quick-loading, lightweight OS that's optimized for Web browsing and "cloud" apps would work just fine.)
1) You do not know that it will have any privacy problems.
2) It is open source, so if it does do anything you do not like, it can be modified - and someone certainly will, as has happened with other apps.
What Google wants to do here is to encourage people to use web apps. No installation, secure, simple and Google branding. The last, together with support from multiple manufacturers, should be enough to make it succeed where the Nokia internet tablets have - maybe not failed, but not got very far either.
Personally, I might buy one and put a real Linux on it - I will know the hardware is compatible.
I think the Government needs to step in [webmasterworld.com] and look at Google more closely. They are a monopoly that is only getting bigger. Why do they get a free pass and others don't?Well, Google-watch (org, and others) claim they are the Government...
@J_RaDDo you work for Bing?
ugh, I'm not happy to hear this news.
Should prove interesting and successful
Interesting yes, successful maybe, maybe not.
If the machine is just used for just browsing and email it'll be mostly successful but not 100% successful.
Here's why...
It's going to be Linux and your average person will have a lot of data incompatibility issues, primarily email and office documents, they won't understand and will be upset that many standard applications are simply not available for Linux.
The defacto standard browser MSIE, which some websites require or simply don't function properly without, won't be available for that platform which will really get some people ticked if they run into that situation.
With that said, the real winners here will be the Mac OS X crowd because more commercial Linux apps will surface for Chromium OS, possibly ported from Mac OS X apps, and will probably translate into more OS X software being written as well.
Additionally, the Linux Windows Emulators will suddenly become a booming business for people desperate to get some apps working on Linux.
The real losers will be the MS developer camp that won't have a clue what to do with a Linux box ;)
Definition = The word Monopoly with a "G" instead of "M"
The day when Microsoft Windows OS is not #1 is going to be so far away that most of us will be dead, retired or working ourselves into the grave.
Bing can only dream of growing to 15% market share in the Stearch Wars...and that still would be #2 to Gonopoly.
The prediction that Chrome OS could be the big heavy weight slickster who takes 1st place in the OS battlefield is a long long long shot.
Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.
Why aren't more people talking about how this is also potential competition for Mac OS X? Apple makes most of revenue from the hardware, but their laptops/desktops are bought because of OS X.
Apple is (still) claiming not to be interested in the netbook market. Apple rumor sites typically surface a rumor every so often of a new netbook, but I guess after the newton nobody wants to go smaller than 12" anymore (and the 12" was a powerbook, the smallest current machine is 13").
The defacto standard browser MSIE, which some websites require or simply don't function properly without
Sure there might be a visual artifact due to a site being designed for IE, but nothing showstopping in the last years.
Also webmaster only caterign for IE are already losing out on a big chunk o ftheir potential market and the part they do cater for is still shrinking from what I can tell from my stats, so they'll provide in the end ...
The only time I ever use IE is on microsoft owned sites. However, I find ms sites more compat with Opera than with Mozilla/ff.
However, Google sites, generally have had a hard time with Safari and Opera and tend to work with Mozilla/ff. Gotten better for Safari, and worse for opera recently.
Bottom line for the rest of us: No Change.
1. Chrome OS ships as the default OS on 50% (or more) of desktop PCs and laptops sold to consumers.
2. When corporations, police departments, school systems, hospitals, research labs, universities and the financial sector begin replacing or buying hundreds of thousands of machines running Chrome.
From an end-user standpoint, I do not see organizations like the U.S. Department of Defense ever using a linux-based OS as its main OS. Nor do I see this happening in any industry where traditional desktop applications are critical.
Many home PC users will not take the time to change their OS--even if they are told the newer OS is more efficient, faster, and more secure. This is why a PC shipped with Chrome OS is important. Even if users wanted to switch from MS to Chrome, how easy will the upgrade/update path be?
I think people forget how deeply ingrained the MS-driven PC has become in global infrastructure.
Do you work for Bing?
Are you cool with data collection companies like LexusNexus finding out all your personal information and storing it without your consent? I'm not.
Nothing is FREE in googles case FREE means loss of privacy and consent to collect data on you. Do you know when you delete a message in your gmail account it never leaves google servers?
2. When corporations, police departments, school systems, hospitals, research labs, universities and the financial sector begin replacing or buying hundreds of thousands of machines running Chrome.
Linux on netbooks was touted as the open-source operating system's entry-point to the market. Trouble is, Microsoft fought back successfully by keeping XP alive and offering it to netbook manufacturers at a much-reduced price (approx $20 per machine) to claw back the market. Consumers jumped at the chance to get Windows XP instead of Linux.
Google has the brand-recognition that the other Linux netbook OS versions lacked, but the compatibility issues remain. Consumers will be frustrated if their favorite applications don't work. Microsoft's challenge will be to work out how to stay ahead in the netbook sector once Windows 7 is released: I doubt they will keep the $20-per-install rate currently available for XP.
As for Chrome OS, it will be very interesting to see the final product.
how are you going to be able to run google chrome without google "monitoring" your usage? You think all of the above want that?
FUD already debunked
It's going to be Linux and your average person will have a lot of data incompatibility issues, primarily email and office documents, they won't understand and will be upset that many standard applications are simply not available for Linux.
Well I have never had a problem, nor have people who have worked for me for a while, nor has my father, nor has my wife, nor has my daughter's former pre-school teacher - except for the last who misses ITunes (I refuse to capitalise incorrectly for the sake of branding) .
Some people will want some Windows only app, but a good many prefer Linux if they can be persuaded to try it.
The OS market is tough to crack.
We aren't really talking about cracking a hardcore OS market of office machines.
Netbooks are kinda like toasters, appliances, almost nobody (super nerds aside) really cares what OS their phones runs, it too is an appliance that can surf the web.
Kindle surfs the web, do we care what OS it uses?
My Wii even surfs the web with Opera, what OS? who cares...
If Google is successful they'll prove that laptops, at least at the netbook level, are simply becoming appliances.
Well I have never had a problem
I do all the time and I run both Windows and Linux machines that interchange data with a large variety of software both in-house and with clients.
Sometimes it's something as silly as a lack of line feeds following carriage returns, or something like that but try to explain how to correct that to your 75 year old mother when the document comes appearing to be a big non-stop lump of text.
Of course OpenOffice can import/export to MS Office, but it's not 100% compatible and things get lost in the translation, so it's close but no cigar.
Since I use both I don't care which way the OS wind blows as I'm fine either way, but I do know the issues involved aren't clear cut.
For people who use computers for nothing but messaging and sharing in various forms it may be useful.
A lack of features makes security simpler but any OS that allows software to be added can be hacked one way or another, so who's going to provide the anti-virus and anti-spyware software?
What sort of terms and conditions will be attached? If you are required to agree to have Google spy on your every move, then it will garner some seriously awful publicity and could create a public relations disaster.
If it is based on the Linux kernel, that pretty much rules out a commercial product in the normal sense, so how much money is Google willing to pour into this? Also, some time soon, Microsoft will realise that chasing search technology is the wrong tactic to fight Google - they need to concentrate on advertising technology and then undercut Google's prices and margins.
Kaled.
"Microsoft's strategy is likely to be to compete on price," said Brent Williams, an analyst with the Benchmark Co. "Now there's a competitor with the muscle and the brand recognition. Google is that company."Google said Chrome OS, which is based on the open-source Linux code, is being designed for all PCs but will debut on netbooks. It makes sense for Google to initially target the stripped-down, Web-centric netbooks, one of the only segments showing any growth in a PC market that is contracting.
Netbooks generally sell for $300 to $400, but prices are dropping as new offerings flood the market and wireless carriers offer subsidies with the purchase of a data plan.
Kaufman Bros analyst Shaw Wu noted that while the prices on nearly all PC components have been falling, "the one thing that has not been coming down is the cost of the operating system. This is going to put some pressure on Microsoft."
Microsoft doesn't say how much it charges PC brands for Windows, but analysts estimate it gets $20 to $40 for the older XP system used in the vast majority of netbooks, and at least $150 for the current Vista system. [reuters.com...]
how are you going to be able to run google chrome without google "monitoring" your usage? You think all of the above want that?
No. I know those organizations don't want that.
I said...
It will (may) happen when...The point is, all of those entities would probably not use the Chrome OS. I mentioned the U.S. DoD not using it because it is Linux-based, but their main reason for not using it would be for information assurance and security purposes.
I see it being the OS of choice for hardware ninjas/geeks and not the average consumer.
I agree, it's not going to be the MS killer articles talk about. Writers like to right and what better way to get attention than to used Google and MSN in the same sentence.
Chrome was a flop. It was supposed to be the MS Browser kiler. That did not happen.
Their OS is going to be the same type of thing. I don't want Google indexing all the data on my PC. I don't use chrome and I wouldn't buy a pc with a Google OS.
Google is dropping the ball on what they do best and needs to refocus on search or they will wake up one morning and find out they no longer have a majority of the searches anymore.
