Google Announces Chrome OS

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html?EMC-R3A917316679' target='_blank'>http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009...MC-R3A917316679</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"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 netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we're already talking to partners about the project, and we'll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve."</em></p><p>The Web is buzzing with the news this morning: Google's long-awaited "Google OS", something that people have been talking about for several years, is finally becoming a reality. Dubbed Google Chrome OS, this is a Linux-based operating system that will run on x86 and ARM processors. It won't be a reality in the consumer market until the second half of 2010, so don't get too excited yet. Will this be compelling enough to win consumers over to Linux? Most people want Windows on their netbooks, because while the browser is important, apps are still important to many people. It will be interesting to see how Google does in this market, and more importantly, how they're going to make money. Check out the Google blog post for more details.</p>

[Hooch Tan]

While I'm sure that the Google brand will help, I'm not quite certain just how much different the Google Chrome OS will be compared to other ultra-light netbook OSes like Splashtop and even just a regular Linux distro? Maybe they figure that by 2010, they can convince people that they don't need to install programs anymore, and that HTML5 will be far enough along that people can exist purely in a web-based environment.

While I can agree with the statement that the web browser has become an OS in its own right, I don't see what the big deal is, aside from it being Google. In fact, for me, it raises a larger concern, which is connectivity. So with everything being web-based, does that mean I will need a constant connection everywhere? I worry that this will drive even more people to get yet another Internet Access subscription. Maybe Google can work out a deal with carriers so that I can pay a single, reasonable fee that covers all my internet connections, from 3G to DSL to Cable to hotspots, and be able to do so with any device I'm using.

[ptyork]

Think Palm Pre and then reconsider your reservations...

HTML 5 offers complete offline support and with AJAX apps starting to rival complied desktop apps for performance, I don't see this as a pipe-dream. Doubtless it won't compete with Windows or OSX or Linux for power users and gamers, but CERTAINLY it has the potential to be a player in the netbook world. And as with the Pre, developers for this environment already ABOUND.

My only question is whether Palm will try to make a play with WebOS on mini-tablets/netbooks. I'd pay a fair bit of money for a WebOS experience on a 10-12" tablet geared towards browsing and reading but with a communications flair...kinda CrunchPad'esque.

[Felix Torres]

Theoretically, the idea is that the browser caches the net-apps for offline use. So you don't necesarilly need constant connectivity.

The thing about Chrome OS is the it is essentially a pre-announcement; a statement of intent and little more. Irrational exhuberance is an understatement here; some folks seem to think this announcement actually means anything.
It doesn't. Nothing is going to ship for a year.

Essentially, Google is trying to freeze the netbook market with a vapor announcement. But this is a market moving way too fast to freeze with vapor.

By next year the market is going to be a few lightyears from where it is today; new processors, new chipsets, new cpus, and a fully established Win7.
Even the web-enabled gadget market is going to be very different by the end of this year, to say nothing of next year.

ChromeOS is much ado over very little.

[randalllewis]

How will Google make money? The same way they do now. They will track everything you do with your Chrome OS and place targeted ads on your screen.

I have no issues with Google wanting to enter the OS market. I just do not buy their vision for the future of computing where the web is everthing and the desktop nothing. I do post some media and personal content on line to share with family, but I cannot envision the day that I do not want to retain control of my documents and data and media on my home or office computers. Yet that is the model Google has bet its future on. I am sorry, but I see that as nothing more than a fraction of the total market.

As we learned this week when a fire in an electrical vault in downtown Seattle cut millions of customers around the world off from dozens of internet services, the web is far too fragile. My stuff stored in my home is my responsibility to protect. My stuff stored with Google- and with Google claiming no responsibility in case of problems- is an accident waiting to happen.

[Hooch Tan]

As we learned this week when a fire in an electrical vault in downtown Seattle cut millions of customers around the world off from dozens of internet services, the web is far too fragile. My stuff stored in my home is my responsibility to protect. My stuff stored with Google- and with Google claiming no responsibility in case of problems- is an accident waiting to happen.

HTML5 supposedly will help when people are offline, but I think one problem is that most people are fine living in the cloud, at least on a consumer basis.

I still cannot see what will be different with Google Chrome OS over other "Instant On" linux distros though, since based on the description given, it's pretty much the same thing. In fact, the other distros even have the advantage of installing extra programs easily.

[Felix Torres]

Well, I'm seeing rumors that the ChromeOS announcement isn't all that strategic from Google at all, but rather an attempt to mitigate the impact of an upcoming Microsoft announcement next Monday.
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/news.phtml/25403/google-chrome-os-related-microsoft-announcement.phtml

I'd expect it might have more to do with Azure going, ahem, live than with Gazelle since the latter is really just a research project. I suspect it might be a WinMin announcement, myself but that's just off the top of my head. But anything is possible and nothing would hurt Google's plans (or Netbook Linux, for that matter) more than Gazelle on WinMin.

Oh, well; Monday's not that far off...