We’ve been sitting things out today as our brothers at TC pant over ChromeOS, the latest OS based on Linux to impress, however lightly, upon the synapses of our country’s journalistic elite. ChromeOS can’t beat anything. In fact suggesting that ChromeOS will beat Windows or even OS X is like expecting Coby to come up behind Sony and Samsung next year in Blu-Ray player popularity. As a wise man once said “Ain’t the same ** ballpark. It ain’t the same league, it ain’t even the same ** sport.”
ChromeOS is a specialized version of Linux designed for netbooks. It is more like Android than anything else and, as Fake Steve notes, no one will use it. Oh, manufacturers will pay lip service to it and maybe someone will install it on a few million machines but it will be a drop in the bucket compared to the powerful web OSes called Windows 7 and OS X.
ChromeOS, like Android, is a bargaining chip. OEMs can wave ChromeOS in Microsoft’s face and reduce they price they have to pay per PC for installing Windows. It won’t work, but they’ll try. Die-hard Linux users will stick with Linux and the average consumer, when presented with Chrome, will ask where the Start menu went.
Google can use ChromeOS to scare Microsoft and move more people to GMail and Google Office apps. That’s about it. And the people that move will be limited to the very few OEMs who will install ChromeOS on new machines. Netbooks are going the way of the Dodo and the race to the bottom will cause them to disappear, replaced by more powerful ultralights that will fill out the middle of the laptop market. These ultralights will be running Windows 7, not Chrome.
Fake Steve explains it all thus:
To put it another way, have you ever met anyone who said they’d really like to try out that Interwebs thing, but they’re just put off by the low-quality operating systems and browsers that are available at this time, so they’re sitting it out for now? Or like maybe they’re on the Internet now but they would just be soooo inclined to spend soooo much more time on the Web, and they’d be soooo much more likely to actually click on the ads, if the OS and browser made it somehow less onerous to, um, type in a URL and go to a page? Nah, the only point in Google giving away a free browser and OS is somehow to fuck up Microsoft. (And/or to do some sneaky shit that helps Google screw users a little bit more efficiently. See Point 8 below.) But on the anti-Microsoft angle, take it from someone who has spent the past 10 years selling a superior operating system and getting only 4 percent market share — as obsessions go, battling the Borg is waaay overrated.
And he’s absolutely right. Anyone can make a Linux install disk, call it “Super Google Linux” and rock out. There even was a Google OS – albeit an unofficial one – called gOS. And we all saw how well that went. Hell, you can even make Hanna Montana Linux for newbies but that doesn’t mean newbies will install it or manufacturers will use it. There’s no reason.
Android I’m bullish on. Android is a real threat to Windows Mobile and the HTC Hero put the first chink in Microsoft’s Mobile armor. But the HTC Hero isn’t a Google product, Google gets no cash from it, and, you’ll notice, HTC has modified Android to an extent that makes it closer to the Palm Pre than anything else. HTC took Google’s free operating system and stripped out the Google.
ChromeOS isn’t a threat. In fact it’s not even on Microsoft’s radar. It’s nice that Google is offering their philanthropic OS for all and sundry (incidentally, what are the tax implications of this kind of project?) But can it beat Windows? No and never.
this is the same head in the sand logic that people used to say the iphone had no chance. and now it has redefined the mobile space. Chrome OS will do the same.
who said iphone had no chance? Not I, said the iPhone Fanboi
But this situation is exactly like iPhone! A new hardware format that requires a new OS. If anything, Android will struggle since it’s up against perfection. Not so with small form factor tablets/notebooks/netbooks.
Er… wait until StevieBoy drops the tablet nuclear bomb. And the OS and app economy is ready and quite mature. Perfection!
What is new about the hardware format?
option a) If hardware vendors create a closed system like Apple, then this competes with Apple and not Microsoft.
option b) If hardware vendors offer Chrome OS on an open PC, then how is this a new hardware format.
Looks like a personal computer to me – minus many, many features of course.
Put Chrome OS in mid-range TVs.
That’d change the way people view YouTube.
The system is being built on a Linux kernel. They’re not doing anything very groundbreaking. The journalists talk about the possibility of it expanding to laptops and desktops, but that can’t happen. Then you need to include support for your fancy hardware and then it ceases to be the lightweight nugget it’s being marketed as. As the article states, “Anyone can make a Linux install disk, call it “Super Google Linux” and rock out.” There’d be no real difference from ChromeOS.
More mainstream banter about the OS for those like me who get a kick out of it: http://www.newsy.com/videos/google_gears_up_for_os
Microsoft sliverlight
WTF!?
Dude, are you replying to Pat Hawks? lolol
Yes, the iPhone panic PR announcement 5 months before the “beta” really made me wonder.
What? There was no iPhone “beta”?
You mean Apple just released a 100% tested consumer product without going into beta for 5 years first?
Wow, we at Google did not think that was possible, how do you do that?
we can compare this with android. seems like every manufacturer coming up with an android mobile. success yet to be achieved.
what i really feel is people wont mind shell out more to flaunt a bit.
iPhone had no chance? Seriously? Everybody I met after the iPhone commercials aired was so much in love with that damn phone. Had no chance? Damn it had a billion strong lusting after it even before it launched.
finally some logic in the blogosphere. chrome os will be a thread to MSFT as Chrom browser is to IE
finally some logic in the blogosphere. chrome os will be a thread to MSFT as Chrome browser is to IE
Nah.
So you are adding it to the CrunchPad? ;)
Can we talk about something else now? Seems like it has been a long Google Chrome OS week.
OK, your choice: Twitter or Facecunt (http://www.facecunt.com), er.. I mean, Facebook?
Obviously, I’m on Mike’s side here. Fake Steve’s point on selling superior software and only getting a small % share misses the point. Apple absolutely could have made a huge gaping dent in Windows share these past 5 years if it just chose to make cheaper computers. It doesn’t do that because it makes its money off of high margins on hardware.
While no one has seen Chrome OS yet obviously, given what they did with Chrome, it stands to reason it will kick some ass on a simple netbook OS. And the partnerships Google just announced with many of the top netbook makers is huge. GOOG is going to redefine the netbook market from shitty PCs that surf the web decently because of Chrome, to Chromebooks. Cheap, fast, easy.
Obviously they’re far from killing MSFT by any means, but they’re taking their shot to enter a world from the most open angle right now. And it could indeed change a lot when we look back.
Is it really all about market share? how about influence and/or relevance? Dell’s market share is greater than Apple’s but who’s having more fun right now?
Chrome OS will crush Windows in influence / relevance.
and by Windows I mean the Windows API.
Did you say “fun”? Who gives a $hit?
Who makes more $$? That is the real question.
plenty of people make more $$$ than others and still kill themselves.
It can go one of two ways –
1. It’ll just be another gOS style linux distro. SaaS centralized and completely useless.
2. They’ll do something special like Apple did with Aqua on top of BSD.
The “web as the desktop” is at least 5 years out… and that is conservative.
The only way Google erodes Microsoft’s market share is to create a windows compatible OS. Let me know when they put engineers on the ReactOS project…
Google won’t kill Microsoft. Apple could have done that, but chose to play in their own sandbox where they control the sand and set all the rules. That makes them a tidy profit and fits their fascist style.
Microsoft is by all intents and purposes an incompetent monopoly. They’re essentially devoid of innovation, lumbering stupidly along.
Google is flexible, minimalist, open source, and free. To think they won’t make a dent in the netbook market is foolish. They will. Whatever OS they invent (giving them the benefit of the doubt) will likely fit perfectly into the netbook space.
Competition is great. Now we just need someone to compete with Google.
“Whatever OS they invent”
What OS did Google invent?
I thought this was Linux with a Google Icon?
“Microsoft is by all intents and purposes an incompetent monopoly. They’re essentially devoid of innovation, lumbering stupidly along.”
You seriously have no idea what you’re talking about.
I agree with you that Apple could have stolen MSFT share of the OS market in the past 5 years if they had lowered the prices of there hardware, but Apple has always been about building quality products (both on the software and hardware end). On the other hand, if ChromeOS is open source and free I don’t think that same quality will exist as anybody can create their own version as it is open source.
I agree with Fake Steve. It is DAMN hard to make a good OS. Also, you bloggers tend to think too much about bloggers and not normal people. Google also tends to suck at interface design when it comes to non webapps. For bloggers like Mike and MG, a crappy netbook that you can read, write and tweet from may be all you need. For everyone else, who uses apps like iTunes, photoshop, bittorrent, skype, openoffice, etc, a real OS that runs real apps will be needed.
For bloggers, the next version of Amazon Kindle will be the tool of choice.
Amazon will crush Google from the left, Microsoft from the right.
“For everyone else, who uses apps like iTunes, photoshop, bittorrent, skype, openoffice, etc,”
all that can run from the web. you don’t need a fat windows application sitting on your desktop
And who’s your boss again, MG?
MG, now try and write the same thing again, in 140 characters.
ROFLMAO.
I really don’t think most of you get it.
Netbooks are failing because there is no Netbook o/s. They are being sold with PC o/s. That is stupid. Does Microsoft sell it’s game console with a PC o/s? No, of course not. PCs are swiss army knife workhorses. Netbooks, MIDs, iPhones, game consoles, and EVEN CRUNCH TABLETS are specialized devices aiming at a specific need. They need a purpose-built o/s to achieve maximum performance for their intended purpose.
Chrome o/s is just a compromised PC o/s. Same kind of design except with the arms and legs cut off. Won’t work. Google may own search and the spin-offs from search data, but haven’t all of you noticed that their non-search products are very ho-hum? For goodness sakes, WHERE is the innovation? You’re losing it, Google.
u seemed to be getting it with your first statements. then u lost it too.
The people with their heads in the sand were those who claimed that the iPhone didn’t need native application because of the robust support Safari had for web applications.
Look at how well that one turned out.
Now you’re talking about netbooks that people expect to be able to plug their iPhones and other devices into, yet Apple can’t (and probably wouldn’t if they could) write a version of iTunes to sync with.
Chrome OS is completely locked down, no native x86 code running on there, which all but nullifies any ability for people to use anything but the devices that Google hard-codes into the thing to begin with. Otherwise, their claims of “don’t need to download security updates” and “never slows down” and “no malware” are pure bullshit.
When it comes down to it, people will have a choice – do they want Windows 7 on their netbook, which has proven to perform pretty damned well, resumes from Sleep instantly, and does *EVERYTHING* they want to including downloading drivers for a countless USB devices they might want to plug in?
Or do they choose a Chrome OS netbook that could never be their only machine (unlike a Windows 7 netbook), because of the missing support for what they need to do?
And if you look at recent trends, people want fewer devices. Not more devices. Chrome OS netbook only mandates the necessity for yet another notebook/netbook/desktop to make up for its limitations.
Chrome OS for sure.
Mike, has John not paid attention to the CrunchPad? ChromeOS is the same idea minus the hardware. As soon as I heard of ChromeOS I wondered if it’s what’s going to be used for the CrunchPad. Certainly I’ll try. I like the CrunchPad idea. I like Chrome. Why not have both?
hey arrington. this is how you write articles. maybe this john biggs guy should replace you as the head of TC, no?
+1
This is the first time I have seen an unbiased piece from TC, from someone who’s not a pathetic GOOG or AAPL fanboy (read Arrington).
Great piece Biggs; may your tribe increase. Move over or out Arrington.
Exactly what I was thinking… nobody knows what is going to be next. Let’s just wait and see. Market, place your bets!
I agree. I shorted Google and went long MSFT today.
A few historical data points I use to back up my bet:
Netscape
OS/2
Sybase
Wordperfect
Borland
Lotus Notes
IBM
Oracle
Novell
Sun
Digital
All minor companies, I know Google is different, they hired lots of PHD students with no business experience nor tech industry experience over that last 5 years.
Exactly, that is what friends at Google told me as well. A lot of unexperienced employees. HR is focusing more on exams than on experience and track records.
why does everyone think chromeOS will ‘take over’ when all it is just web application. I like my OS with other programs, such as photoshop, choice of browsers, play music, watch movies, etc…
I like my programs to respond instantly, not having to wait for it to load from the internet
comparing a so called ‘OS killer’ is nothing like comparing the iPhone vs other Phones. The iphone actually has tons of features previously NOT available. Do you think there’s anything on a chromeOS that cant be done a windows OS ? on the other end of the string, there’s 1001 things a chromeOS can’t do that a conventional OS can.
sure, I would probably fork out some cash for a chrome OS, just for web surfing, but there’s no way it’s replacing my windows. (actually, im waiting for your crunchpad for ebook and news couch reading)
@evan
Because you, sir, are not the typical American web surfer.
Most American web surfers don’t *EVER* use Photoshop.
Most American web surfers don’t know what a “web browser” is.
Most American web surfers don’t watch movies online (that’s what their TVs are for).
The typical American web surfer thinks there are 2 steps to starting your computer each day: 1-Press the button on the machine and wait 10 minutes until all the icons appear with their wallpaper image of their family or pet. 2-Click on the little blue e, aka “The Internet”. There. Now your computer is started.
ChromeOS will appeal to these people. If you’re reading this site, I think it’s unlikely that you fit into this category. But I think this category contains like 80% of Americans who surf the web.
We techies too deep in our own world to realize it, but I think it’s time to wake up. Not everybody is like us.
The typical American web surfer also wants to be able to upload his digital photos from their camera.
The typical American web surfer also wants to sync thier iPod (or mp3 player) with thier music libaray.
One need only look at the success of the iPhone App store, and the failure of Linux distro’s on netbooks to realize that like it or not, most people want Windows on thier netbook more so than an unknown. Most people want the apps they are already familiar with to be available to them on their netbook.
Will there be a time when we are all working solely from a browser? Yes, but we are not there yet, we might no be there for another decade.
Well, while you guys wait for Chrome OS to come out, try this operating system for optimal performance:-http://su.pr/1NFHYH
Sorry, here’s the link again:- http://su.pr/1NFHYH
Google is bringing a knife to a gun fight!
…Reminds me of that Indiana Jones Knife/Gun fight…
Mike, you are only in support of this because you’re making the same product (if it ever comes out… BTW, you don’t see many music critics releasing great albums, now do you? :P)
It is YOUR head that is in the sand.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a little bit of rational thought on TC in regards to the subject.
What was MG saying yesterday? That Apple might just be a mobile phone company in a few years? Jesus, what kind of tech reporters are you guys? They just stole away the CTO from Avid/Digidesign. Oh, did you guys forget about the professional audio and video software that they’ve been gobbling up over the past few years?
Seriously, you should leave the South Bay every once and awhile and see what is going on in the world…
Arrington, seriously do you have a technical bone in you? The iPhone offered/promised MORE functionality than current phone OS’s. ChromeOS offers LESS. There is the difference.
I love when companies wave a new product in everone’s faces, and then, without a moment’s hesitation to actually consider the real implications of said product, tech geeks push each other out of the way, all clamoring to be the first to proclaim it the next big thing. Instead of making clear statements and predictions about just how this product will take over, they counter the naysayers by simply saying “You all said the same thing when was released. You were wrong then, and you are wrong now.” That is the lazy man’s argument.
The iPhone was a superior piece of equipment with a superior OS to what was currently offered, built by a company to compete in a market that essentially overlapped with one which they already owned (mp3 player). Just how does a crap Linux distro that hasn’t even been released compare to the iPhone? Google has no market share when it comes to OS’s. Just because Google owns search and has engineered some truly brilliant products does not mean that every little announcement they make signals the end of the industry leader in that domain.
JB, this post should really start with “The Unreasonable Stance”…
The only way I see Google Chrome OS competing is if they license VM software like Parallels or VMWare that will allow the OS to run native Windows or OS X apps on the same original hardware. This would allow Google to shoehorn their way onto the desktop.
Do that Google, and I’ll be impressed.
Thank God someone is sane. Could not agree with you more.
So we got a browser OS on one side and a full-option OS the other side (which can run Chrome as well)..
True, it’s kind of the same as saying random MMORPGs are going to knock World of Warcraft out of the market (AKA “WoW Killers”) but this is Google were talking about. They’ve been moving into a lot of areas besides search engines lately, and its reasonable to think that they may very well become a huge distributor of operating systems.
I think it’s more akin to saying that WoW’s moves to devour ADDITIONAL markets, like Wii/DSi, and other new platforms (WoW Mobile) are what would be ‘knocked out’…
The wording that ChromeOS will kill Windows is wrong – what it’ll do is just keep Windows from eating up a whole NEW market in the low end netbook/tablet/small format device market.
And as others have said, Apple has a shoe in the air on this one. iPhoneOS for non-phone portables and embeddeds has a lot of potential. For certain, it’s not hard to imagine the AppleTV future iterations moving to the iPhone APIs/SDK, rather than the desktop-OSX-Frankenstein it’s running now. ;)
“…a drop in the bucket compared to the powerful web OSes called Windows 7 and OS X”
Let’s just pause and enjoy this moment when something other then Windows is considered a powerful web OS. Imagine that comment being made 5 years ago (or even 3).
As frustrating as it is at times, it’s important to remember we are making progress.
Redhat made lots of progess. As did about a zillow other versions of Linux.
Remember SCO Unix over the hill in Santa Cruz?
I wanted to work for them so I could live at the beach and smoke pot but after I graduated they were already MSFT burnt toast and I realized that I had already smoked to much pot at Standford.
I can appreciate that you are taking the radically opposed view to temper the überoptimism on the other side, but your view is overly pessimistic too. One thing is sure, though, it will be a long, uphill battle for ChromeOS, but they are probably well aware of that.
Reminds me of many industries in context of Christensen’s disruptive technologies. May not be good enough yet…but…
All the views expressed against the chrome OS seem to be rooted to this era of computer usage. People dont see beyond what currently defines the “market” and are limited to current use cases.
I think this is going to be as successful a venture as the crunchpad, both of which have a vision beyond what is currently the norm.
Of course you cant expect chrome OS to replace windows or any other OS in the entirety. But to think that chrome OS would fail just because it doesnt match other OSes in philosophy or features is simply short sighted and, as micheal rightly said, head in the sand logic.
Please provide specific “use cases”?
One “use-case” I find “useful” is printing. Do you think Chrome OS will provide a printing feature?
If so, will Google pay (bride) the H/W vendors to write drivers? Will it be limited to only HP printers or some other subset, cause that is alot of drivers?
What is the business model for the HW vendors? Will they waste money and provide support or will Google provide support for the buggy 3rd party drivers crash Chrome OS as they do Windows?
What about drivers for my favorite Mouse in the shape of a beer can?
Will Chrome OS support plug & play type drivers?
What video drivers will Chrome OS support? Who will write these drivers?
What if I buy a Chrome OS HP Netbook and want to use my favorite web cam? will they have all the 3rd party drivers for that?
Seems amazing how little knowledge Mr. Arrington has of the actual software industry?
Chrome OS will be more like iPhone. All the stuff you list out is tired nonsense. Carriers will be giving these devices away with wireless plans. Consumers will buy them for their homes. They will be great as second PC/notebooks for people on the go. Stores will use them as cash registers, etc, etc. It’s a new market, people. And Windows is inadequate.
Google have already stated it will be based on the Linux kernel which already has drivers for all of the hardware you mentioned above, and plenty more besides. The only thing that will be required of hardware vendors will be to add required (already existing Linux) drivers to the ChromeOS for their hardware.
Dude you can print pretty easily on Ubuntu and other Linux systems. The type of driver issues you speak of haven’t been an issue for a few years now (and especially since ATI got on board).
If Google is selling a Linux system, you can bet that hardware drivers will be even less of an issue than they already are.
If you don’t believe me, download an Ubuntu image and boot up the live cd on any hardware you have. Chancer are, most things you have will work.
As I said before, Chrome OS may not be based on the same philosophy and may not support the same features as the current OSes. Your questions are relevant only in comparisons to current OSes and have been aptly answered by others.
In any case, I would raise these questions once the chrome OS is out and you know what it does or doesnt do. Even then, a more relevant question would be “why” it does what it does and not “whether” it should do what is currently being done.
The thing that Mr Arrigton understands is what William Randolf Hearst understood – it’s not about selling news, it’s about selling newspapers, or in TC’s case, ad inventory.
As a second machine, I can maybe see a use for this, but as a primary machine? Never. It’s spectacularly naive to think that any business bigger than, oh say a tech blog network would move to this in the near term. Plus, as has been pointed our before in comments, Win7 runs great on netbooks. Do you really think Chrome OS is going to run better in a generalized sense? Once you get beyond what someone can hack together in Javascript, what happens? On right, you wipe the machine and hope that it will run Win7.
I thought Google said that Chrome OS will be “locked” down – meaning that it have limited and/or custom Google – OEM partner only drivers?
Did they say that it will be an “open” Linux distribution? RedHat plus advertising?
Even if true, still does not make sense. I get to watch mortgage ads before I hit the print button?
What exactly is the distruptive technology?
Amazon Kindle is distruptive. I would like to read, browse, blog, communicate perhaps on a Kindle rather than an iPhone. That could make sense to me.
It’s a secondary computer, not a primary so you’re fine. So if everyone has one primary computer and several secondary, which would you rather be selling?
Remember the Webpad? Invented by Cyrix in 1998?
Nope? The idea was… “you only need the web”. FAILED. Crunchpad? 10 years later, the same idea… Woot!
Remember the eVilla? another Cyrix product from 2001. This one sold by Sony. Had a slick BeOS based UI. The idea was… “you only need the web”… FAILED.
Remember the Audrey? This one from Cyrix and 3Com… The idea was… “you only need the web”… FAILED. At least this one was ugly unlike the eVilla.
People don’t “just want the internet”. Chrome Browser is sensible. Chrome OS is stupid. Of course Google will keep trying, because if it did take off, they would dominate a new market.
Fake Steve is right. It’s not going to happen. The iPhone’s a different story. It was a leap beyond other vendors’ offerings in terms of elegance, ease of use, and speed BECAUSE it was based on a 40 years of UNIX technology and 20 years of Cocoa. It was the first phone to move beyond embedded software, and that showed.
What exactly is ChromeOS giving us that we can’t get with other OS’ ? Well the Google brand (a plus until there’s a major privacy scandal), it’s free (ok, but so is Linux), and … That’s it. Oh yes, “security” and “virus-free”. We’ll see about that…
Winblows is effectively free to users ($30 will not make a difference to a consumer), but provides many more capabilities.
Hint: Google’s good but getting worse at search, has a few good desktop apps (Google Earth & Sketchup… we’ll see about the Chrome browser), and a few ok to mediocre web apps.
Great move by Google.
Now Microsoft can attack Google head on by fully leveraging thier OS monoply.
Microsoft Bing search will NOW be embedded into every part of Windows 7.
IE 9 will be embedded deeply into Windows.
On and On down the line.
Google is NOW an OS vendor in direct competition.
Google will now be CRUSHED. I loaded up with MSFT stop this morning.
Regards.
Microsoft has an OS that everyone knows is unreliable, buggy, and a major security problem. Apple has it’s sliver of OS market share because people are so tired of dealing with poor Microsoft design, they will pay a premium price to get a computer that is simple and just works.
If Google manages to get an OS out of they mountains of linux open source code released and out on the street that “just works,” Google Chrome OS could become a serious challenger to M$ and Windows OS business.
But first, Google needs to engineer a Linux OS that just works. That’s a wee bit easier said than done.
Get your head out of your ass, Windows desktop and server systems have not been unreliable since Windows 98.
Sorry Michael…have to agree with John on this one. I’ve heard nothing net-new in ChromeOS that hasn’t already been implemented in various flavors of Linux with very minimal success. The fact is, if xyzOS suddenly came out and did the same thing as ChromeOS, Google could stand to benefit in much the same ways. This is about wrestling control of desktop apps away from Microsoft and into SaaS web offerings.
If I were Google, I’d be more focused on building the best damn browser – the fastest, most lightweight, most stable, configurable browser on the market and make sure it runs on every OS. That way, they have strategic advantage to push the envelope for their SaaS offerings.
Let MSFT keep their desktop OS. If GOOG wants a strategic lock on the web…build the best browser.
You don’t get it one bit. Everyone’s already chosen their browser. Google’s strategy is way smarter: go after a nascent hardware category. It’s an iPhone strategy, not Ubuntu.
This is so unlike iPhone. iPhone was new hardware + modern OS which showed just how bad other phonesets were. Google OS will likely run across multiple brands of Netbooks and will need to compete as an OS. Windows 7 has already demonstrated that it will compete well in this area, like it or not. Win7 will allow legacy apps to run and is relatively open in terms of allowing the user and development community to use the platform. Chrome OS appears to be an Apple-like control-it-all move with the false pretense of being safer & better. Redone Linux is nothing more than the kings new robes. Not much to see here.
Maybe the problem with Linux so far has been a marketing issue – that the average Joe is suspicious of these crazy-sounding words like ‘Ubuntu’, ‘Debian’ and ‘Xandros’? Take the same thing and whack the word ‘Google’ on it and it might gain some traction.
exactly. People won’t buy Ubuntu but they know and trust the Google brand already.
also, linux on the desktop is mature now and by now I mean the last few months or so. It wasn’t until this last version of ubuntu that I could say this, as I’ve been playing with Linux on the desktop for the better part of 10 years now. The Linux kernel is pretty damn good, ready for primetime. The networking and video issues that plagued it are finally a thing of the past.
Correct. Comparing Chrome OS to other linux distributions is beyond stupid.
I disagree. When average-Joe user says, “Hey, I want to play iTunes”, or “I want a great graphics program like Photoshop”, or “I want MS Office”, or “I want to play a video game”… that’s where the rub will be.
But in Chrome OS’s defense, users who do spend their days inside of a browser and don’t mind having their content remotely hosted (and analyzed) by Google, et al. may be happy.
This may truely separate the casual browser users from those who actually get things done with a computer.
@Darkskeleton…they have moved into a lot of different areas, but let’s not pretend they’ve all been successful.
I totally agree. Calling it a “nuclear bomb” is going way way overboard. Give me a break.
Nuclear bomb that Microsoft will now use to crush Google off the map.
I’m going with John on this one, and I may be foolish but I have my reasons. No one has even seen what ChromeOS looks like (or so I think) so creaming in your pants about it seems awfully ridiculous. I’ve also been reading other blogs, and even Linux vendors and journalists are disappointed with this move in some regards because they don’t see a need for Google to add another additional flavor. Who knows, maybe I will bite my lip in a couple months (or years) but at this time ChromeOS is just a bunch of vaporware. Until I see something I’m going to go with John and FSJ on this.
If you haven’t read Fake Steve’s post yet, please go read it. It’s insightful yet entertaining as well.
Is Chrome OS going to be in “beta” for 5 years or until it becomes “profitable” or is Google going to try and QA / release an actual consumer software product for the first time in it’s history?
Seems Google just set themselves up for a big fall. I am now long MSFT and short GOOG.
Just another Linux Dist. put out by a name-brand co., who hopes fawning naifs will put in a lot of free work.
This model has so far had limited success for other Liux dists., and hard to see this effort will fare much better.
That being said, if the mainline OS providers fail to keep pace, then at some point marketshare erosion could occur.
Besides Novell I don’t recall another big brand releasing a Linux distro? And hardly ever a brand as big as Google.
Novell.com
Think about this… If Google owns the internet and tries to own the desktop… Doesn’t that spell monopoly? Google is on it’s way to a 10 year pain in the ass from the US and EU.
In reality, it is over due.
Sure. But they have just given legal permission for Microsoft to crush them.
They will not be around in ten years. Huge strategic mistake, Redmond is laughing.
How do you suppose thast MS will crush them? How would they be crushing them now but have been constrained by legal considerations?
What do you mean by legal permission? Did Google say they would be selling an OS or just making one available for free?
Well one thing is for sure… Microsoft went ahead and announced that Steven Sinofsky is now the President of the Windows Division at Microsoft. From what I’ve read about Sinofsky numerous times is that he’s an amazing guy at making great products, and delivering these products ahead of time. He ran the Office Division before being switched to Windows, and clearly Office is doing extremely well. I own an iPhone and Macbook Pro so no way am I a Microsoft fanboy, but I think Microsoft retaliated very nicely today by announcing the permanent move of Sinofsky. This means Windows will compete extremely well. He’ll also be managing the IE division so maybe he’ll scrap IE and bring the MS Research product Gazelle to compete with Chrome. Who knows but MSFT blew their cannon today in my mind.
read up on how many times Ballmer was going to crush Google…you can actually Bing it :)
I guess they could block google.com in the OS as a phishing site.
Have you guys seen the talent that is coming out of campuses lately, they just want an opportunity and Google is giving them a platform.
Chrome OS will be groundbreaking, cos new generation who have grown up with the web will be working on it.
You guys are living in the past, and most of us are above 30 here, its the new bill gates types who are coming out in droves and working for Google now.
Remember this TechCrunch article a year ago: “We Want A Dead Simple Web Tablet For $200. Help Us Build It.”
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/21/we-want-a-dead-simple-web-tablet-help-us-build-it/
Google is making this happen for you! Chrome OS on a Netbook.
I wish people knew how to define success. Chrome OS doesn’t have to ‘take out’ Windows to be successful.
This is true.
The only need to make a profit.
Do you have any ideas on how Chrome OS will make a profit?
LOL.
Yes, by shifting people from the Desktop-is-the-OS paradigm to the Browser-is-the-OS paradigm. Get everyone using Gmail/Google Apps instead of Outlook/Office and then advertise at them. You have noticed that this is already how Google is making massive profits?
What is the difference between the desktop-is-the-OS and the browser-is-the-OS? Please explain.
How is this different from Linux-is-the-OS? because you know…. Linux IS the Chrome OS. LOL.
Netscape tried the same thing PR, prior to getting crushed. Same hype.
They have a lot of work to do before I start using Google Apps again. In fact, I am not sure that I am willing to give it a second chance, but never say never.
Take MS Word for example. If all the features of Word were avilable by logging into a website, then the question that users will ask themselves is ‘does it matter which OS I have as long as I have a browser?’. The next question is ‘why am I using a desktop app when I could be using a browser-based app that takes care of backing up my docs and automatically makes them available wherever I am with no file or version compatibility issues? The final question is ‘why the hell am I paying all this money for Windows and Office when I can get the same functionality for free?’.
I would argue that Linux has failed because of marketing (’Use Linux? No way – I’m not a geek’) and also the unwillingness of users to switch OS. However, everytime the user starts using a browser-based app for one of their core PC functions, the bond between the user and the OS is loosened (for the reasons stated above). Webmail is a good example of this.
Also, Linux aims to be a desktop OS so there’s a learning curve for people switching OS’s (’Where’s the Start button?). From what I understand, Chrome will boot drirectly into the browser in a matter of seconds and new users will get to work straight away.
Truth be told, nothing is going to be Free. Google is going to monitor everything you do in the OS in order to monetize the data by either directly pitching ads at you or by selling your data. True privacy will be a thing of the past in this new world that us 30+ group don’t understand. The problem is the current teen to 20-somethings will grow up and become just as concerned about their privacy I suspect. Maybe not, but I doubt it.
who says making a direct profit on Chrome OS is how they define success?
Does Microsoft make a profit on IE? :)
“Does Microsoft make a profit on IE?”
Yes. IE is part of Windows, Windows has 97% consumer OS world-wide marketshare.
Netscape had 80% of the browser marketshare and hired tons of PHD students, Microsoft sat around and watched, the press said Micrsoft is dead, then…
Microsoft CRUSHED Netscape.
Netscape went to 0% marketshare. Took MSFT to court.
Google will NOT be able to take MSFT to court becauase they have as much a search monoply as MSFT does OS – so MSFT has now been given the legal cover to not only crush Google Chrome but Google Search.
Watch and learn.
Sybase
OS/2
Apple
IBM
WordPerfect
Borland
Novell
Digital
Oracle
Netscape
….
Did you notice Microsoft has $26 billion in cash!
The only way to threaten Windows is to create an OS that can handle the gaming market. That and convince the government/Fortune 5000 companies to switch to something else. Until an OS is built that will suffice these two markets it doesn’t matter Microsoft will be king. Chrome might make netbooks truly great for surfing the web at an airport but in a home where people want to surf the web and play halo/wow/cs/and any other graphics intensive game Windows will be their choice.
Yes, the government is going to switch to Chrome OS and put all Pentagon applications into the cloud and put all government database on Google services and use Gmail for all government correspondence.
LOL.
I wouldn’t LOL too loud. I guess you didn’t realize that you can license Google servers for enterprise use. i.e. local network.
I work with DoD, and I can tell you that they don’t have a lot of love of Windows. The military has been moving to Linux with every chance they get.
Just sayin’, you gotta think outside the box.
If you license Google servers for enterprise use then you are no longer talking cloud computing.
Oh so you license a crappy PC operating system from Google… I though this was going to be “free”.
Running apps from local server, wow big idea.
I tried to call Google enterprise support, can you look up thier number, they don’t seem to have any support?
But when they do, I’m sure it will be “free” – my IT staff is excited about listening to ads before they get transfer to a support rep.
What rubbish. The army has started upgrading to Windows Vista now.
Get your information correct!
Yay! I got both of the paid astro-turfer’s attention. I guess watching the government contracts slip away really touches a nerve with MS.
The paid trolls are always so easy to spot… they can’t go very long without touting Vista.
Dude… my information is first hand. I install Linux systems for the military. And I’m quite busy.
After a MS Exchange 2007 nightmare server install, I swore never again to support MS servers. What a happy day that was :-)
Linux… giving you the power of choice! Oh.. and stability… and ease… and flexibility… and…
@Alex “Running apps from local server, wow big idea.”
Guess you’ve never been on a boat! One the size of a small city.
I think it would make a nice dual-boot.
If you just want to check something online without waiting for Windows to load, startup in Chrome mode. Similar in concept to the Internet appliance (only, because you don’t have to buy and lug around a separate device, people may actually use it).
What’s the name of that CrunchPad OS again? Ubuntu_Less_Gnome_Plus_VirtKeyboard OS.
Not saying ChomeOS will necessarily disrupt Windows, but their strategy does follow the typical model of disruption. Launch a new technology meeting a niche need for an early adopting customer base ignored by the dominant vendors. Slowly evolve that technology upmarket, competing at a lower price point, but stealing share away from the dominant vendors. Voila!
Yes, kind of what like what Netscape did to Microsoft?
Actually, kind if like what iPhone did to everyone. It’s a great strategy for Google and one that I think has a very good chance of being successful.
How is this anything like the iPhone?
iPhone is a closed hardware + software platform.
90% of iPhone users have no idea as to what the OS is that runs the iPhone and do not care.
iPhone was not vaporware PR’d a year before the beta came out. Apple does not ship “beta” crap.
What hardware platform do you think this will run on? It is called PC.
It’s more like if Android came out before iPhone. But it’s very much like iPhone where a newish device category is ripe for a new player.
That’s exactly right that ultimately consumers won’t be tuned in to what OS it is but what the overall device and platform can do for them. Which is why all the comparisons to existing Linux distros are idiotic.
In fact, Apple pre-announced iPhone.
It will run on what we now call netbooks and tablets but there will be an explosion in new form factors.
You’re an idiot if you think the Google Chrome OS is ANYTHING like the iPhone at all!
Why is that, Imran? The form-factor is in between an iPhone and a PC. It’s a new category with a decent amount of enthusiasm. Google is a strong player. It’s ripe for innovation. Microsoft is throwing the same ole Windows-based solution at it. The devices likely will be subsidized by carriers. I’d say that meets the test of “anything like”. Do you have any substance to volunteer?
John, Just because you don’t get it, it doesn’t mean it isn’t relevant.
It’s not a Linux, it’s not an OSX, it’s not a Vista or an XP. It’s an entirely new era of computing.
New era of computing? Please explain.
A cheap, underpowered PC missing 90% of the 3rd party drivers that windows supports?
If you’d used a Linux distro lately, you’d realise that ChromeOS will easily support most of the hardware available today.
Good point. And this announcement today likely means us Linux users won’t deal with all of the driver issues we’ve dealt with in years past.
If anything, Ubuntu has been more open and accessible to me than my mac or windows boxes as it can read both NTFS and HFS volumes.
Drivers are not the issue anymore. Anyone who brings that up clearly hasn’t been paying attention the last few years.
Driver arguments = FUD = Astro-turfing
Would you listen to yourself? 3rd party drivers?
Take everything you know about an OS and slam dunk it in the trash.
Start menu? Trash.
File Explorer? Trash.
Taskbar? Trash.
Outlook? Trash.
Now start over. Install a web browser.
Start menu? Yahoo or iGoogle will do.
File explorer? How about S3 or box.net?
Taskbar? Browser tabs.
Outlook? OWA, hotmail, gmail…
Getting the point yet?
Thank you thank you thank you – for the first article that is not blindly pro-google and anti-microsoft!!! Google is a one-trick pony and cannot do anything other than search. Gmail is kinda okay but not great, Orkut sucks, and everything else they have done is just pure garbage..
I would add Google Maps, which they acquired, to their small list of technologies well done.
Google Apps are very nice. Google has a sleeping giant on its hands and is just starting to monetize it.
Yes my law firm is going to put all thier documents on Google servers, we are going to switch to Google apps next week so we can save $499.99 per employee, per year.
Congratulations Mr. Biggs! You have managed to sway my opinion of TechCrunch. Its blatant bias has been somewhat tempered by your voice of reason. It seems that the application of logic, analysis and strategic thinking is often suspended here in favour of idol worship.
I suppose it should come as no surprise that corporations have begun to replace religion in the minds of the geeks. One would expect the moderately intelligent people who write here to transcend (pardon the pun) their biological need to follow a leader, but one is often sorely disappointed. Blind faith, be it in a god, goddess, or company tends to cause people to reject logic and reason while they foam at the mouth in eager anticipation for the products of their worship targets. You have managed to stop the feeding frenzy your colleagues have fallen victim to and finally produced a factual and well thought out analysis of the evolving topology.
Thank you kindly.
Too bad Biggs is wrong.
pwb, you must be religious?
Religious? What’s your point? I just think there’s a better than 50/50 that Biggs is wrong…very wrong. I think Google a shot at doing to small, connected devices what Apple did to smart phones.
I miss DOS :(
Have to agree with MG Seigler and Mike here. This is not a short term play for Google, and I don’t expect it to make dents in the OS universe anytime close to it’s release.
More, I think this is a long term strategy. Look at things like OnLive, which is gaming service with pretty much a dummy client and should be able to run high performance games in the cloud. That’s the type of thing Google is looking towards. Stuff like Adobe Creative Suite and other corporate apps will eventually move to the cloud as well, and once that happens, Google will be ready.
I really don’t see why folks think this is a bad move by Google.
I agree.
Chrome OS will be released as a “beta” for 5 years like most other Google software so that they do not have to provide support. Smart move.
Yes, I can’t wait to use Adobe InDesign in the cloud. On my $4,000 MacBook Pro it is slow as heck!
Plus, I will only need to buy a $399.99 PC with 15inch monitor to do my design work on.
You realize that Adobe has a long term strategy of porting every single one of their apps to the cloud, don’t you?
If you haven’t realized it by now, Alex is a paid MS astro-turfer. Just speaking from his emergency talking-points fax.
and its the wrong strategy.
Adobe has done well and thrived because they have a simple “close platform” model as Apple does.
Communication features over the clould is different.
Do you know any serious Adobe Creative Suite users? The kind that pay for thier software? Ask them about working over the Interent.
No, Chrome OS will be ready for prime time in 2010. And no one is going to run anything resembling InDesign on it. One year from now, web-based apps like Google Apps will be even better (and they are plenty usable now). With Google Gears and/or Flash, there will be plenty of capability.
And so your back to a n-tier desktop application model over the Internet? how exciting.
I guess it is exciting for those that have only ever used HTML, the idea of building an actual database software application.
Sorry, man, all I can do is laugh at your assertions. “n-tier desktop application model”? WTF does that mean? You’re speaking a dialect of mumbo jumbo that no one cares about. Yes, HTML is actually pretty exciting. Have you heard of the web? There are actually a lot of people spending a lot of time in browsers. You should try it some time…it’s pretty cool.
You can NOT and will NEVER be able to write audio and video web applications that can compete with native software solutions.
Creative software demands scorching response. I would not sit in front of Pro-Tools-in-the-Cloud for one second…
“Oh, sorry, can we do that take again? The Internet cut out.”
Software-in-the-cloud… more like, a-bunch-of-heads-in-the-cloud…
@Haakon … This just demonstrates the dumbing down of people and their supposed knowledge of computing. People, please look up ‘distributed computing’ to better understand what this future is all about. It’s nothing new, just fancier user interfaces and better connectivity. Problem is, you still need code to run natively on your client (that’s your PC/Mac computer) in order to have seamless and immediate responses to user interactions. I don’t care what Adobe plans on doing in the cloud, their designer applications will need to have code running locally in order to perform well enough for the user. This code will not be Javascript, as that will be too slow; and it will not be Flash for the same reason. Killer applications take real code running locally.
Want some proof? Go into Google Docs and create a spreadsheet with 20 columns x 10,000 rows and watch it crawl.
Applauding for Jim and Haakon please.
Microsoft Surface, HTC Touch, Mopar Uconnect, Mircosoft Sync, Microsoft Skydrive, Microsoft sliverlight.
Well said (and refreshingly sane)! Crunchgear may replace TechCrunch on my iGoogle front page.
TC, seriously… stop the OS X fanaticism. Seriously.
Um yea I totally agree with what this article is saying. Windows 7 and Mac OS X are major forces that will not be defeated by a web based OS. Think of all those people still using IE 7 and 6 or even 8. So many people out there can’t even figure out how to use 10% of the OS they already have so a Web Based version taking over anything is a long way off unless Google has one of those Matrix like chips that we can implant in our brains and make us learn stuff instantly….
By your logic, Google only has to replicate 10% of the OS to accomodate most users? I agree. Anyone that has worked in IT Support knows that the vast majority of users are only interested in surfing the web, checking email and word processing. Sounds doable for Google.
i’d rather use my phone for that
Good point. My Fortune 500 firm wants to encourage my employees to surf the web, check e-mail, and process words all day long.
lol I worked at 3 different fortune 100 companies. and yep that’s what most people do.
OK, Alex, what’s your Fortune 500 (you’re so cool!) firm that is so enlightened as to not be on the internet?
草…….. (测试一下网站的编辑,O(∩_∩)O哈哈~,看看你们的反应)
I agree. 2 billion Chinese already have Windows for free, why do we need to bootleg another OS?
Yeah, sounds like reinventing the wheel to me minus putting everything on the cloud.
I’d rather use my iPhone to browse the internet, stay connected with friends, pay the bill, read the news, watch the stock market, manage tasks etc.. etc.. without having to boot or carry another even gadget.
Wonder if I can boot the “new era of computing” without a internet connection say when i am on a plane and get some work done. Will all the drivers work then?
Sounds like reinventing the wheel and I find it hard to see the innovation behind this initiative.
You just don’t get it.
In the “new era of computing” you will not need to get any work done.
It is part of our corporate moto at Google, do no evil, why do think most of us stayed in school and got our PHDs?
re-inventing the wheel is the lifeblood of the technology industry.
I agree to some extent, sure it’s not going to be everything we hope it will be, however it drives competition, Google is a serious player in whatever in whatever area it takes.
Example Google Chrome, it had a process per tab and now IE and FireFox are mimicking.
PS: Although I still prefer and use FireFox, but thank Google for this innovation. :)
“Example Google Chrome, it had a process per tab and now IE and FireFox are mimicking.
PS: Although I still prefer and use FireFox, but thank Google for this innovation. :)”
Actually, thank Microsoft which introduced this well before Chrome.
opera introduced tabbed browsing before any of them
Google is a serious player?
Orkut? Catalog Search? Dodgeball? Lively? Browser Sync?
LOL
I bet in a decade it’ll be a significant threat.
Once desktop machines use it and big software makers like Adobe and Autodesk support it, I guarantee you it’ll rival Windows and will blow OS X out of the water. (It’ll appeal to all the anti-MS users out there..but they’ll be able to put it on any hardware they wish, unlike OS X).
Even at the Netbook level, it’s a threat. I’m a huge MS fanboy and would rather get a Chrome OS netbook and give Google a chance than blindly try Windows 7 (or go back to the 9 yr. old XP).
i cant imagine adobe and autodesk puting their software on a cloud
In the beginning I think you’re right. But the operating system is poised to go online and when it does google will be in a good position. but lets say that doesn’t happen for a long time. google’s os won’t be a grand slam but if they can chip away and get 3-5% over the next couple of years (which i think is reasonable), you’re talking about a fortune. if 1% of search is worth over a billion, what’s 1% of the operating system market?
First of all, the COBY analogy is way-off. COBY is not a highly respected, and known brand to the non-technical buyer in the way that Google is. Google became a verb, remember? If you’ve forgotten, then just Google it! I don’t think anyone will ever respond “Oh yeah, lets COBY that” to the question, “Do you want to watch this new BlueRay movie”?
Second, Google is not going to be competing with Windows 7, but with Windows 7 Starter Edition. Microsoft is offering this OS just to keep in the netbook market. They are hoping to get users to spring for an upgrade. Personally I think that S.E. is going to piss people off after they find they can’t perform basic functions like changing the desktop background. Linux never made it in this market because it isn’t marketable as LINUX. I don’t think Google will use the L-Word much in the marketing. Linux is and remains a geeky product.
Third, I hear so much about printing, and drivers. The latest versions of Linux support more hardware out of the box than many flavors of Windows do. I have a network attached laser printer at home. I still have to point Windows in the right direction to find it for some reason, where Ubuntu found, and installed it correctly in less than 30 seconds. Even the current lightweight distros have come a long way. Puppy runs great on my Aspire-One, supporting all of the hardware, and booting faster than anything else.
There’s no guarantee that they will make it, as we’ve certainly seen plenty of good ideas get mismanaged, and mis-marketed. Being a support person, I welcome some simplicity at the low end. Now if they can only get it right….
Investors didn’t see much to cheer about today, and neither do I. When we talk about browser market share, we’re not talking big bucks.
I didn’t buy a Mac simply for the OS, it’s mostly the hardware that I bought. Apple doesn’t even want to be in the netbook space. Who wants a netbook? Casual users, people who want to surf the net on the toilet, people on an airplane, people on the train. It’s a secondary computer.
Google won’t make money from the hardware or the OS. The casual use of netbooks won’t increase their browser marketshare, and browser marketshare hasn’t translated into money anyways. Google makes more money off of their search engine market share than Microsoft does on their browser marketshare.
Calling on all software manufacturers to recode their applications for html5/gears/cloud doesn’t solve a real problem in the end. I’m a stop motion animator – how does it help me if the software I use is on the web now? Is there a long term benefit to me? It hurts hardware and it hurts software. In the end, I’m now at the mercy of the web based software manufacturer. At least now if the software company goes out of business my software doesn’t stop working.
What is the end game? Stop telling me this is the future and tell me why. Come on Arrington. Why do I need a Crunchpad unless it’s because I spend a lot of time on the toilet and my iphone display is too small? You drink too much coffee.
Brilliantly said.
Fantastic comment. I agree 100%. What is the bottom line to all of this? Where is this leading? So all the programs we use will be now online in the future? What’s the advantage? I can see a couple of disadvantages : latency and downtime. GREAT. Just what I need. I had access to my software on my computer, and now I am relying on my ISP and “app provider”. How on earth is that an advancement?
The TC guys are just full of hype and no substance. Tell us guys : what’s the REAL advantages of “cloud computing” and entrusting Google to “show us the way”?
Could Computing is nothing new that IBM, Prime, Wang, DEC and many others have done at a smaller scale in the past. People have short memories, but I do recall people rejoicing when they finally had a computer that they controlled, not the central system administrator (in this new world, Google).
100% aggre with John Biggs.
-How to compete with Microsoft on OS market and the 60 000 patents?
-Google can only have small place on a very small market: netbook. But MS will keeps the best market notbook and PC why?
Ask a OEM to use Google for the low range products and after the OEM will use what kind of OS for middle and high range???
-Pro market ex: your company will never use cloud products or open source or a google unix solution.
With ChromeOS, crunchpad will die!
I believe competitions is good. Pushes technology. Monopoly is just boring. Looking how this road gonna be, I think cellphone providers will soon disappear leaving only large telcos supporting more advance wimax. All we need is just wireless and access to it. Who needs a gsm? Skype is free.
I think google make a smart move not in term of direct competing with microsoft but a start of evolving what the net is becoming. A light weight OS opens alot of opportunities, like new devices and methods both consumer and business wise.
I believe we will be seeing alot of portable touch device really really soon…the flood gate is about to unleash.
Microsoft should have concentrated more on the web when they could.
Looks pretty cool.
Ouch! Wonder what are those 14 guys in Singapore thinking right now.
OUCH x 2!
“But can it beat Windows? No and never.”
That’s retarded.
In the future 95% of our applications will be SaaS.
We’re just not very good at it yet. A lot of people that create things like lousy IDEs and MS Word stuff for the browser could make their apps a lot better with stuff like client side browser resource bundles, and Google gears.
They just don’t.
There’s even a SQLite engine coming to Firefox so that we can use client side SQL storage. That’s coming like right the f now.
You don’t get it. You’re living in yesterday.
Hello Windows 95 is gone. Hello SaaS is here.
A lot of these people that showed amazement at MS Windows are now comparable to people that sit and gaze at the marvel of a toaster oven.
You’re getting old. No, wait, you can get old and still be current. You’re acting old. There.
SaaS only applies to certain kinds of software. There will ALWAYS be a need to squeeze every last little drop of power from hardware. Doing hardcore computing on a server thousands of miles away has inherent physical constraints on response time.
Look, something the size of an iPhone might be a fast as a desktop in 3 years, but every single desktop I’ve owned I’ve wished it found eigenvectors faster in Mathematica or rendered video faster in Avid…
Also, we’re going to have smaller, thinner computers, that don’t run as fast, and will need hardware and software developers to create applications in it’s native environment.
The vast majority of money made in the computer software industry is made by companies who are dependent on speed. Architectural design? Engineering? Multimedia? Mathematics? What, do you think that the money all comes from Joe Hotdog sitting on his couch?
Go meet some people who don’t think and act exactly like yourself. Get out of the echo chamber!
GET YOU HEADS OUT OF THE CLOUD(S), PEOPLE!
I think Fake Steve is missing an important point. We do not know the design of the new OS. He is also confusing Chrome the browser with Chrome the OS. Note this from the official Google spiel “Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel”. This is much more than anyone here is anticipating (except MA perhaps).
Think kernel/core + lightweight DE/WM + Chrome. Think a linux distro optimised for the web and for users – expect no CLI.
This is a windows replacement that your mother can use.
You guys are absolutely hung up on Linux.
SO many people have G1 phones through T-Mobile and have no idea what Linux is.
Chrome OS is that. You won’t know it’s Linux.
Most of you know that OSX has an application called “Terminal” if you go into the Application folder and search for it, you will find it.
Windows has an application called cmd or command. Click start->run and type cmd then enter and you will see it. It also has power shell.
So even though Windows and Mac have a CLI, most people do not use it. Even though Android has a downloadable CLI in “shell”, most people do not use it.
Don’t expect to see Linux/Gnome featured in Chrome the way it is in Ubuntu.
That I can safely promise without having reviewed the OS.
As somebody that knows Google tech pretty well, I will go a step further, and say that I believe that ChromeOS API will be exposed in either Dalvik VM or something similar, and that the experience will be similar to Android’s SDK.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalv%C3%ADk
App engine, Wave, Location Awareness, Maps, Finance and the other API will all be rolled in.
Remember what they presented at IO, where they have the tech to locate a user on a laptop without GPS satellites by mapping providers, and wifi.
If I know Google, and I do know Google there will be a neat API similar to Android API, and it will have little to do with the Linux we see on Ubuntu where the libraries are all wrapped around C such as GTK+ in python, Perl, Java ect…
You have to understand what they are trying to do.
woops, wrong Dalvik
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalvik_virtual_machine
LOLZ. TGIF, tgif, it’s coming baby. I can’t wait!!
A simple question – what new problem does this solve – is it only that they are going to give an OS for free – and please don’t be so short sigted to compare this with i-phone which
1. Solved a real problem with an amazing UI
2. Was backed up by superb marketing – given that AAPL was making $$’s out of it
If being free is it’s only moot then why would goog spend a HUGE engineering effort like MSFT does for Windows to come out with newer/better versions ..
Why can’t it be compared to iPhone? It’s addressing a fundamentally new device category. Google only needs to spend a fraction of the energy that Microsoft does, because, yes, Chrome OS will do much *less* than Windows. That’s the point. Windows can’t get smaller. It’s spiraling inexorably into complex oblivion.
What new device category is that?
Cheap underpowerd laptop PC? Web-only OS?
Been tried many times already. Ever heard of Netscape or the DOT COM boom / bust?
Yep. Ever heard of $4.2 billion acquisitions? Ever heard of Firefox? Ever heard of Marc Andreesen or Jim Clark? What’s your point? What has been tried?
The category is as new as whatever category the iPhone created or entered.
It is really about the Tablet.
While Android is Google’s OS for the mobile world, I think Chrome OS is really intended for the tablets, just like Apple is working on a tablet OS which is neither the iPhone OS nor the OS X, but a hybrid sort.
Tablets will be huge starting 2010 and Google wants to be a player, that is all. It is not really about competing with Windows , OS X, or Linux.
The closest competitors to ChromeOS will be the new OS for tablet by Apple and CrunchPad OS.
You had me until “CrunchPad OS”.
CrunchPad OS…OUCH!
Anyway 2010 all developers will increase in value for the increase in demand for web app and on-demand architecture…hail to G!
I can see that. Targeted at Kindle.
If Amazon Kindle add Search, Email, Blogs, … plus Microsoft hitting them from all side Bing, ..
Google is toast.
Kindle is a game changer like the iPod. ChromeOS is not.
What OS is Kindle running? Does anyone care? Does Amazon market the name of the OS? Does Amazon sell Kindle for free?
This article misses the point altogether – An html 5.0 browser IS the new OS. The native ’stuff’ around it is just a shell for local file access, printing, power settings and few more drivers to control hardware resources – that’s it. I’m sure that most TC readers will admit that they live inside thier browser already. In 5 years everybody’s going to live inside their browser as this is were apps innovation happens today.
i wonder how i am going to play a hard core game in a web browser……
You’ll be able to use Gaikai to play hard core games in a browser.
I look forward to playing around with Chrome OS… from a VM running on Windows 7.
Cheers to Chrome OS….. will be waiting for this final incarnation of “web as OS”.
http://bit.ly/Js84u
People said the iPod didn’t have a chance.
People said the iPhone didn’t have a chance.
When Google came out, Yahoo, Altavista, etc. were the huge search engines… Google blasted them outta nowhere.
It’ll be an uphill battle, but there’s no reason to believe that it can’t gain significant market share.
Fake Steve Jobs just posted up something similar to this article and had 8 points, to which I created a rebuttal for each one here:
http://www.chrome-os-blog.com/fake-steve-jobs-on-googles-chrome-os-73/
Interesting reading.
Interesting. Here are few reasons why I am long MSFT. I hope this pushes MSFT down short-term so that I can buy more.
Here a only a few firms that rocked the tech world and hired the brightest PHD students….
…All of them were basically CRUSHED by MSFT / Intel.
Sybase
Netscape
Oracle
IBM
WordPerfect
Lotus
Digital
Borland
Sun
Actually Sun probably had the most talent engineers overall…
but then again Microsoft never hired “bright engineers” they hire “bright business people”
Microsoft does not ask for you GPA when you fill out an application – a young Bill Gates would never even be interviewed at Google. LOL.
Live and Learn. Long MSFT.
True about Sun.
They invented this thing call “the network is the computer” and “distributed computing” and “Java” and a zillon other world changing software ideas that made no money for them, …
Ever use a Sun Sparc Workstation? Still blows away anything Google is copying, I mean doing today.
Then again, none of you can afford a Sun Workstation. LOL.
AAPL + GOOG are bigger than MSFT. Microsoft’s future is dismal. Office, Windows, IIS and .NET are at their peaks. And Microsoft doesn’t have the right mentality for the future. MSFT stock is at 1997 level. Good riddance.
Too many people (ahem…Alex) are forgetting some things:
1. How many “Legal” copies of Windows are in use.
2. You don’t speak as someone who has to pay the unfair and gouging prices of MS software. If you did, any alternative for free web browsing is welcome.
3. Public education will pick this up quickly, a lot of districts are using netbooks as alternatives to paying the high prices for MS and Apple.
ChromeOS is significant because it’s the only few desktop/netbook OS that would support ARM, the leader in performance per joule.
Now imagining a netbook you can carry around for a few days without charging.
Great I’ll tape it ontop my work laptop that I need to carry around anyway.
My son in high school might want one, but he can’t get both a Netbook and a Gaming Laptop, besides he needs the exercise.
Actually you are not quite right…he can get both…because vendors are bundling up desktop or desktop replacement with netbook…some service providers giving it free if you subscribe to their services, example cable tv.
And is part of innovation even if you have to tape it to you work laptop…I will bring tablet device with a work laptop just because when I am having lunch it will be crazy to carry that laptop to Starbucks to read news and keeping it up to date on the web?
Its part of technology advancement…don’t be so square…we use to carry walkman and tons of cassette tapes…how about boxes of floppies…I will carry that additional netbook anytime…