Google say it is workingon an operating system design for netbooksthat boots in seconds , is impervious to viruses , and is designed to run vane - based software program really well . What ’s not to care ? Plenty — if you ’re the number one computer software Almighty , Microsoft . Expect a showdown . Google faces an acclivitous fight roll out its operate system , Chrome OS . The irony is , Google may not give care if Chrome oxygen succeeds or miscarry . Here ’s why .
What ’s amazing about Google ’s Chrome OS is that , despite what slight is really known about it , its announcementhas turned the computer and computer software industry on its spike . The industry — and consumers — just require to love it . Google says Saratoga chip makersQualcomm and Texas Instruments , PC Godhead Acer and Hewlett - Packard , and software developer such as Adobe are collaborate on project and build Chrome atomic number 76 devices .
Google ’s big bet for the Chrome OS is that it can spur a novel securities industry for software package , such as Google Docs , that can work completely in a Web browser app . It hopes we will rely on these Web service for storing work file , personal exposure , and music on an always - on connected Internet . Want entree to your picture or spreadsheet ? slow — just turn on your netbook , and there it is . No longer will we be chained by an ethernet corduroy to a bulky Windows PC . The Chrome OS future is about lightweight mobile PCs and devices always connected to the Web , giving you exigent access to your data and program in the so - call cloud .
Chrome to ride netbook juggernaut
Chrome OS is hitching a drive on thefast - growing netbook section of the computer industry . While notebook gross revenue are flat , harmonize to market enquiry firm DisplaySearch , netbook sales are soaring with sales growing by 260 percent worldwide this year alone .
Nothing has been announced , but next yr , do n’t be surprised if HP is selling dirt - cheap Chrome OS netbooks get hitched with to a wireless plan from Verizon Wireless . certain , netbook Lord and wireless carriers are alreadyoffering netbook giveaway promotion . But Google will have an reward because Chrome type O will be free and the hardware requisite for running it are expected to be minimal , letting companies such as HP build ultracheap computers .
In this path Google hope to do for the notebook whatApple has done with the iPhone — revolutionise the wireless manufacture by creating a Chrome OS machine married to a rootage for apps like the iTunes App Store . Google ’s next stoppage after the netbook , it says , is the desktop .
But a lot can go on between now and former 2010 , when Google says Chrome OS will be ready .
Chrome OS challenges
First , Google will compete with another operate system , Linux , that has tried unprofitably to exchange Windows on consumer PCs . The Linux camp will give it another go with aLinux strain call Moblinthat has the backup of Intel and is headed for netbooks soon . ( No specific better half or dates have been announce . ) Dell says it prefer Moblin to Chrome OS .
Google ’s Chrome will confront another challenge from consumers . Do consumers want bare - bones netbookstied solely to Web app program ? What happens when you ’re on an airplane or if you ca n’t get a wireless signaling at the dentist ’s office ? Privacy issues will also peck Google . How much do we want the fellowship to know about our online and othercomputing habits ?
Next , there ’s Google ’s arch - scourge , Microsoft . Expect Microsoft to lob propaganda grenades at Google ’s Chrome OS later on this year , perhaps with a campaign espousing the virtuousness of desktop computer software . That will happen just as itrolls out Windows 7 , which Microsoft will be sure to prompt uswill ship on netbooksas well as desktop . Microsoft wo n’t break there as it protects its Windows package conglomerate . It will flex its industry might behind the scenes , force hardware Creator and software developers to reconsider jumping aboard the Chrome OS bandwagon .
Lastly , Microsoft will have its own brand of vane services to push . In July , it announced it would release on-line versions of its popularOffice software to consumers for loose . Microsoft is mum on specifics regarding its Web - based retinue of Office apps , stating only that the cortege will be available month before Google ’s Chrome O is set to found .
Google’s unstated goal
Google ’s true ambitiousness really has less to do with building a unexampled operating organization and more to do with keeping Microsoft on its toe . By promising to deliver the Chrome OS , the search monster is challenging Microsoft to flummox it in a backwash to a future where on-line programs can finally surpass desktop software . Google is also using the threat of the Chrome o to coax innumerous package developer to get serious about build entanglement services that pass in the web browser rather of the Windows operating arrangement .
Does Google opine it can topple Microsoft even on the netbook ? It ’s wishful intellection , but if the company plays its menu the right way , it wo n’t weigh . Even if Google eventually yield up on Chrome OS , it will have forced Microsoft and the rest of the industry to take elephantine steps toward deploying cloud services . By that meter , Google will be just as well-chosen to have us access a Google Chrome Web App Store via a Windows PC or a MacBook as via a Chrome OS netbook .
What we need to enquire ourselves is , what ’s in this for Google ? Is Google really adjudicate to make the man a better spot with Chrome OS ? Maybe , but at the end of the daylight Google want to betray advert . Google ’s Chrome OS countenance it to become the ultimate advertiser , owning nearly every panorama of your digital life from the operating system you habituate to how you seek and work online .
Do n’t expect Google to sulkiness as it watch Microsoft , Apple , and others attempt to mash the Chrome OS with innovativeWeb - based service of their own . Google may shed some crocodile snag , but as the obituaries of the Chrome OS flash across internet browser window , Google Ad Words ads may just be hawking the latest Web apps .
