In Windows Challenge, Google Will Intro PC Operating System
While Michael Arrington revels in I told you so, deservedly, his colleague, MG Siegler, rockets to the top of the techmeme heights with his post, Google Drops A Nuclear Bomb On Microsoft. And It’s Made of Chrome:
Wow. So you know all those whispers about a Google desktop operating system that never seem to go away? You thought they might with the launch of Android, Google’s mobile OS. But they persisted. And for good reason, because it’s real.
In the second half of 2010, Google plans to launch the Google Chrome OS, an operating system designed from the ground up to run the Chrome web browser on netbooks. “It’s our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be,” Google writes tonight on its blog.
But let’s be clear on what this really is. This is Google dropping the mother of bombs on its chief rival, Microsoft.
And it’s an Open Source bomb. Say they, “We have a lot of work to do, and we’re definitely going to need a lot of help from the open source community to accomplish this vision.” The OS will basically be the Chrome browser running inside “a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.”
Google says the OS “will initially be targeted at netbooks.” The NYTimes:
“Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS,” said Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management, and Linus Upson, engineering director, in a post on a company blog. “We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the Web in a few seconds.”
Mr. Pichai and Mr. Upson said that the software would be released online later this year under an open-source license, which would allow outside programmers to modify it. Netbooks running the software will go on sale in the second half of 2010.
Giving credit where credit is due, Ars Technica had the story up about 2 hours before Google confirmed it last night. And CNet looks at the reasons Microsoft may not be dead man walking. (Not much there.)
Now everyone’s waiting to hear Microsoft’s take.
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19 Responses to “In Windows Challenge, Google Will Intro PC Operating System”
This is exactly what is needed, a game rival to Microsoft in the OS biz. Especially if they target the everyday user who doesn't need a big gaming rig or extreme workstation performance for CAD, design, etc. Linux already has a lion share of the web server OS world. And Google is very smart by building their OS from that.
This is major news!
Google might take a dent out of Windows on peripheral environments like net books and mobile devices. But a mainstream PC desktop OS needs to handle a million different hardware configurations, provide rich APIs for applications, devices, and games, and support a huge ecosystem of existing software. In short, it needs to become as big and complex as Windows. Google is not going to want to go there.
Ubuntu, Fedora, Suse, Mandriva have produced perfectly adequate distros that run Open Office, Firefox, Thunderbird and pretty much all the software that an average user will ever need. It's practically impossible to find a pc/laptop with any of those distros preinstalled (Dell being the exception, they have an option to get Ubuntu preinstalled).
Until the Microsoft monopoly is broken by the government, Microsoft will continue to dominate the PC OS marketplace.
This “everyday user” who's happy with a few bits of “adequate” core software is a myth. Sure, Open Office is a good start, but I don't run it because MS Office is better. And I also run media players and photoshop and two flavors of IM and games and some network tools. Even my mother, not exactly a PC power user, still finds a desire to download and run more than the basics. A quick browse through the umpteen-million titles on download.com gives a sense of the rich set of choices people enjoy today. They're not going to be giving those up anytime soon.
One of my friends is already running Chrome. She likes it.
Dr_J said: “This “everyday user” who's happy with a few bits of “adequate” core software is a myth.”
I see where your coming from. In my ideal OS world, you could run whatever OS you want on any platform due to an “OS skeleton” that provides the “basics”. Basically taking virtualization to the everyday user.
I think the comments so far are missing the point. The idea is *not* that Google is going to copy a desktop OS vis a vis Windows, OSX, Linux variants etc. It's that it is going to develop a platform for web based streaming apps known as cloud computing. Whether it's games or a more advanced version of Google Docs, the actual software won't be installed on the user computer…allowing access from anywhere and easy maintenance — as long as requiring much lower specs to run things (computer companies fear this too).
I have some concerns about the feasibility for consumers (the internet infrastructure can barely handle current loads and this will triple them) — allow it's a no brainer for businesses — but it's what they are going to go for. It's also why Google was so adamant about trying to get some of the analog spectrum.
Ah… the wonders of cloud computing. While I see the upside, I still have lots of reservations about security and control. And I share the same concerns you have about the Internet infrastructure (we can't even get every home in the States on the current high-speed Internet offerings).
Cloud computing is reminds so much of the old mainframe/dumb terminal days (well some of those still are in existence). Some argue that is what cloud computing is with slick marketing. But the “mainframes” in cloud computing is many other computers/servers providing many applications. And the dumb terminals are not nearly as dumb as those Wyse green-screen blocks (UGH!).
Yes, we've heard this song before. It was the web PC, and before that it was mainframe apps.
No question they're easier for corporate IT to manage, but they're not up to the challenge. Look at the fairly modest apps at popcap.com: you can play a bit online, but before you know it you're downloading and installing something. Or consider the state-of-the-art iPhone, which still uses a download-and-install model. The software clouds are still a long way from taking the world by storm.
And I doubt Google will be the company to change that. They don't have the attention span.
Haha yeah, I was talking to my friend about it and said that it seemed like computing had come full circle. I am fully on the cloud bandwagon for business apps due to their characteristics and infrastructure abilities. Hopefully I'll soon be putting my hands where my mouth is. [Er well program where my typing is]
It's true, but there are a couple of key differences that I think will make it explode in the next half decade. Ironically they were (and are) being developed by Microsoft. By the time that Windows 8 is released I wouldn't be surprised to see Microsoft as the dominant player in distributed computing.
Microsoft has greatly improved their products. I was not a big Microsoft fan. Still love Unix. But the latest releases for .Net developers have been VERY impressive. Chrome won't be much competition. Google is way behind in the game and cloud computing has serious issues.
I hope it works out for Google. Chrome will be another tool in the box.
I don't really think that it'll take off, but I would like to point out that two of the big OSes now run off of Linux Kernels (Leopard and now Chrome). I just wonder if Linux will ever take off. (for my next computer, I'm going to go for a desktop with Windows 7 on on Hard Drive and Ubuntu on another)
“It's a no brainer for businesses”
WOuld those be businesses who have:
(1) Have an installed base of hunders, thousands, and tens of thousand MS Office users?
(2) Have trained and dedicated IT support teams who know how to handle PC peripheral issues that involve Windows and not Linux?
(3) Run internal networks with mass storage that they would never give up to “cloud computing”?
BTW, I'm personally more of an “OS X” guy even though I work in IT doing SAP programming on a Windows network. It's OS X. As in “OS Ten”.
Seriously, for businesses who run any ERP system (like SAP) and extensively use MS Office to run their company – where's the reason to suddenly go to *any* kind of Linux OS?
Google has an uphill battle here. Even in the netbook niche. More users (by a large margin) prefer XP over Linux. WHat other market is Google after? Not smartphones. Not gaming devices. And no, not home consumers either.
Nothing to see here folks. Just another dot com company giving the geek bloggers something to drool about, a la Kindle. Move along now.
Linux software equivalent to Windows software
Other than games, I haven't found a windows application that does not have one or more linux equivalent, the GUI may not be as nice or as consistent but the applications do work, and generally the price is unbeatable.
Windows Vista $199.00
MS Office $299.00
Virus & Spyware Protection $80.00
Ubuntu – Free…
.
I see, so you're saying the linux apps are not as well designed and despite their low price point no one uses them, but other than that they're equivalent? And people pay hundreds of dollars more for the popular versions only because they're victims of a corporate conspiracy?
Well, that's one theory. Another is that you get what you pay for, and that people are willing to pay more for polished apps.
…and that creating a commercially viable app platform is extremely hard. After decades of trawling the other-leading-OS waters, Apple can now boast a solid, mature OS, a polished UI, a respectable library of software, serious spending on marketing, a competitive price…..and market share still under 10%.
Maybe a Googleplex filled with no-longer-need-to-work-for-a-living engineers can succeed where Apple hasn't, with just a few years and a slick browser. Count me among the skeptics.
The reason Windows is popular is that it is what people are familiar with, and that it is practically impossible to find a PC with any Linux Distro pre-installed. Linux Apps have their quirks and so do Windows apps, the thing is people are generally familiar with the Window's quirks.
Having said all of this, I don't disagree with the point that Google has it's work cut out for it if it wants to get any real market share. When Asus started releasing Linux based netbooks, Microsoft put XP back on the market despite having taken it off a few month earlier.
Windows does benefit from a lock-in effect. People are familiar with it, and the effort to switch to something else is considerable.
There's a rule that a new product needs to be 10 times as good as an old one to get people to change. And many more man-hours have gone into the high-end Windows apps over decades than into their linux counterparts, so it's no surprise that people aren't moving. If linux apps really were 10 times better, you'd have no problem finding PCs with linux pre-installed.
daveski: I wasn't referring to the “no brainer” as this in particular, just cloud computing in general. I personally believe that there will be a major revolution in how businesses run their networks/programs (not the least because IT budgets are going to be slashed considerably in the low growth environment we're entering) so there is room for battling in that market…but Microsoft so far has superior (public) vision about it, and the fact that it can be slowly migrated is a huge plus.