Chrome OS: the fun never stops

 I'm guessing that you've seen the news about Google's announcement of Chrome OS. It's amazing to me just how fast the cloud is advancing.  Seems like we don't even yet have a Mac Chrome browser but already Google has announced an OS running on top of Lunix kernel that will be optimized to run web services. The OS will be open source, of course.

The blog Google Watch writes:

Google Chrome OS will run within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel and will run on x86 as well as ARM chips. Google is working with multiple OEMs to bring a "number of netbooks to market" in the second half of 2010, but the OS will be able to power desktops as well, Google claims.

So Google is trying to get the OS on to smart phones, netbooks, and later, laptops and desktops.

One of the things that Carr stressed in his book about the switch to cloud computing was how IT was on its way to becoming a utility.  This is what Google has in mind. Your computing is more like electrical service, which you don't configure or upgrade.  It just flows to you.  The Google Watch blog has this quote from Sundar Pichai, a VP at Google:

People want to get to their e-mail instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates.

This is obviously frontal assault on Microsoft, but I wonder where Apple is in all this. If Google is supplying an OS for all gizmos great and small, it also have implications for Apple and its OS.  Maybe Apple thinks that the experience of its operating system is not what Pichai is talking about?

All this just keeps on happening faster and faster.

Comments

[Malcolm Brown]

Here's one nay-sayer about Chrome OS: "An ice cube's chance in Hell of succeeding."

For all the emotionism of this title, I don't think the author makes a convincing case for his thesis.

http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/google%E2%80%99s-chrome-os-ice-cubes-chance-in-hell-succeeding-522?source=IFWNLE_nlt_openenterprise_2009-07-08

[Joshua Kim]

Learning Technology Implications of Chrome OS:

1. Netbooks will proliferate. Chrome OS will dramatically drive down costs of Netbook, as price will fall as supply scales to meet demand. The hardware will move closer to the "free" price point, as Google can subsidize both the OS, the on-board software, and maybe even the hardware in order to capture eyeballs into the Google advertising driven business model.

2. As Netbook penetration grows the proportion of time that learners spend interacting with learning content and tools will also grow. This means that we will need to design our content and apps for small screens, keyboards etc. etc.

3. As Netbook prices fall and their utility increases the ubiquity of these devices will increase. This raises the importance of having our institutions education content and product out their on the Web so it can be found and consumed.

What this means to Apple? I don't think all that much as Apple will continue to be a high-end provider of premium tools. The Chrome OS will make major inroads at the low end given Google's advertising cross- subsidy.

The big loser will of course be Microsoft, who is being squeezed to the worst possible position - the middle.

The solution for MS, as I've argued, is to release a subsidized MS Netbook - one that steers buyers to their services.