Google have announced that they are developing an x86 operating system called Google Chrome Operating System. There’s no real details and nothing to see yet. They’re initially aiming at NetBooks and it will be Linux based. It’s not a real threat to Windows dominance but it will probably take a certain percentage of geek machines. They’ll make more announcements in the Autumn.
EDIT #1:
I’ve been thinking about this a bit since I posted it. I attended a presentation by a senior MS security engineer earlier this year. He said they were impressed by how well Google had responded to early vulnerabilities in the Chrome browser.
I think some people view Google as being some light side of The Force. Sorry to burst some bubbles but Google is a business and they obviously want world dominance in their market. To me, they strike me as being a little like Sun; lots of talk about open and cross platform but in the end, they only want 1 platform: theirs.
It wouldn’t surprise if Chrome OS turns out to be a Chrome browser only OS. Want an Office product? You’ll have only one choice: Google Apps. Want an RSS reader? Google Reader. Want email? GMail. This might be fine for a tiny percentage of users but it won’t be good for the majority.
I may be way off on this but I certainly won’t mistake Google for being some altruistic force in the universe. They’ve got shareholders and profit&loss statements to think about. Dominance on mail, search, etc, means dominance in Internet revenues. Apps is a subscription service so dominance there cleans up for them too.
However, competition is good. Maybe this will shake things up on the desktop market price and product packaging-wise. My thoughts on that have been posted before.
As always, I agree with you completely. There really is a ‘rose colored glasses’ thing with peoples perception of Google. I think they are a company that provides a great search engine and that’s it. They do want dominance or at least a huge market share, they are after all, a Business First!