Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last few days, you’ve likely heard that Google is set to release an OS which will be based around similar philosophies as the Chrome browser. So what does that mean?
Well, Google gives some vague ideas of what it might be. It’ll focus on “speed, simplicity, and security” and also says that “most of the user experience will happen on the web.” They say they’ll be building a lightweight window manager on top of the Linux kernel, and that it should get users to the web quickly.
In all likelihood, Chome OS will focus on existing Google products – Gmail, Docs, Calendar, etc. This brings about a few big questions.
1. What’s the point?
No, seriously. Why bother? Since you can access all of these products using any existing standards based browser, why do you need an OS based around a browser? On a netbook, this sounds like it might be great. Since netbooks are typically pretty underpowered, a suite of solid web apps, quick startup and shutdown, and simplicity are certainly nice. Hosting files online like you would with Google Docs would certainly help keep those tiny SSD’s free as well. They also mention that it will work with x86 based chips as well. Which begs the question:
2. Why would you wipe a full OS like Ubuntu, Windows 7, or OS X in favor of Google Chrome?
I love speed and simplicity as much as anyone, but sometimes not at the expense of utility. How many of you would be using Chrome as your browser if not for all those awesome extensions you have in Firefox? With Firefox 3.5, you get almost all of the speed of Chrome, plus a thousand times more utility. The very same can be said about Chrome OS and the other competing OS’s. On a netbook, you might want the simplicity of Chrome OS, but what about on a full size laptop or desktop?
3. How about privacy?
If, as is being speculated, most of your data lives in the cloud (on Google’s servers), how is that going to affect privacy? I mean, Google already does a fair amount of crawling my email, will they be doing the same with personal files? What happens if a court subpoenas my information? Will Google give it to them?
In any case, I hope that Google has some success in the OS market. More competition will breed innovation from other OS makers. I think Windows 7 is shaping up to be pretty good, but I sincerely doubt it would have been what it is now if not for Apple gaining market share with OS X, and options like Ubuntu becoming a more viable alternative every day.
I also have pretty high hopes for Chrome OS considering how many other Google products I use regularly and love. I’d argue that GMail change the way a lot of people think about email, and I hope they do the same with Operating Systems.
