Google OS Is Real And No Threat To Apple
2:38 am, July 8th, 2009, Giles Turnbull
People have been speculating about a Google OS for years, and finally it’s official. Chrome OS will be open source, free, and popping up on a netbook near you in about a year or so from now.
And do you think Apple’s worried? Nah.
Apple doesn’t give a damn about netbooks, as it has already made crystal clear.
I’ve no doubt that Chrome OS will be a huge success, especially if it ends up being as fast and as simple as Google promises. On netbooks, it will perhaps cut into sales of Linux-based devices, and to a lesser extent the ones running Windows 7. And we shouldn’t underestimate the potential of Windows 7 – it’s the best thing to come out of Microsoft in a long, long time.
And that’s what Google is taking aim at. The intention is to eat into Microsoft’s market share, to get Chrome OS installed on netbooks first, then notebooks and desktops later. Apple, even with eight per cent or whatever it claims nowadays, isn’t in its sights.
I doubt if anyone at Apple even gives a damn. Assuming they are building a tablet-like gadget to take the MacBook name and do to other tablets what the iPhone is doing to cell phones, they’ll also be working on an OS X + iPhone OS derivative to run on it. And if that’s the case, it’ll be very interesting to see how it stacks up against Chrome OS.
But anyway. Hi Google. Welcome to the OS club. It gets hot in here sometimes.
UPDATE
M’colleague Leigh McMullen emails me to point out that Chrome-as-an-OS was something he predicted way back in September last year, in a post entitled Google Sets Sights on Windows and its entertaining follow-up Chrome is an OS, Not a Premature Googasm. Both worth re-reading in light of today’s news.
Posted by Giles Turnbull in News, Opinions, Top stories | Comment on this article
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In my opinion, as long as MS has their tentacles on the PC manufacturers’ throats, there’s only so much a newcomer can do.
Even if the manufacturers WANT to load something else on their netbooks or whatever, MS need only tighten their grip and the manufacturers will get the “hint”.
I’m not saying MS’s strategy will work forever, but for now, it seems the grip is still pretty strong.
MacSheikh, on July 8th, 2009 at 3:32 am
“And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.” — Sound like Google is embracing an Apple like philosophy.
Khürt Williams, on July 8th, 2009 at 3:58 am
I fail to see why it is not a threat: for the people that want a computer that “just works” and keeps it simple, this is the embodyment of it, and the beauty is that the hardware requirements are Linux Netbook-level. It really eats into Apple’s target userbase.
Snafu, on July 8th, 2009 at 7:19 am
“And we shouldn’t underestimate the potential of Windows 7 – it’s the best thing to come out of Microsoft in a long, long time.”
I installed Windows 7 on my Macbook Pro the other day and it’s awful. I am compiling a long list of issues I have with installation, the API, and other general nitpicks. Needless to say, it’s still a far cry from the Mac OS.
And after 20 years of OS development you’d think Microsoft could at least hide the DOS splash screen during start-up. Or is it simply too hard to accomplish this?….. pathetic.
Sean, on July 8th, 2009 at 7:35 am
“And we shouldn’t underestimate the potential of Windows 7 – it’s the best thing to come out of Microsoft in a long, long time.”
And that’s exactly the problem. While it may be the best to come out of M$ that bar is set pretty low. I’ve used the RC for the last month on a fairly recent Dell Precision at work and I can not get it to behave on the network. It also freezes randomly. I was really looking forward to using Windows 7 (at work, never at home) but the whole experience leaves me apathetic.
I just can’t see where M$ is competing with companies that innovate.
Jon Smith, on July 8th, 2009 at 8:11 am
How could Chrome OS “cut into sales of Linux” if it is another version of Linux? Linux already has about 1/6th the desktop market share of OS X (about 2% vs %12), but with the huge well known name of Google now backing it on the fastest growing segment of the industry (Netbooks), I fully expect Linux to overtake OS X and become the new #2 OS unless Apple puts aside their traditional “not invented here” attitude.
Reality Master, on July 8th, 2009 at 8:21 am
It sounds like Google is targeting the netbook exclusively, which makes me wonder if you could ever use the device without wifi or an ethernet connection. *shrugs* So let them go after that. When reality ambushes netbook users (and it’s starting to already), they’ll want either real laptop or a desktop, and that’s where Apple reigns. If Chrome is another Linux variant, they’ve got years to go as far as usability and maintenance goes. They are no threat.
InRussetShadows, on July 8th, 2009 at 8:57 am
There are web apps standards for persistent local data and offline work, so that’s not so big a problem. Usability isn’t, either (the web browser is the universal GUI nowadays). If GCOS requirements reduce the needed hardware’s prices to lower than OLPC-levels (RAM and storage needs ought to be lower than usual), a “CloudBook” would become even more of an impulse buy than current NetBooks are.
This is going to be fun
.
Snafu, on July 8th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
” If Chrome is another Linux variant, they’ve got years to go as far as usability and maintenance goes. They are no threat.”
Three hurtles apple must jump:
1. Active X
2. Network File Permissions
3. Cloud Computing.
If they did that, it would be APPLE sticking the knife in Microsloth, not Google…
Shaunathan, on July 8th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Of course Apple is not worried. Whenever they feel the need they can dropship that iTablet that they have in development that will be their entry against netbooks that will have Mobile OS X on it, with all of those 50,000+ apps. How does anyone compete with that?
KenC, on July 8th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Why anybody wants this Active X from Microsoft? Nobody likes it! Mac OS X already has a built-in network permissions! Are you an idiot in computing world? Cloud computer will be part of Mac OS X since it has been ongoing in changing itself by programmers…
pwr7549, on July 9th, 2009 at 4:58 am
Has anyone actually used a netbook or tablet PC for an extended period of time before? I have, and let me tell you they just do not last.
A few years ago I worked with a company that tried to use UMPCs hooked to 3G modems as mobile streaming devices and after about 2-3 months they all simply died due to what we referred to as “user error” which resulted in cracked screens, thermal failures, overheated batteries, failed hard drives, and Windows corruption. We eventually created our own modified lightweight version of Windows XP and solved most of our software issues, but getting a stable OS on them wasn’t enough.
My coworkers failed to grasp the concept that the UMPCs were actually full fledged computers composed of a fragile heat sensitive processor, motherboard, battery, and a hard drive with movable parts. To them, because the UMPCs were so small and light they didn’t treat them like they did a MacBook, or a PC laptop. Because of the form factor of the devices people treated them like they did their cellphones or a Gameboy, they tossed them in purses, in backpacks, slammed them down on tables, left them sitting in their cars exposed to heat, etc. Regardless of the OS, the perception of these future netbooks was that they were not equal to a laptop.
We literally had 15 of these future netbooks, with 1GB of ram, and 1.25GHz processors and they simply didn’t last.
My friends girlfriend just recently bought a netbook and is running Windows 7, which while it is more stable it has identical hardware to the UMPCs I use to have to try and maintain. Even the battery in it is the same. I imagine that todays netbooks will suffer for all the same reasons conceptually that my former coworkers were unable to grasp when it came the UMPCs, they simply stopped treating them like computers because they didn’t look or feel like a computer.
With all of this said, it simply will not matter what OS these devices run. If anything, the future is in touch screens, and only Apple has the hardware and the software philosophy capable of producing such a device. Google will fail to produce a compelling product much like Microsoft is failing because they will have no influence over the quality of the hardware.
Trent L, on July 9th, 2009 at 5:31 am
>Sean wrote:
>”And after 20 years of OS development you’d think Microsoft could at least >hide the DOS splash screen during start-up. Or is it simply too hard to >accomplish >this?….. pathetic.”
Please.
>Joe Smith wrote:
>”And that’s exactly the problem. While it may be the best to come out of M$ >that bar is set pretty low.”
“M$”? From an Appleuser?
Pot. Kettle. Black!
Vapor, on July 9th, 2009 at 6:36 am
Windows 7? I can hardly help suspecting!!!!!
Horselover Fat, on July 11th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
This is something everyone wanted for ages. We are waiting !!
AK, on July 29th, 2009 at 10:09 pm