Another operating system
Forgot the battle of Linux versus windows versus apple. Does the computing world really need another operating system? Google proposes chrome OS as lightweight and designed to serve web apps. Most consumer don’t even know what that means. If chrome OS does not pose truly astonishing speed and efficiency gains from install to boot up what is the point ? the OS is platform on which everything else rests. If the benefit of chrome OS are not notice able by even computer users. What’s the point?
Open source is no open road
Sure chrome OS is open source and lot of people are excited about that. But does the world really need another stylized Linux distribution ? we have no reason yet to believe chrome OS will be markedly different from ubuntu, red hat, moblin or other distos out there. Moreover, Linux based notebook are returned to best buy and other retailer because customers can not get comfortable with Linux . for better or worse, it is a windows and apple world and sometime more choice breeds confusion.
What about android?
Did we miss something, or did not google already release an operating system that is supposed to run on net book? Oh yes it’s called android and while it was originally designed with mobile devices in mind , google has also said it expects computer manufacture to build net book with it. analysts have gone on record saying chrome OS could dilute the android brand , further confusing a fragmented Linux market.
Hype is hard
Media built up chrome OS as the next big thing for google. If it does not absolutely sing on net books and deliver the fastest, most reliable web application experience ever it will be considered a failure. Google is taking a big risk putting reputation out there with this new platform. You could make the case that the chrome brow ser is a web app, and fewer than 2 percent of the web browsing public use it as their go to browser according to web stats researchers.
Google is not a platform vendor
Google builds web applications, not platforms. While failure of web apps is expected, failure in operating system is not accepted. Microsoft has taken flak for years for it’s blue screens of death. If chrome OS is not robust enough, users will cast it aside and quickly return to windows, apple or some other flavour of Linux or they will just ignore it.
Time is not on google’s side
Google said chrome OS is not expected to appear in netbooks until 2010. analysts have told us not to expect it in netbooks until at least 2011, accounting for holdups with computer makers and other snafus. That leaves a lot of time for windows xp , ubuntu and other poses to charge ahead in the market. Will chrome os even be viable option when it appears or will the netbook world have passed it by? What happens, as giga OM suggested, if carriers start selling net books? Google has tended to have iffy relationship with Verizon and Att. Will they offer chrome OS?
Chrome OS bites apple
Google and apple have long been looked at as sort of one two punch and pincer move versus Microsoft. Google hits Microsoft with search and web services, while apple squeezes the software giant in mobile consumer electronic with the iPhone and iPode. The chrome OS announcement cast a darker pall over Google’s relationship with apple, particularly with respect to google CEO Eric Schmidt’s seat on apple’s board.The concern is competitive; chrome OS may have been the last straw. This could demolish the united front versus Microsoft.
Cloudy future for cloud based OS?
Windows, Mac OS x and other Linux dis-tros boot up independent of the Internet. Chrome OS is assumed to be web based, so it will presumably boot up the chrome browser, with the browser driving web applications. How will chrome OS work offline so that user can use their netbooks during flights and other places where there is no web access? Resumably google will implement google gears to enable offline functionality, but how is it possible to make the offline computing experience rich enough to even the casual user?
Game changer or misdirection?
A big contingent of pundits, blogger and industry experts believe chrome OS was created for the same reason google released google apps: misdirection. Some believe google is just trying to distract Microsoft with coming product to while it steams ahead in search. The same folks believe google does not intend these products to make a huge dent in the market, but will force Microsoft to address the challenges while google extends its lead in search and online ads, which is where google’s money is made. Is chrome OS a Poly?
Failure to option
The deck seems stacked against google for any degree of success with the operating system. Just as people questioned whether the world needed android, we question the need for chrome OS. And if we don’t need it , how will it succeed to be the game changer. Thanks to its pole position in search ads, google acts as if it does not worry much about making money from its free software. But chrome OS is setup for a double failure. Not only may it not take off, but it’s being released as an open source product so it may not make the company money either. If chrome OS fails, google will look really weak and foolish for putting out a product that becomes another also ran to windows. It will lose respect in the public eye. For that reason failure is not an option for chrome OS.
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