Google Chrome OS

**Geek** · 8th July 2009, 11:50 AM

OK - things are going to get interesting, very interesting. Google just announced that it is working on an operating system that will essentially compete with all the other operating systems, be it Linux or Windows. And from what Google says about the OS it may usher in a new era of computing, since the aim of the OS will be, in the words of Google:

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web.

So far so good. Google goes on:

We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear — computers need to get better. People want to get to their email 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. And any time our users have a better computing experience, Google benefits as well by having happier users who are more likely to spend time on the Internet.

One question on my mind is this: Would I , or should I trust Google - or anyone else for that matter - with my data, my images, documents .... especially very sensitive data. What if I put all my data into the cloud, and it dissipates at has recently happened? I'm not convinced yet that putting all my eggs in one basket is the wisest thing to do. And so there will be many people who will buy into this vision of computing, and there will be many others who - for many pragmatic reasons - will prefer to have ultimate control over their computers and all the data they work with.

What do you think?

Click here for Goolge's announcement

**Mie1** · 8th July 2009, 04:47 PM

I see we read the same publications! LOL!

Robert23 · 9th July 2009, 01:45 PM

Sure very interesting. Know what? It's not gonna stop MS. Why? A thing called SHAREPOINT. It's out there and working. Not sure if anyone in Namibia uses it, but Chrome ain't gonna have much impact in the medium-term:

Microsoft's response to Google Chrome? SharePoint
by Matt Asay

It's surprising how many people are still asleep at the wheel while Microsoft continues to nurture perhaps its fastest-growing product (in terms of revenue) ever: SharePoint.

The Web has been aflutter with Google Chrome discussions since it was released last week, much of it centering on Google's strategy to drive a stake through the heart of Microsoft's Windows business by shifting the operating system to the cloud, rendered in a browser.

Such talk overlooks the fact that Microsoft has already started to move its own Windows business to the cloud, rendered in SharePoint.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has singled out SharePoint as Microsoft's next operating system. CMS Watch calls out SharePoint as inseparable from Office in its next iteration. Small wonder, then, that SharePoint renders the traditional content-management vendors comparatively obsolete, as a quick Google Trends review of popular search terms suggests:

SharePoint dwarfs its competitors in ECM, or enterprise content management.
(Credit: Google Trends)

Microsoft has been moving enterprise data off hard drives and into its proprietary, server-based SharePoint repositories for several years now. It's moving at a blistering pace, "steamrolling" other enterprise 2.0 products (to use Forrester's word).

Google, meanwhile, is also going to need to attract enterprise IT groups to adopt its Chrome browser by making it easy to develop applications to run in Chrome. Guess what? Microsoft is already doing much the same with SharePoint, except that those content-rich applications work better (or only) in Internet Explorer.

Microsoft, then, has not been sitting still, waiting to be run over by Google. It has been quietly spreading SharePoint throughout enterprises. SharePoint opens up enterprise data to Microsoft services, running in Microsoft's browser. Unlike Google, however, Microsoft already has an impressive beachhead in the enterprise. It's called Office, and most enterprises are addicted to it.

In sum, if Google is aiming for Windows, it's going to lose because the table stakes are much higher. For Microsoft, the game is SharePoint. For the rest of the industry, including Google, the response needs to be content standardization. Watch this space.