Chrome OS: Weighing Google's Game Plan
Google's Android mobile OS is not the only OS up Google's sleeve. Google announced late Tuesday that it is working on a Linux based Chrome OS as an operating system for the Web.
Don't rush out to Google to download Chrome OS today -- Google doesn't expect to have it available to consumers until the second half of 2010.
"The software architecture is simple -- Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel," Google's blog post announcing Chrome OS stated. "For application developers, the Web is the platform."
The goal for Chrome OS is to run on x86 as well as ARM, which means we could see this on both netbooks, regular PCs and even mobile devices at some point.
The plan is to have a secure OS, such that viruses and malware are not an issue -- it's a lofty goal and one that I wish Google the best of luck in completing.
While having a browser based operating system makes a whole lot of sense to me, where does that leave Android? Is it now obsolete?
Not quite, though the two OSs might end up competing against each other in some ways.
Google Chrome OS - a new open source Linux distro:
Google's Android mobile OS is not the only OS up Google's sleeve. Google announced late Tuesday that it is working on a Linux based Chrome OS as an operating system for the web.
Don't rush out to Google to download Chrome OS today - Google doesn't expect to have it available to consumers until the second half of 2010.
"The software architecture is simple - Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel," Google's blog post announcing Chrome OS stated. "For application developers, the web is the platform."
The goal for Chrome OS is to run on x86 as well as ARM, which means we could see this on both netbooks, regular PCs and even mobile devices at some point.
The plan is to have a secure OS, such that viruses and malware are not an issue - it's a lofty goal and one that I wish Google the best of luck in completing.
While having a browser based operating system makes a whole lot of sense to me, where does that leave Android? Is it now obsolete?
Not quite, though the two OSs might end up competing against each other in some ways.
"Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks," Google stated. "Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google."
I too believe that choice is a good thing in most cases, but it also can lead to confusion. Should a netbook OEM now stall their Android efforts and just wait for Chrome OS then? It's a call many will have to make.
The drive toward a Google OS has been rumored for years -- though I personally had thought they would just take over Ubuntu and run that as their own. Instead Google is taking what is ultimately going to be much more difficult route and will in effect create their own Linux distro.
Instead of just using GNOME or KDE, Chrome OS will have its own windowing system. Seeing as Google is doing this all in open source, I'd expect that whatever the windowing system is, it will eventually be available on all distros as a rival to GNOME and KDE.
Since Chrome is based on WebKit and WebKit has its roots in KDE's Qt, I'd expect that the big loser here will be GNOME and GTK+ (though i could be wrong).
Whatever the outcome, Chrome OS is already a game changer.
It means that Google will finally have an entire OS stack and their own OS. It also means that finally an operating system will be built from the ground up with the realization that the web is platform and that an OS is just an on-ramp.
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Jul 15 09 11:04:19
Frm_suresh-
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