Google to produce PC operating system

[Rudyard]

Google to reveal PC operating system

Thursday, July 09, 2009 » 11:03am

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Google is expected to announce plans for a personal computer operating system today.


Google Inc is hoping to gain greater control over how personal computers work by developing a free operating system.

The new operating system will be based on Google's nine-month-old web browser, Chrome. Google intends to rely on help from the community of open-source programmers to develop the Chrome operating system, which is expected to begin running computers in the second half of 2010.

The early versions of the Chrome operating system will be tailored for netbooks, a breed of low-cost, less powerful laptop computers that are becoming increasingly popular among budget-conscious consumers primarily interested in surfing the web.

That is a direct challenge to Microsoft, whose next operating system, Windows 7, is being geared for netbooks as well as larger computers.

The vast majority of netbooks already run on Windows, and that is unlikely to change unless Google can demonstrate the Chrome operating system is a significant improvement, said Forrester Research analyst Paul Jackson.

He pointed out that many customers had returned the original netbooks that used open-source alternatives to Windows.

'It was not what people expected,' he said. 'People wanted Windows because they knew how to use it and knew how applications worked.'

Google struck a confident tone in a blog posting late Tuesday night announcing its operating system. The Mountain View, California-based company believes it can streamline the operating system to improve speed and reduce security threats.

'We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear - computers need to get better,' wrote Sundar Pichai, Google's vice president of product management, and Linus Upson, Google's engineering director.

Microsoft hadn't responded to requests for comment through Wednesday.

Investors seemed to be betting on Google on Wednesday as its shares rose $US6.82, or 1.7 per cent, to $US403.45 in afternoon trading while shares in Redmond-based Microsoft fell 29 cents, or 1.3 per cent, to $US22.24.

The success of the Chrome operating system will likely hinge on its acceptance among computer manufacturers that have been loyal Windows customers for years, said Matt Rosoff, an analyst for the research group Directions on Microsoft.

'Most people, when they get a new operating system, they get it with their PC,' he said.

'I don't think most people think much about their operating systems.'

If enough computer manufacturers embrace the Chrome operating system, it could weaken Microsoft while opening up new avenues for Google to persuade consumers and businesses to use its suite of online applications and other internet services, generating more opportunities for Google to sell lucrative internet ads.

Getting consumers and businesses to switch to computers powered by a new operating system won't be easy, as Google has learned from the introduction of Chrome.

Google says about 30 million people are using Chrome, a small fraction of the web surfers who rely on Microsoft's market-leading internet Explorer.

http://bigpondnews.com/articles/Technology/2009/07/09/Google_to_reveal_PC_operating_sy...em_350388.html

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What do you think? Google has a very popular brand name and I guess are not hated in the community like other brands as far as I can tell (MS = M$, Apple = wankers etc)

From what I am reading it will be open source, so I am assuming a Linux brand of OS maybe.

Interesting to see how they go, although there is a rumour that google have a file on every person on earth, maybe this is just the beginning of them taking over the world

[videobread]

Maybe Microsoft went back to the trough one time too many. Win 3.0, Win 95, Win ME, XP, Vista and Windows 7. It's just the platform! M$ got too greedy. They really expect us to just open our wallets and buy the same old thing with new bells and whistles over and over again. With Google behind open source M$ will bleed red and the stockholder's won't like it.

[freebird73717]

I wonder if this will be anything like the gos linux distro. When it first came out I remember people calling it the google operating system.

My guess is it will be similar. Very cloud based computing centric. That seems to be the craze now. Not my kind of thing but this could prove interesting.

It will be interesting if they can pull this off. They are going to have to make it damned simple for most of the public to want to use it.

[yoda313]

I still think Linux will last longer.

This will probably make a big splash when it comes out than fade away.

Remember windows CE? Is that still around? I'm guessing its still on some cell phones probably....

[freebird73717]

This will more than likely be a version of linux. If anyone can make linux a household name Google can. Still they are going to have to make it very much like windows and super easy if they expect widespread public adoption of this.

Otherwise this wont fly.

[Rudyard]

What does cloud based computing mean?

[yoda313]

from wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

Cloud computing is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet.[1][2] Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure in the "cloud" that supports them.[3]

[freebird73717]

In laymans terms basically having most of your apps and data stored on the internet.

For example. Instead of having an word processing app installed you would use google docs online.

Google has a whole suite of online apps.

[disturbed1]

Still they are going to have to make it very much like windows and super easy if they expect widespread public adoption of this.

Otherwise this wont fly.

Not google's target market.

They (Google) are after cloud computing. Most of what Joe six-pack does is already available by going directly to www.google.com (photos, email, video, documents) missing 2 major things, music and games. Joe six-pack also rarely installs applications, beyond what comes installed from the OEM.

Chrome OS uses the Linux Kernel, is targeted for Netbooks and UMPC's. Google is also working on something for Chrome OS with Adobe.

But, much like every other Google product, I'm taking this as nothing more than hype. Once released it will be a work in progress that lacks basic features, stability, and security like their other products.

[freebird73717]

Agreed that this will do best with the netbook market. Still if it doesn't have that "Windows" look and feel I don't think it will go over to well.

Don't get me wrong. I love linux and hope that this move by google will help promote it.

But, much like every other Google product, I'm taking this as nothing more than hype. Once released it will be a work in progress that lacks basic features, stability, and security like their other products.

Unfortunately I think you've hit the nail on the head with that one.

[disturbed1]

Still if it doesn't have that "Windows" look and feel I don't think it will go over to well.

Not sure why I didn't make that connection from your first post.

The Chrome OS states "a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel"

This really scares me -

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.

I hope that statement is dumbed downed for laymen, and doesn't actually mean what they stated. Hopefully they learned their lesson from mucking around with webkit, but I doubt it.

http://chrome.blogspot.com/2009/07/google-chrome-os-faq.html
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html