Google Chrome OS
What’s different about this new OS proposal when compared to the various Linux personal desktop/laptop OS options already available? Answer: it’s a Google product. Google have had critical mass for some time now so everyone sits up and takes notice.
This time Steve Balmer will be sitting up and taking a lot more notice. He’ll certainly have this unexpected issue on his agenda today. Microsoft have previously tried to attack Google’s web search dominance with Live!Search and Bing but I’m not sure they expected Google to start playing ball in their own backyard. Windows 7 will be launched later this year and, in Europe at least, will be without an embedded Internet Explorer. This is good news from a competition perspective. Google can give Microsoft a dose of their own medicine by pre-loading and tightly integrating the Chrome browser into Chrome OS. I cannot see any objections being raised from Regulation/Competition authorities in the early days.
One thing that irks me is that I still prefer to use my local desktop/laptop hard drive to store all my data. I have an issue with entrusting all my worldly information to the web cloud. Yes I know that means that I’m responsible for all local backups but I wouldn’t want it any other way. I hope that Google Chrome OS doesn’t force me onto the cloud if I still want to use local HDDs for data storage. Some of their statements, however, Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web and 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 lead me to believe that there will be a huge push for shifting much of the user’s data online.
I like the fact that Chrome OS is based on Linux and will be open sourced but, to date, Linux has never offered any serious rivalry to the dominance of Microsoft on the desktop. I hope Google can change this and I welcome their new approach to PC security and speed.
So Microsoft Windows 7 vs Google Chrome OS: I look forward to this epic battle.