As Devin Coldewey pointed out on a recent CrunchGear post, many people seems to be getting over-exited about the new Google ChromeOS. I think that many bloggers are making more of ChromeOS than what it actually is. Maybe it is time to sum up what Google's new OS is and what it is not!
What ChomeOS is:
- It is a Linux distribution: If you consider that Moblin with it's Linux kernel and clutter window manager is a Linux distribution, then ChromeOS with it's as-yet-unnamed lightweight Window manager is one too. Like any other Linux distribution it will be open source, and we can even expect that other distribution will be based on it the same way that Ubuntu is based on Debian.
- It is a netbook operating system: One thing that is clear is that ChromeOS will be optimized for a netbook form factors and usage model. It is close in concept to the original Xandros OS of the first EEE PC or gOS: have a few applications installed locally and do the rest trough the cloud. The main difference is that thanks to the development of Google Gears the cloud computing experience should be more palatable to end user than before. If you look at the list of partners Google has for ChromesOS, you will notice that most of these have a strong presence in the netbook market.
- It is mainly an ARM based operating system: Look again at that list of partners. Qualcomm, Freescale and Texas instrument are in, Intel is out! These three are manufacturer of ARM based chips and have a big interest in seeing ChromeOS perform well on these chips. I think that x86 compatibility is there to help the OS grow some market share with current netbook owners, but that the majority of new machines sold with ChromeOS will have ARM based chips inside.
- It will be sold on store shelves: Yep, the aim of ChromeOS is to help sell cheap machines capable of browsing the web (thus generating revenue for Google). Google and it's partners will certainly push for these to be sold at Best Buy and co, although the machines should ideally not be in the PC aisle to avoid confusing consumers.
- It will be good for Linux: One of the biggest things that is hurting Linux now is it's market share. Since it represent only about 2% of the market (W3counter) many software, game and hardware manufacturers dismiss Linux as a niche market and do not invest resources in porting their products (or drivers) . This is in a large part balanced by the Linux community, drivers are written by people who want to make their hardware work, applications are developed and games are created. There is however a limit to this: blockbuster games need to be developed by game studios and drivers should be written before the hardware is released, not after. If Linux based platforms such as ChromeOS gain a bigger market share the whole Linux community can expect better support from commercial software publishers and device manufacturers.
What ChromeOS is not:
- It is not a cloud only OS: It seem that even if Google does not use Gnome or KDE it should be possible to port most Linux application to ChromeOS, so eventually I expect a full application ecosystem to emerge. This will probably take several years tough. You should also take into account that thanks to Google gears it will be possible to run web applications like Google docs off-line, so maybe local applications won't be needed.
- It is not a Microsoft killer: Even if it will be possible to write local applications for ChromeOS the primary focus of the OS is web access on companion devices such as netbooks. This means that initially there will be less games and commercial applications available for ChromeOS than Windows. Because of this I suspect that most people will want to have their main desktop computer on Windows. ChromeOS will probably hurt Microsoft sales only to netbook manufacturers. Since Microsoft is not making much money out of these anyway I don't think it will affect their bottom line that much.
- It is not ready: Google expects the first devices featuring ChromeOS to be available in the second half of 2010. Even if the first beta versions of the OS are available this year this means that ChromeOS is very far from being finished. By the time it hist the shelves Windows 7 and other netbook oriented Linux distributions like Moblin and Jolicloud will probably be selling already and will compete with ChromeOS.
image cc by toprankonlinemarketing
8 Responses to "What ChromeOS is (NOT)":
What I am really confusing is whether or not Google Chrome OS will have the full GNU/Linux stack. Android is clearly not (it uses Linux kernel, but everything in user land is different). I would really appreciate it if Google can kindly give me the whole stack, from Linux (kernel) to binutil (GNU, lowest user land utilities), all the way up to X and some window manager.
With that said, Google should complete their browser on Linux first :(. I am REALLY IMPATIENT HERE.
nice breakdown.
It *is* more than a netbook OS. Google themselves say they are targeting desktops.
Just a quick note, in the announcement they say:
"Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel."
So windowing system I think means their OWN alternative to X windows, not just a "window manager"... that is good, X windows is stating to smell rotten. Even the guys that work at it try to get away from its huge 80s legacy code (see project Wayland)
This opensource window manager will be another option for all distributions to choose from.
Another thing I am interesting is the sound stack Google Chrome OS will choose:
OSS4?
Alsa?
Their own? (they also promise it had to be opensource, so we all win)
wait but if its using a new x server then wouldnt that mean that our current gui apps wont run it
"- It will be sold on store shelves"
No it won't. Computers using it will. Your version sounds more exiting though ;-)
Anyway, good article. I'm a little worried if Google's influence keeps getting stronger. The company's future actions might be less beneficial for the free software community, and the community might have less to say about the direction of change. Not that I know so much about the subject :-)
Good article, another point:
It is not a OS for computer freaks, everyone who can install linux better use a full linux distro.
It is for people who want to go online and don't care about the operating system.
i disagree on saying that it is not a windows killer statement from the official post. Sure it will not going to kill windows from the start, but it is not just the OS what you have to take into consideration. You will have in a few years an entire ECOSYSTEM based in cloud computing and all the tools Google is getting...Google DOCS is good enough for anyone starting a business and maybe for most businesses already. Youtube for showing videos and tutoring, gtalk will soon have SIP and it needs more work on conferencing, but hey...live messenger is not that good over it...it just has more marketing.
Also, what else a simple worker needs to work? a browser, outlook, and some multimedia capabilities, you'll have all those there Gmail, Tasks, Contacts, calendar. All secured and online, with the ability to see it from any computer on any OS....but, better with ChromeOS.
As to Companion PC...look at the new hp 311...it's way beyond any regular workstation in performance, add external Keyboard, monitor (it has HiDef capabilities) and Mouse and you have a better workstation at the same price you had it 5 years ago but now it can be mobile and has mobile broadband. That is a poor computer compared to whats coming in the next couple of months...not to mention in the second half of 2010 when chromeOS is out. WebGL is coming 6 months before chromeOS and you can expect some games to move into that...the ability to use your game as a marketing system is a good revenue. Plus, you dont need to spend on upgrades or expansion packages or retailing...also, monthly payments even at $5/mo is way more than what you can expect from a $40-$60 game that you can actually loose or damage. Online gaming is the next generation in gaming...otherwise why do you thing all consoles have internet access?
Sure, it needs a lots of stuff and later on it will need server capabilities to be used as a complete development environment...but hold on...google already has a DB server, DNS server, Mail server and Web server and webapp server of their own, and all online...you dont need that to happen since you can do all that using their cloud computing ecosystem tools already. If your company IT department builds applications in java or python, you dont need any other OS than chromeOS from my perspective. Most big application companies are moving their own applications into a webapp type of product. Quickbooks already started...Expect peachtree and their high profile brother applications to do the same. Aviary for example is going to give some headaches to the Master collection from ADOBE in 5 years maybe less.
ChromeOS might not be a windows killer, but it will definitely be the general commander behind the killing. I'm a developer, i use apache, tomcat, mysql, sendmail, adobe master collection, eclipse, MS Office and from firefox i need webdeveloper, firebug and colorzilla. AND ALL I DO IS ALREADY DOABLE UNDER GOOGLE ECOSYSTEM. hell, i already started moving into it...for full, and i'm making sure chromeOS and Chrome browser get what i need to continue. also, you still have VirtualBox if needed. and with a computer capable of handling 5GB on ram...damn...
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