Disclaimer: Geeky post coming up.
The tech world is buzzing this week about the beta launch of the latest Google product, Chrome OS. About a year ago Google released their Chrome Browser to compete against both Internet Explorer and Firefox. The browser has made some pretty impressive strides in its time and runs much faster than either of its main rivals. So far, so good.
This week though, Chrome OS was finally shown to the world in a press event. What we do know about the OS is that it takes a very minimalist system and is essentially just a browser but what makes it an operating system will be support for drivers. It’s quite literally the hardware interface with an attractive browser built on top. With Google investing so heavily on Cloud services such as Gmail, Google Docs, Contacts and many more, the system won’t have programs installed but will rather use the Chrome browser to interface with these services. Traditionally when you needed to write a document, you’d open MS Word or Open Office while now you’ll be opening the Google Docs interface. I may have missed something but Google does provide an interface (Google Gears) to use those service such as Gmail and Docs offline so one can assume you’d still have a system with a fairly large drive. Considering you can’t install software in the traditional Windows model, you shouldn’t need a particularly large hard drive and could probably get away with a smallish flash memory drive.
On first impression this is revolutionary, game changing and since it’s specifically for netbooks it’s playing in an arena where people care more about price and only require a small amount of functionality, specifically web surfing. I think Google is on the right track, I just think they’re going about it in the totally wrong way.
Here’s the thing, Chrome OS is built on Linux and is in conjunction with the people that make Ubuntu. Considering Ubuntu is also free, also offers a browser but at the same time so much more it’s all a bit confusing. You’ve also got to remember that a company created a version of Linux called “GoS” which basically interfaced with Google cloud services although you’ve probably never heard of this OS as it was a critical failure. Here’s the thing, Google already has the Android platform they use for their cellphones and it has already been ported to Netbooks. If Google used Android there would be more emphasis for developers to make applications for multiple devices. This is great for the developers as there are more revenue streams for them. If we look at trends from the past the iPhone originally started with purely web applications, something that users hated and was rapidly changed in favour of actual apps. If developers were pushed to create apps for phone’s and Netbook’s, Google wins the war on both fronts.
Another important issue is that of price. With Netbook’s costing anywhere between $300 and $450 how on earth do you actually cost a machine with Chrome OS on it. Previously, Netbook’s that came with Linux were about twenty dollars cheaper than their Windows counterparts. For twenty dollars I’d much rather have the Windows license to use if I want and then install a free Linux operating system myself. The problem for Google is that they’re going to have to make the price point particularly appealing, in excess of fifty dollars cheaper than a Windows Netbook to be a fair proposition. Microsoft won’t stand for that and will likely lower the costs of Windows 7 for Netbook’s (starter edition) to compete. Considering how a Netbook is supposed to be a cheap and cheery device, a cloud services only device ruins the appeal for many in the third world.
Living in a third world country with dubious Internet I still find the cloud unappealing. In my experience trying to work on an Excel spreadsheet in Google Docs is pretty painful on a 384K ADSL connection. I’m also somewhat reticent with regards to sending all my documents, information and contacts to the Google cloud. I’m not perturbed with Google having the information, I’m just worried about them loosing it.
In the past day or so Sergey Brin of Google has come out to say that Chrome and Android will probably merge into one platform but I think they need to skip the teething problems of Chrome OS and go straight to Android desktop.
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Nice read Saul,
Just one thing, I think I have a better chance of losing my data, or having the security of the data compromised, than Google does… They will, necessarily, have multiple layers of redundancy and security, which is something I simply cannot afford to do privately.
Accessing that data at 384k is a problem though.
I don’t see how Chrome OS could possibly replace a local OS and apps at this stage. We simply don’t have the ubiquitous broadband connectivity that would make this feasible as a conventional computer replacement. I don’t think that Google intends Chrome OS to replace its competitors entirely, just yet. These devices are clearly intended as secondary devices that you would use when you are working remotely in a connected environment.
For my part, I don’t see this as being all that compelling. If I wanted a lightweight device why not get a netbook with Ubuntu/Win 7, run whichever browser you prefer, access cloud stuff but also retain the ability to work when not connected.
By the way, you can export all your Google Docs using a flexible export utility in Google Docs itself.