Google's Chrome OS To Launch In Fall 375
Kidfork writes "On Wednesday Google's vice president of product management said that this fall Google will launch Chrome OS to compete with Microsoft Windows. More than 70 million users already use the Chrome Browser, and Google expects at least 1 million users of the OS by day one of release."
hmm... (Score:1, Insightful)
Gonna give this one a try on the ol Dell Mini 9. I wonder though...how will gamers respond?
This isn't going to compete with Windows (Score:2, Insightful)
In other news: 2011. Year of the Chrome Desktop (tm).
Re:hmm... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:hmm... (Score:3, Insightful)
Compete with Windows?! (Score:5, Insightful)
> Google will launch Chrome OS to compete with Microsoft Windows.
Sorry, where does it say that they are aiming to compete with Windows, because it doesn't mention windows in TFA. They've never claimed to try and do that - they're targetting a completely different market. Chome OS is just a browser than boot up with no host operating system. Windows IS an entire operating system.
Re:Can only guess... (Score:2, Insightful)
We can only guess what information $PROPRIETARY_OS will suck up and report back to $VENDOR.
Re:Can only guess... (Score:2, Insightful)
Except it's open source. And it can't suck up any information you don't enter. If you're worried about people spying on what you do online, either use encrypted connections, or don't go online.
You might want to check over your shoulders whenever you go out in public to make sure nobody is following you - you never know, they may find out what brand of toilet paper you buy, or see what type of films you enjoy watching at the cinema!
Re:Can only guess... (Score:4, Insightful)
Browse the source code line for line to know exactly how it behaves, you mean?
Re:Not me (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Um... (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you need to use Chrome to use Google - no
Do you need to use ChromeOS to use Chrome - no
Do you need to use Google if you use Chrome and ChromeOS ... probably not
Do Google have a large market share in browsers - No
Do Google have a large market share in OS's - No
No monopoly behaviour here ....
Re:This isn't going to compete with Windows (Score:3, Insightful)
It's an OS to launch and run a browser, which does *all* the work .... and do as little as possible otherwise ....
It's competing with very little ....at the moment, except if you have a thin client desktop machine ?
Re:Games (Score:3, Insightful)
Will it run my games? Y/N
Will it run them reliably, effecivly and as table as Windows 7? Y/N
will it have support, patching, ease of use and compatibility with 3d party aspects? (printers for example) Y/N
if N to any... thanks, i'll stick to windows.
Will the iPad do those? Because that's what this thing is, essentially - an OS for making an iPad-alike.
Re:Um... (Score:3, Insightful)
Still, you have not debunked his main point. MS used its dominance (not monopoly) in the OS market to get users to use IE. They didn't force anyone to use IE, but by bundling it with Windows, they used their OS market share in order to increase their web browser market share. That is a monopolizing behavior.
If Google had used its search engine to get you to use Chrome or Chrome OS you would have had a point. AFAIK, anyone, with any web browser can use Google's search engine. If anything, they may be using Chrome to get people to use Google Search more - but since they have no dominance in the OS and web browser markets, this is a non-issue. I know, Sherman does not talk about Monopoly, but if a minor player in the web browser/OS market uses them to increase the number of people using their (already dominant) search engine, this is no violation of the Sherman act.
P.S.
What does "applefan" have to do with this?
No thanks (Score:4, Insightful)
First Google begins by tracking everything you search for. Then, with their browser, they want to track everywhere you go on the internet. Now, with their operating system, they want to track everything you do, period.
Re:hmm... (Score:4, Insightful)
It'll probably run flash games just fine, but you can do that with any existing system so why go to ChromeOS just for that?
Because if that is all you do, then it *will* do it better, as that is all it can do, making it faster. One example of a perfect place is my netbook, that I only use when I travel. I only check email, browse and hit facebook. Of course, this is after I spend a couple of hours updating Windows XP because I hadn't used the thing in two months. I'm also trying to get us to move our accounting software to something that is web based, on our intranet server. If I could do that, then this is all we would need in the office as well, as everything else we do in via the web. Even MS *.doc files can be read online, which is fine as we don't generate many of those.
Re:Can only guess... (Score:5, Insightful)
Since Google's entire business model revolves around advertising (and thus, customer targeting), while Microsoft, Apple (and Linux, in a fashion)'s business model revolves around selling OSes, I think it would be pretty easy for MS or Apple to simply say, "We will never collect any data about our OS users' application usage, browsing habits, or other personal information."
Google simply can't afford to say that. So no, not exactly the same thing at all.
Re:hmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
Piracy is the future, get over it.
Re:Can only guess... (Score:5, Insightful)
No no, don't get me wrong. I use windows at work because I have to as well. I dual boot it at home to play games because most games I want to play are windows native and I got tired of fighting with WINE and VMs trying to get 80 to 90% functionality... I boot into Linux for web browsing, email, IM, i.e. essentially everything but gaming.
I neither love nor hate windows. It is what it is. It's a mature, robust OS that covers the vast majority of needs of most people... just like the other two do.
My point was that most people who don't know anything about how to properly use their computer when it comes to security (don't click on the flashing ads on the suspect web pages. don't install software you don't know the source of. don't click on links in emails from people you don't know. scan for malware on a regular basis, etc. etc) are using windows.
These same people would, in theory, be just as careless under OSX or linux, the difference is due to the lack of viruses/malware/developed exploits for thsoe operating systems (currently), those users would be playing traditional russian roulette around with a gun with only 1 bullet instead of the fully loaded gun that windows represents.
I man the systems support line for a major software company. I work with these people every day. They're not bad people, they just have never had any training on how not to be security retarded, and they don't really want any training because they have other stuff to worry about... until they find out they have a massive security breach and they're about to get sued.
Re:hmm... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm also guessing (perhaps naively) that it will boot much faster.
Re:hmm... (Score:3, Insightful)
>Of course, this is after I spend a couple of hours updating Windows XP because I hadn't used the thing in two months.
Is the Chrome OS wont need updates? I have an old ubuntu install I boot up every so often and the updates are just as bad, if not worse. Modern OSs require updates. Theyre all moving targets.
I'm also very skeptical of the claims of "I just need a browser!" Every user who told me that or something similar adds "Oh and yahoo chat, and my toolbars, and it must work with this shitty printer/scanner combo, and run this old crap software I've been using since 1998, and quickbooks, etc etc."
Revisionist history with Sundar Pichai (Score:5, Insightful)
There are some choice quotes in the article's source article [reuters.com] over at Reuters.
Here's one of my favorites, from Sundar Pichai:
Wow, lots of revisionist history here. It turns out that Microsoft wasn't/isn't bundling web browsers with Windows since Windows 98. I mean, they must not have been, because they weren't one of the "few... operating systems for which there are already millions of applications that work" such as "Gmail" and "Facebook."
Seriously, did he think no one would notice that he was saying that Chrome OS is one of the few operating systems that can run web applications?
I don't need a B.S. in Lieology to detect the problem with that logic!
Re:no, that's not what it's for (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:hmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
Piracy leaves no future for outdated, dinosaur business models. Accept it.
Fixed that for you. And I've long accepted and praised it.
Re:Can only guess... (Score:3, Insightful)
I think it would be pretty easy for MS or Apple to simply say, "We will never collect any data about our OS users' application usage, browsing habits, or other personal information."
Except they have never said that, nor will they ever.
Chrome OS is also open source, maybe there will be some nice branch projects in the future. I'm concerned about how their OS is so entwined with Flash though, it hardly has a stellar reputation for security.
Re:hmm... (Score:3, Insightful)
don't understand why anybody would use ChromeOS on a real PC at all anyway. Maybe on a little netbook or something... but on a real pc/laptop? why?
My netbook has as fast a processor, three times the drive space and twice the memory as the desktop I built five years ago. It streams fullscreen videos flawlessly. Hell, the PC I use at work is ten years old and running XP. My netbook is running Windows 7 (starter). If it won't run any version of Linux out there (which I fully intend to install once I get a thumb drive) I'll be greatly surprised.
It's far more powerful than the IBM thinkpad I paid $20 for (bad battery and hard drive is shot, I'm going to fix it and give it to my oldest daugher).
But anyway, a netbook IS a "real computer", far more capable than anything made just ten years or even less ago.
Re:Compete with Windows?! (Score:2, Insightful)
> Google will launch Chrome OS to compete with Microsoft Windows.
Sorry, where does it say that they are aiming to compete with Windows, because it doesn't mention windows in TFA. They've never claimed to try and do that - they're targetting a completely different market. Chome OS is just a browser than boot up with no host operating system. Windows IS an entire operating system.
If you want to talk about competition, you need to consider use cases, not technical implementation. Insofar as Windows users browse the internet, check email, and do word processing (which is a substantial chunk of users), Google Chrome OS is competing with Windows.
Re:hmm... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:hmm... (Score:4, Insightful)
TA-DA!
I wonder what the movie industry could come up with if they spent more than the 30 seconds it took me to pull that out of my ass?
Re:hmm... (Score:3, Insightful)
Google owns YouTube, they likely are pretty set when it comes to codecs. And with HTML 5 coming on strong, they would be positioned pretty well.
Re:hmm... (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't blame him either. Hell, If I could get such an amount, I'd be asking it as well.
That was not my point.
You don't *need* a $20M Daniel Radcliffe to make a good movie.
The Blair Witch Project had a total budget of $22K.