<IT
WORLD> Google's Chrome shines with hope By Martin J
Young
HUA HIN, Thailand - It was only a
matter of time before Google's campaign for global
domination and data control ventured into the
realms of software operating systems. Its latest
announcement takes aim squarely at its largest
rival, Microsoft, which has been churning out the
world's most popular computing platform for years.
Love it or hate it, Windows runs on about 95% of
the planet's PCs and sells over 400 million copies
per year. Those are going to be hard targets to
hit.
Google Chrome OS was introduced on
the company blog this week along with a few
paragraphs about the new vision the company has
about people working on the web as opposed to
their desktops. The new no-cost operating system
will be aimed at netbooks, a rapidly growing
market of lower specification, lightweight and
smaller laptops. The system aims to be fast,
simple, secure and available to consumers by the
second half of
2010. The Linux-based
kernel will be open source and will run on x86 and
ARM chips, making it compatible with the majority
of today's hardware.
Little other
technical information is currently available; at
the moment it is just a message from Google that
people want their computers to be better. They
want to get online quickly and access their e-mail
and data instantly without having to wait for
boot-up times, virus scans and browser loading.
Hours spent installing and configuring software
and hardware and worrying about updates and
patches would also not be missed, according to the
search company.
That message rings true
for many, but there is also the huge problem of
learning a completely new way of computing; people
are used to what they have and they don't like
change. The challenges for Google in this arena
are huge. For years, corporations such as Sun
Microsystems and IBM have been trying to vie for a
slice of Microsoft's OS market. Free alternative
operating systems such as Ubuntu, a version of
Linux, have gained traction among the tech-savvy
minority, but have yet to make an impact on the
market as they are perceived as too geeky and a
chore to learn.
Then there is the
gargantuan issue of hardware compatibility,
Microsoft has entire divisions devoted to working
with hardware vendors to ensure that their
products run smoothly on Windows (most of the
time). Almost every software company offers a
Windows version as its primary product. How many
will Google convince to create a new product just
for its new venture? Gaming is another huge
industry that relies on computers running Windows;
its market dominance casts a long shadow over
those trying to compete. Additionally, a solid
support base is another factor currently in favor
of Microsoft, as anyone who has ever tried to call
Google will agree.
Although the chips seem
to be stacked against Google this time, nobody can
dispute its dominance online. It practically owns
Internet search and gains 97% of its revenue from
online advertising. Its bid to extend this
dominance into operating systems could prove
successful providing it can convince the public
that its new baby is worth the learning curve.
Google is also targeting Microsoft's
Office suite with its own platform, which will
extend from current web offerings including Google
Docs and Gmail. Working in the "cloud", or the
web, will take off without a doubt, but the issue
of online security and data protection still looms
large - few people will feel totally at ease with
Google having complete control over all of their
personal documents. So the desktop is likely to
remain diehard.
Android, Google's mobile
operating system, is gaining momentum although the
company states that Chrome OS will be a completely
separate project, as stated on its blog:
Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across
a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS
is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is
being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size
desktop systems.
Initial observations indicate
that Chrome OS will be more of a Google-powered
version of Linux that functions as an extension of
Google's web browser. Every time you go online
with it you will be giving Google your location,
browsing habits, search patterns, ad revenue, and
even your e-mail and data. This is exactly what
the American company is after after, regardless of
whether it at present has the authority to do
anything with this information. You'll be using a
Google-powered Internet, and that could be a
dangerous thing.
The Google model of
offering free software may ultimately prove
decisive; the company could even afford to pay
computer manufacturers to preload its operating
system. This would subsidize the cost of the
hardware, which is good news for the
budget-conscious consumer and emerging markets.
Free software has not always been the best
though - the appearance of Linux-loaded netbooks
into the mainstream a couple of years ago is a
good example. According to market research firm
NPD, over 90% of US-based netbooks now run Windows
XP. Apple on the other hand has completely missed
out on the netbook growth market as the company's
entry-level MacBook is just under a US$1,000. A
Google-powered one would cost less than a third of
that.
With Windows 7 just around the
corner, Google's Android gaining ground and the
recent Chrome OS announcement, the only thing we
can be sure of is that things are about to heat up
and the way that we compute is likely to undergo
some major changes. Whether we welcome them or not
is another matter.
Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand.
(Copyright 2009
Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights
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