Chrome
Google Chrome OS: Twilight of Windows
Google makes all of its money on the Web, so part of its business strategy involves moving people off the desktop and onto the Web. That’s why they’ve announced a light Linux variant built around their Chrome browser, to hit netbooks in late 2010.
Yes, it’s the much-anticipated Google operating system. Unsurprisingly, they’re calling it the Google Chrome OS. It’s not just an Android netbook hack: the Chrome OS will be specifically designed for x86 and ARM chipsets.
Linux has been running on geek desktops for years, but Google wields a potent combination of advantages many Linux advocates of the past did not: money, motivation, a ubiquitous brand, widespread developer support, and consumer market expertise. Google can and will use all of those advantages to make Linux finally go mainstream, through their version. Couple that with the rise of netbooks and cloud computing, and the Chrome OS becomes an idea whose time has come.
The usefulness of the Google Chrome OS hinges entirely on the usefulness of Web applications — and with HTML 5 on the horizon, that usefulness will only increase. This is the ultimate challenge to Windows’ desktop domination, to Microsoft’s cash cow. Ballmer will need lots of chairs today — more than he’s ever needed before.
Google Pwns Microsoft on Chrome and Hotmail
You have got to love how brutally competing developers slam each other. When Google released a patch to make Chrome work with Microsoft Hotmail, Googler Matt Cutts chided Microsoft on being slow to fix the incompatibility. “Normally you think of Web pages being faster to update than client-side software downloads. In this case though, Chrome updates near-weekly, much faster than Hotmail did. Another illustration that velocity and speed of iteration matter,” goes Cutts’ cutting remark. Click here to continue reading “Google Pwns Microsoft on Chrome and Hotmail”…
