Google Chrome Operating System Is Kind Of An Anti-Operating System

For the past few days we have been reading about the new Google Chrome Operating System and I believe many of us thought it would be a full blown operating system similar to Microsoft Windows or Linux. This may not be the case. In what is being described by one of the Google co-founders, it is an anti-operating system.

This is how Larry Page describes the new non operating system:

Mr. Page described the Chrome operating system as a kind of anti-operating system — one that is basically indistinguishable from a browser. Netbooks loaded with Chrome will boot up almost instantaneously and will store data on the Internet instead of a hard drive.

“I wanted the operating system to kind of be out of the way,” Mr. Page said.

“If you live your life in the browser maybe you don’t want all the stuff that came from Eric’s generation,” Mr. Page added, putting his hand on Mr. Schmidt’s shoulder.

Messrs. Schmidt and Page were also careful not to position Chrome as a competitor to Microsoft Windows. They argued that Chrome will expand the market for netbooks, rather than eating into Windows’ share of the netbook market.

“Microsoft is welcome to put Internet Explorer on our operating system,” Mr. Schmidt said, although he conceded that “it’s highly unlikely they would do it. They would have to port it and the port is not trivial…the ball is in their court.”

He added that because Chrome is open source, Google won’t be able to block Microsoft.. “All of it is open,” Mr. Schmidt said. “Even if we had an evil moment, we would be unsuccessful.”

Although Chrome will be free, Mr. Schmidt said it will still boost Google’s business. “We benefit when people spend more of their life online,” he said. “So for us it’s a very straightforward strategic initiative that ultimately results in more revenue.”

I am glad this has been clarified. Google Chrome non OS is going to be what most of us originally envisioned. Here is what i see happening. The Google Chrome non OS will be quick to boot into the browser and get us online immediately. We will be using the cloud to work on stuff and also to store our stuff.

Is this going to be for everyone? It will not. There will still be those that will need a full blown operating system like Windows to do real work on. We will want a hard disk to store our precious stuff and will not entrust our stuff to anyone, no matter what they say about safety and so forth.

With that being said, I can see where a Google Chrome non OS will work on the midget laptops commonly known as netbooks. These pint size computers will be great for those of us who need a light weight device to lug through airports, hotel/motel room and have no need for a 6 lb weight on our shoulders.

So much for the OS war.

Comments welcome.

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