Is Microsoft Willing to Cede Netbooks to Chrome OS?

Because that looks to be the logical home for it. Now that the operating system cat is out of the bag, it is clear that Microsoft has nothing to fear on any other platform.

So unless Microsoft has something under wraps that no one else has seen, or spoken of, it looks as though the free (as in no cost to the user) Chrome OS will be powering netbooks.

But as we have been shown before, Microsoft wants to be all things to all people in the computing world. If it was not that way, Internet Exploder would have died at revision 6. But then, how much is Microsoft willing to spend on something that it knows will have to compete somewhat on price?

Certainly the casual user will put stock in the idea that the Windows interface is a known quantity, and so little to no change (in habits) is needed to use it. Also, for Chrome OS, no internet connection, no (things) happening. I see this as a fatal flaw for many people, who will want to be able to compute without a connection to the web.

Windows XP does nicely here already, costs Microsoft little to nothing per copy, and if they are willing to chance that the netbook customer will not need any support, the reported $15 per copy that was being charged will still be a heady revenue stream, while being a thorn in Google’s side. Remember, those that want to run Chrome apps will be able to do so from a copy of Chrome browser on Windows, on the netbook. Then, when the internet connection goes away, there is still something to work with on the netbook.

Since we are told that Chrome will be designed to only run on units with SSDs, there is always the possibility of netbooks with a quick change solution from SSD to standard 2.5″, or maybe 1.8″ hard drives. Easier than that, there could be the standard netbook delivered with a standard hard drive, with a larger thumbdrive holding a fully formed file system of Chrome OS with which to boot.

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we’re going to see if they still want to be all things to all people soon…

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Quote of the day:

When dealing with the insane, the best method is to pretend to be sane. – Hermann Hesse

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