Opinion: Google Chrome OS

Yesterday, Google announced that they have been working on Chrome OS, a Linux-based operating system centered around getting users up, running and on the internet as fast as possible. Judging from the name, Chrome OS will be built around the same ideas as the identically-named up-and-coming internet browser. Though everyone and their brother saw this move coming, the intertubes are still buzzing with the news, with much speculation as to the future impact of Chrome on Microsoft's death-grip on the operating system market share, on the relative user-unfriendliness of most Linux distributions, and on the way the world currently runs in general. Ironically enough, a friend was just talking about how ubiquitous Google has become in any application it chooses to design, and he said that "If Google designed an operating system, it would kill Microsoft". Well, I like to think I have a legitimate opinion on this issue. Let me try and answer a few questions that are being thrown around the web right now.
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“Does this mean the end for Microsoft”? In short, no, not at all. First, Microsoft has its fingers in a lot of pies: productivity software, game consoles, internet applications, and DirectX. But I think even the Windows market share is safe, at least for now, and here's why:

1. Google has chosen to make Chrome a Linux-based architecture. No matter how user-friendly you make it, its still going to be a UNIX machine, not a DOS machine like most have been using for 20 years. Plus, there are going to be compatibility problems with graphics cards, sound cards, network cards, and more. Ubuntu has been out for years and still hasn't manage to patch up the compability problems, even with a dedicated base of modders out there working valiantly to try and fix them. Google's army might be paid, but its still going to take them a good long bit to sort out the problems. After all, Gmail was in beta for nearly five years; Chrome OS is not even on the Windows challenger horizon yet.
2. Google has stated that it will open-source the source code later this year. Now of course, I am all for open-source movement, but if Google has any chance of competing with Microsoft for any real part of the OS market, they have to start securing government contracts for OS rollout on a U.S. system, and there's no way that the DoD, who already have hacker/security problems up the wazoo, are going to agree to open-sourced OS's on their machines. Same for a lot of major U.S. companies: no matter how much security you stuff into that OS, no company who is trading millions of dollars through their computer is going to trust a machine running off a transparent kernel.
3. Chrome OS is going to be specifically for those who mostly utilize their computers for the internet access and perhaps some word processing. I know there is a good portion of people who do only this, but there is an equal number of people who want to do more than this, whether its gaming, video editing, database management, or software development, an OS whose main focus is embedding the internet into the OS and booting quickly is going to be lightwight and wholly insufficient for any of the pasttimes listed above. Windows has a stranglehold on gaming in particular, with most gaming on Linux machines restricted to running games through a Windows kernel emulation.

My conclusion is that for now Windows is safe. Chrome OS is unlikely to pose any sort of threat to Microsoft. As for the future, I see Chrome OS acting as a springboard to the design of a much larger, expansive OS that can challenge Windows and perhaps even be its successor.... but that's far in the future.

"What does this mean for the future of Linux"? I see two potential futures for Linux post-Chrome release, and there is a chance both could happen. With the amount of cash Google has to sink into this product, they could create a better Linux OS than any of the ones currently on the market. Potentially, this could do, many times over, what Ubuntu has already done; unite the Linux community behind one open-source OS that every can develop for. There might be some stragglers still playing around with their Fedora cores and BSD, but if Google includes much of what draws people to Linux in the first place (easy root access, mod-ability, package installation utilities, etc.) they could make a lot of converts.

Another potential possiblity would be that Chrome OS would win converts from Windows. Not a lot perhaps, but if Google does an especially good job with the web integration (and considering their history, I don't see why they wouldn't), they can expect to win quite a few people over, especially netbook owners frustrated with XP boot times. Even chipset developers who have a vested interest in the field are excited that Google is going to focus effort on Linux developement.

"How is this going to affect the way the world runs?" Again, in short, its not. I think it will definately effect the way Google develops applications; we're going to see a lot more Chrome-centric application appearing in the early part of 2010. I think it will also affect the way Microsoft develops its next OS after Windows 7, because Google is going to do some revolutionary stuff with embedded web that Microsoft will want in on. Looking long term, I think, again, that this may act as a spring-board for Google, giving them experience with OS development without going toe-to-toe with Microsoft, and hopefully a group of dedicated users who will be able to give them feedback on the good and bad of their first attempt. If all goes well, perhaps by 2012 Google will be ready to give Microsoft a run for its money - literally.