So there’s been a lot of news lately about Google’s newly announced operating system cleverly called ‘Chrome OS’. What is it? In short, it’s a bare-bones Linux distribution (yes, it uses a Linux kernel for both the ARM and x86 versions) that puts focus on web applications. What does this mean to the consumer? Probably not a whole lot.
Here’s the thing: there’s a cycle that goes on between people/businesses having Desktop Systems and Thin Clients. This has been going on for ages. With a desktop system (which most people are used to), everything is literally at your finger tips. All of the software is installed on your local computer, and that’s where you do most of your work. If you’re in a business, chances are you save your files on to a remote server, but that’s typically in the same building.
With Thin Clients, things are a little different. In days of old, you had a terminal, which consisted of a monitor and keyboard. This was networked to a mainframe-type setup, which housed everything. These days, Thin Clients typically have a very minimal operating system (either something *nix based, or Windows CE) that allows you to use Citrix, Remote Desktop (terminal services), etc… to connect to a server that contains all of your apps. Not a lot of difference.
Chrome OS, from everything that’s been said, definitely appears to be of the Thin Client sort – basically, you boot it up and you’re on the web. Done. Likely you’ll be able to muck about with installation, and it will hopefully still support Offline applications, however the goal appears simple: once you’re connected, you’ll be using Google Apps. Yep, you’ll be in the ‘cloud’, with all of the benefits and problems that go with it.
Depending on your needs, this is all well and good. If you have a broadband connection, you’re laughing. If you have a netbook, the target platform, this is supposed to be Nir-freaking-vana. However, I’m not convinced. Not yet, anyways.
The problem is, if this thing were to launch right now, I can’t imagine it would do horribly well. With cell phones capable of tethering, 3G USB sticks, and WiFi hotspots everywhere, internet access really isn’t a problem. And now that netbooks have matured and are actually usable (my 8GB SSD Acer AspireOne proves that it doesn’t pay to be an early adopter) and Windows 7 nearly out the door, what’s the point of yet-another-OS?
The pre-releases of Windows 7 run amazing well on netbooks (there are even rumors that Microsoft is making an ARM port of it). Fedora 11 is brilliant (even on my slow-as-hell AspireOne), and I’ve heard that Ubuntu rocks the platform. Intel is pushing Moblin (I’ve tried it, and I really don’t care for the UI). Even OS X runs well, according to the Hackint0sh crowd. All that said, why is Google bothering with making an OS of it’s own? Will it be a fork of one of the above distros? Will it retain binary compatibility with it’s upstream brothers? Until it’s out, we won’t know for sure.
All that I can say is that I don’t think it deserves the hype. We need to sit back, wait for Google to bless us with a beta, and then start hailing it as the best think since sliced bread or just another OS.
