Google sees separate paths for Android, Chrome OS
Google's Andy Rubin (left) and T-Mobile's Cole Brodman discuss Google's Android smartphone operating system at a press conference Friday.
(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET)SAN FRANCISCO--Among the many questions raised in the wake of Google's announcement of Chrome OS is exactly how the project fits in with Google's Android mobile operating system.
Essentially, nothing has changed, said Google's Andy Rubin at a press conference Friday morning highlighting Google and T-Mobile's partnership on the launch of the new MyTouch 3G smartphone. "You need different technology for different products," Rubin said, explaining that Google's approach to product development means that projects that might overlap aren't necessarily scuttled to protect the one that got there first.
Android is first and foremost a smartphone operating system, found on products such as the new MyTouch, the older G1, and others scattered around the world. But companies such as Acer and Asus are planning to put Android on Netbooks later this year, and several others are rumored to be following suit.
Chrome OS, however, is supposedly going to arrive on Netbooks first when it's scheduled to be ready in the second half of 2010. So how should companies thinking about alternatives to Windows on Netbooks navigate about Google's operating system strategy?
Google's blog post announcing Chrome OS acknowledged the overlap. "Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to Netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the Web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small Netbooks to full-size desktop systems."
After a panel discussion, Rubin declined to get into specifics about how Android and Chrome would be presented to Google partners once both are on the market. But during the discussion he noted that Android is capable of handling complicated, specialized tasks that a browser-based OS may not be able to tackle.
For example, Android handles the complicated process of handing off an Internet connection between cell towers as you drive down the highway, and carefully manages the power consumption of the system to extent the battery, Rubin said.
Google is also planning to make social-networking technologies a big part of a future Android release, he said. Google just released Android 1.5, known as Cupcake, and plans to keep the sweet desert theme going into the future with code names such as Donut, Eclair, and eventually Flan, but Rubin didn't specify which release will introduce heavier integration with social technologies.
And work continues on making Android suitable for things like set-top boxes and even refrigerators, Rubin said. "Our team is working hard to define those profiles. We've done a good job defining those profiles for cell phones."
But the Netbook situation remains murky. Is Google going to support two different operating systems for the mini-notebook market? As of yet, no Open Handset Alliance type of partnership exists for Chrome OS, meaning that unless that changes Google will have to do almost all the heavy lifting on Chrome development and support itself.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
Android is an application OS. The handling of cell phone specific (comms) is handled by
firmware running on the same device.
Anyway, another Microsoft in the making...or are they already?
Having said all that, I agree that all the hype touting Chrome OS as a "Windows killer" is largely undeserved.
If anything, I believe Chrome OS (if successful) will threaten Apple more than Microsoft. Chrome OS might end up diluting the "alternative to Windows" market. In other words, people who seek to leave Windows might choose Chrome rather than Apple.
Apple touts OS X as being "simple to use", "fast", and "secure"... well Chrome OS might be even simpler, faster, and more secure.
How can anyone defend this company is beyond comprehension.
No one even mentioned any FUD.
toss in CD tel it where you are what you speak and your time zone and tell it if youwant to keep (macrosh*t)on the side.
and voila your done whit 0 cost. and a very nice OS
It would be cool making/receiving phone calls with a bluetooth headset, while my netbook is in my backpack. The other location-based apps, etc. would also be useful, when traveling or roaming around the city.
Hopefully, the Chrome OS will include some/all of Android's smartphone functionality.
Um, use Windows 7?
(assuming they want to SELL Netbooks rather than make a unprofitable jab at MS)
Cody
What could be a real step in the right direction is to offer it encapsuled with a virtual machine: it could run on top of other OSs while offering a big advantage of security. It would then setup just the services it needs to run web apps but using some local machine resources for performance.
Actually, all web browsers should run in a virtual machine by default to protect the host OS. This could work on a netbook/nettop as well. One could switch easily from host to guest OS. MS could do this too. Opera and Firefox could offer a version of their browsers as appliances like VMware does, but with newer versions. It would give web apps a virtual workspace while not risking attacts on host applications that need to be protected.
Google woujld be smart to Chrome OS both as a compact web centric OS for netbooks and users who want just cloud apps, but also as a web appliance with it's own virtual machine to easily and securelly run on normal Windows/Linux desktops. It would reach a larger group of users and develop to strength as an example of cloud computing instead of worring about device drivers of thousands of different configurations.
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- by ZetaZeta_ July 11, 2009 4:56 PM PDT
- I'm still a little confused.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(14 Comments)Android is linux. It runs a (so I've read before) "modified version of Chrome" or something to that effect as its browser.
You can probably getting Android running on a netbook, with a full screen chrome-esque browser.
So, what is Chrome OS? Chrome on bare-bones linux? Is that not less functional than just making a full version of Chrome on Android?
I don't see where the separate paths are. :x Give Android a way to run Android Market Apps in a window or something, and get a port of Chrome running on it, and I'm good to go? Why the development of 2 products?
Will Chrome OS be competing with Android on $99-$199 or so netbooks? (Anything for $299 or so and I'd immediately opt for Ubuntu or Windows 7.)