Google's Chrome OS and Netbooks: Why Microsoft shouldn't worry...yet
(Credit:
Dan Ackerman/CNET)
While it may not have the same buzz as a new iPhone, Google's announcement of a new computer operating system based on its Chrome Web browser, has certainly set tongues wagging across the Interwebs. It certainly has many of the hallmarks of a hot news story--the bitter fight between Microsoft and Google; the rise of low-cost, low-power computing in Netbooks; free vs. paid software.
But while we're always in favor of more consumer choice and potentially lower prices, it's not quite time for Microsoft to worry about losing its firm hold on the Netbook market.
Microsoft's Windows XP is currently on 96 percent of Netbooks sold in the U.S. by some estimates (up from less than 10 percent in early 2008). When the similar idea of Netbooks running Google's Android operating system was discussed back in April, we said:
The very first Netbooks ran Linux operating systems, usually with a custom front-end to give users easy access to a Web browser and other frequently used apps. But as well-intentioned as that plan was, it wasn't until PC makers added the already archaic Windows XP operating system that the Netbook craze took off.It wasn't that XP was the perfect solution for small screens and low-power CPUs--it's that consumers searching for a simple, low-cost second or travel laptop value ease of use over almost anything else. XP benefits from looking and feeling familiar to most users.
What we said then is just as true now, even if the OS is called Chrome and built specifically for PCs, rather than the smartphone-based Android. That familiar look and feel is what makes Netbooks so appealing to casual computer users, kids, and seniors.
We've seen plenty of attempts from PC makers to do essentially the same thing: build an attractive, useful front-end onto Linux in a Netbook. HP's Mi Edition Mini and Asus' early Eee PCs are good examples. Both offered easy access to open-source Web browsers and office productivity suites, but moving beyond the handful of choices presented on the desktop could be daunting for those who are only familiar with Windows.
Case in point: if something like your Wi-Fi connection, for example, isn't working for some reason, even a relative Luddite can muddle through several obvious possible fixes in XP. Try getting a PC novice to figure that out under an unfamiliar operating system.
That's not to say a Google OS for Netbooks wouldn't have certain advantages. The combination of Gmail, Google Docs, and the Chrome Web browser makes for a compelling case that Google will be able to build a very usable front-end for consumers. But, by the time the first Chrome OS Netbooks are available--the second half of 2010--Microsoft's Netbook-friendly Windows 7 will have already had about a year to maintain its iron grip on the Netbook market.
What would you like to see in your next mini-laptop: Windows 7, Google Chrome, some other Linux flavor, good ol' XP, or maybe even some kind of long-rumored Apple Netbook or tablet? Sound off in the comments section below.
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Update: Adding a video clip of myself discussing Google's planned new OS on Reuters TV earlier today.
New York native Dan Ackerman, a former radio DJ turned journalist, has written about technology and music for publications including Spin, Blender, The Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today. He hosts the weekly Digital City podcast and the New York edition of Editors' Office Hours. Dan's new album, Tales Out of Night School, is available now. E-mail Dan. 
...So basically what you're saying is that Microsoft needs to become Apple....
But I do agree. I think Microsoft should be quaking in their boots. Go to a college campus and you see the next generation of work force using Mac OS and Linux at alarming numbers. The addition of a new OS by a well loved company [Google] will make people switch who are unhappy with Microsoft but think that Macs are too 'stuffy'.
Have you forgotten the days of Atari, Commodore, Texas Instruments and others?
It could also herald a new age of:
1. apps that run on all OSes (Windows, OS X, Linux, ...) and all device types (smartphones, netbooks, notebooks, desktops, ...), without any porting effort.
2. instantaneously updating of millions of users, when an improvement is made or a bug is fixed, in an app.
3. vendors offering an app for free/sale/subscription to any user located anywhere in the world.
Chrome OS will join the lists of hundreds of Linux distros trying to garner some attention from non-geeks population. If lucky, it might reach the success of Ubuntu, but nothing more.
It's Windows 7 for me.
The fact is Ubuntu boots lightning fast. I can do everything I want on my netbook. I can do any office productivity I need via Google Apps or Open Office. I can do audio editing for the radio station I volunteer for. I use Audacity even in Windows, so no loss there. I have great waste my time game options, nothing high tech, but plenty of basic addictive diversions on the level of bejeweled/frozen marbles/tetris. If I got an external hard drive I could go the Diablo II route easily.
Compared with the speed of Windows there is just no comparison. I don't care if Windows 7 "will run" on netbooks. MS is going to charge WAY more than they are currently charging for XP, and that's going to put a much higher premium on the little guys than the "increased functionality" (if you want to call it that).
I don't know that I care about Google's announcement. I am not a "tech for tech's sake" fiend. I want my tools to do what I need them to do, with the fewest hicups, for as little money as possible. I want my money to save for a down payment on a house, or a retirement fund quite honestly. Total quality of life is more important to me than gadgets. I spent a very long time trying to ditch Windows and failing because Linux was just not up to the task. In the last 2 versions of Ubuntu Canonical won me on netbooks, and is just a short video performance leap from winning my total desktop experience. When WoW and Hulu work as well on Linux with my Intel GPU as they do on Windows I will no longer have any reason to use Microsoft products.
Then you get into the "I know it. Why change" game with Google. While I worked to ditch Windows because of the cost, I won't have a similar reason to learn a new platform to leave Ubuntu. So they are going to have to create something REALLY impressive to get me to move again.
I'd love to switch to a Google OS if only to satisfy my curiosity. Like sillygoosen, though, I'd worry about how it copes with local installs.
Forget about what's under the hood. To the typical user, a Chrome OS netbook will be an Internet appliance with a Google interface.. (Do iPhone or iPod Touch users mind that their device doesn't run the Mac OS or Windows? Do Blackberry users care about their device's OS, as long as they can get their e-mail?)
I suspect that manufacturers will like Chrome OS for two reasons: It will make them less beholden to Microsoft, and--perhaps even more important--it will help to position netbooks (and future variants of the netbook) as appliances for Web browsing, e-mail, and notetaking that *supplement* conventional laptops and desktop PCs instead of replacing them. To use an analogy, a netbook can be to a PC what an iPod is to a home music system--especially if "Google," and not "Windows," appears on the bootup screen.
However, if people are thinking ahead, you are dead right and price can definitely be a deciding factor. "So I have to pay HOW much 2 years down the road to get the decent OS that this one I'm using now SHOULD have been?" Companies like Microsoft live and die by the revenue stream they artificially create when they "update" a fully functional and competent product, then shove it out on the market and do their best to force everyone to upgrade to the new stuff. And then they wonder why things like Office are seeing stagnation in sales, and adoption of products like OpenOffice and Google's office foray is on the upswing. People are getting tired of bullies, especially the greedy bullies.
But, and this is a big but -- forcing people who, frankly, aren't "into" computers (like we are) to learn what is, in large part, a whole new way of operating their PCs, is asking too much in most cases. It's perhaps like asking someone who can only drive an automatic transmission car to learn stick -- sure there are advantages, but for many people, it's not worth the hassle.
Mind you, as a native New Yorker, any automobile analogies from me should be takes as highly suspect.
That being said, I wish Google all the luck in the world. I hope they really do come up with a truly competitive OS that rivals Windows. I do not consider any other current OS to be a true rival. Competitors for sure, but most of the stuff you hear about MacOS and Linux are propaganda and some out right lies.
Oh, and for the guy that mentioned Audacity, for a free app, it is great. Compared to "pay-for" apps, it blows chunks. Same goes for GIMP.
However, if intermediaries could make a living at configuring systems for others or more open source projects found a niche like Mozilla, you could see either an economy that supports casual users or the extra packaging that allows those users to pick up and install open source as easily as shelf ware.
But what about looking at this another way? Are there NON-users who would be attracted to this?
Perhaps people who were put off even by Windows, either the price of a decent PC (always $800.00) or the technical "complexity" of Windows?
I was never good at microeconomics, but this would seem to give Google the chance to become the small warm-blooded mammal eating the dinosaurs' eggs. Hey, isn't that how Microsoft started out?
Google Guys... Kill 'em Google!
...that's all I needed to hear. If nothing else, I'll try it out.
Stop, we don't need more on the Menu, there is Windows Vista + SE and a bit Apple that's enough.
No one is holding a Gun on your chest, and says you have to use our Product.
personally i hate anything that not microsoft. unless its an iphone. so, its not going to change much. What will make a difference is when apple enters into the art of nebooks.
they always do it right at the first time and i dont hope goolge will do that.
- by ospideyo July 8, 2009 10:10 PM PDT
- I personally can not stand Linux! I had the terminal with a passion, reminds me of DOS and I hated that too. I enjoy a nice GUI with self installing packages. I hate having to type 50 lines of code to install a program. If Linux were to make it as easy to install programs as Windows or Mac OSX I would consider it but until that day it just isn't an option for me.
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- by forever4now July 9, 2009 12:57 AM PDT
- "type 50 lines of code"
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (52 Comments)What? I use Ubuntu as my primary OS and I "click to install" any of the 1000s of programs in the repository using Synaptic. Clearly, you have either not used any modern Linux distribution or have not used one for a very long time.