The Google OS revolution

[uncloned]

http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/would-you-accept-googles-free-netbook

What if Google *gave away* computers that ran its Chromium OS - the real cost being putting up with advertisements?

I think, much more than Google wave, this is the real revolution - because this moves *everything* to the cloud - and out of the control of the users.

This would make the high performance computers we depend upon for our music and art more expensive as this free option becomes adopted.

The one hold up to implementing this revolution is universal access to the net, preferably broadband access.

It will be interesting to see M$'s response to this.

[Louigi Verona]

I think Microsoft has nothing to say. Their bet for the last ten years was not on trying to look innovative (which they never were) but on the hard lock in of people all over the world into Windows. And this lock in is much stronger than one might think - in fact, most people did not even hear about other operating systems. All those linuxes and free bsds which they might have heard about are in their minds buggy student hobby type of systems which cannot be seriously used. I hear it all the time - "Linux? But it's so buggy and is written by a group of amateurs!"

So Microsoft always bets on the lock in. They have nothing else to bet on and it is true that their days as a software company are numbered - but that number might be very-very large.

On the other hand windows mobile is quickly loosing its position - in fact, far more too quickly than Microsoft would have expected. I think that in two years mobile phones would be totally on linux, android and other open source systems.

The desktop world is changing slower, but it is nonetheless changing. Ubuntu, with its appeal to broader user base, Chrome OS, proprietary Mac OS - all of these are cutting pieces of Microsoft's pie, and each year those are bigger and bigger. And the understanding that Windows has alternatives is also greater in the minds of people. They might see that not a lot of these are yet supported by large vendors, but the dual world of "only Windows and Mac compatible" starts to annoy more and more people, who say - and what about my box? Why isn't it even mentioned?

That's about Microsoft.

Cloud computing has its strong points and a lot of people will go that way. In fact, I myself use GMail extensively. But I also strongly believe that it will not be possible to make a cloud only world. Reason? Not always you want to (or can) be online. Those Google laptops are literally useless without an Internet connection. What if I don't have one?

So I am not sure I am ready to share the thought that it is all about control - although this does need thinking over - but I can say that I would probably not want such a notebook now and indeed would take it only as a gift.

[residentgrey]

cloud computing?

[uncloned]

yes,
all data, possibly most processing power, resides on a server farm. The farm is the "cloud"

Actually - this is , once again, the mainframe model where you had a terminal that was mostly dumb connected to a large computer. Only difference here is that the mainframe is huge compared to yesteryear. But... its the same concept.