Google Chrome OS: Why? Why? Why?

Once upon a time, there was talk about Google developing a Linux based operating system. Then, they bought the company behind Android and released it as an Open Source OS targeting everything from mobile to netbooks to set-top boxes. The cacophony in the tech blogosphere died down eventually and everyone forgot about the idea of Google developing a Linux distro. Today, Google has announced that they are developing a new OS based on Linux kernel and they are calling it Google Chrome OS.

First let us look at some facts about this OS and then I will offer my first thoughts (Note: These are my first impressions based on their blog post alone).

Facts:

Web, Web, Web, Web, Web (Imagine someone from Google jumping up and down and shouting this similar to what Steve Ballmer did about developers). Web is their mantra and this OS is designed with that in mind.
It will be open source.
It will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010.
Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of this OS.
They are redesigning the underlying security architecture based on the idea that the user experience will be purely on the web.
It will run on both x86 and ARM chips.
The architecture of the OS is simple. Google Chrome running within a barebones windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.
Target market is from netbooks to powerful desktops.
Once again, web, web, web, web,.......

My Thoughts:

Why, Why, Why, Why, Why,..........
Instead of doing their own OS, they could have rallied behind one of the Linux distros, say Damn Small Linux, and helped them get traction among the hardware vendors. This is a move by Google to deflect the high handed tactics by Microsoft in the netbook market but it appears to me like a redundant one. I feel that they should have supported one of the existing distros. However, if they had taken that route, there is no way they could have pushed the Google Chrome browser (and their services) tightly integrated with the Linux distro. In short, it is a desperate attempt by Google to stop Microsoft in the netbook game and, also, push the Google Chrome browser to the masses at a point in time when IE's market share is going downhill.
The previous point along with the fact that Google has grand plans on the SaaS side means that it is time for us to wake up and smell fish, err..., monopoly.
This also points to Google's future strategy. When some of the SaaS vendors are going towards a hybrid on-premise, on-demand strategy, Google is going with the Cloud only approach.
What is the future for Android? My gut feeling tells me that if Google Chrome OS gains some traction in the market, it may let Android go off its complete control.
I think it is time we do a reboot and think if it is in the good interest of the users to cede complete control of their Cloud based life to Google.
Why, Why, Why, Why, Why,..........

Well, these are my initial thoughts. I will definitely revisit the topic in the future once we get to have a look at this OS.

Krishnan, I gather from what I have seen so far that this OS is NOT going to be based on the Linux kernel at all? Perhaps it will more closely resemble Palm's WebOS in that it will essentially be just an extendable web browser? I am guessing that we will not be seeing device drivers, file systems and other things that we expect from a traditional OS?

Why Why Why??? You have to ask; Linux has terrible take up outside of the techy community... The return rates of Asus Netbooks with Linux is high; the ones that aren't returned are true Linux users or sideloaded Windows... An alternative to Windows is needed so far NONE of the linux distro's have met this easily; easy enough for the netbook ODM's to ship it widely.

Devan, The Google's post said it is based on Linux kernel but with their own windowing system based on Google Chrome on top of it. Where did you see it? This is what Google told in that post.

The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform.

1) Because Microsoft's desktop OS market share is just asking to be taken over, because Microsoft since Vista is stuck in bad PR and general suckage, and Apple cannot take over because they require you to buy a new expensive machine, and no current Linux distro out there is good enough, nor even has the means to eat more than 1% of marketshare to the declining giant. It takes a giant like Google to do that. Linux and its distros are more like a swarm of little guys who can't even afford to build their own desktop environment, all they can do is put a bunch of pre-existing pieces together, that's not good enough. 2) No, they couldn't have rallied behind an already existing distros. For one thing, the distros out there are nothing to Google, they could fart a Ubuntu-like distro out with so little effort it wouldn't be funny. Google wants and can afford to have control over everything, cause they're fucking giants, they don't need to think twice about the other distros, or even Gnome or KDE, they don't care cause they can make something better and more coherent with there vision much more easily. 3) For Android, time will tell, but most likely it'll stay the smartphone OS, while Chrome OS will be the netbook/desktop OS. Because you don't want a smartphone OS on your desktop, and you don't want a desktop OS on your telephone.

Krish, I stand corrected! I missed that critical line upon first reading the article. In which case I agree with you in that another distro like DSL which weighs in at a mere 50MB would have been a better bet for them...

Chrome OS will take market shares of Netbook's OS market. I don't believe it is a competition to Windows OS at all. ( Look how far Linux get during the years) As well, Windows 7 is not the last OS from MS.

@A_SN, you expose yourself as a blind Google fanboy. If you understood Google's vision for this OS, they want to keep the user experience on the web. It means that all they want is a barebones OS with their browser on top of it. It doesn't matter if Linux is ugly. So, all your ramblings against Linux falls flat with respect to Google's vision.

> Instead of doing their own OS, they could have rallied behind one of the Linux distros, say Damn Small Linux Because it is only the anti-M$ craze that interprets Google's announcements as targeting Windows. As I read they think *every* operating system is unsuitable (I happen to agree). Hence not getting behind a distro: they have a vision, good for them. I'll be interested to see what they come up with :D

I think it is a good idea - operating systems have been traditionally designed for multipurpose workloads and the weight of being generic shows on all the major operating systems. In fact Microsoft rode on their apps(windowing to boot) though the OS may have been inferior to the other ones(or less general purpose) emphasizing the fact that apps are the ones that drives people to it. So fast forward to now, it is the browser that is running most of the apps except off course the MS office, it is fair for Google to take this approach to make an OS that can make it simple enough to run a browser efficiently without the baggage of a general purpose OS. And if they(or someone else) can wean people from the standalone MS office apps, then we really have an alternative in this space. So I see this as a good development from a consumer perspective who doesn't have much of an alternative other than windows OS and MS office apps. Personally, I would love this instead of the pathetically slow Vista OS(on my 1GB laptop) that I use just to use the browser(predominantly). In fact it can only run one app right now - if I open another app, the response time goes out of the window. So I would wholeheartedly support Google if they can make my browsing experience better as they promise.

Even at home I cannot replace my MS Windows boxes due to software and hardware with Linux. Anyone who thinks more than single figure percentages can be taken over from MS better start recoding all those industrial and specialsed software the real world runs on.

We invite everybody to speculate on the outcome of the battle 'Google Chrome OS-Windows'. Is Google going to knock Microsoft down? Or Windows will never be defeated as the most popular OS? Tell us - http://www.votetheday.com/software/google-chrome-os-kills-windows-431/

All of you who rally behind Google blindly on this topic need to realize that Google wants the entire user experience to be on the web. Under such a scenario, OS becomes totally redundant. Spending too much resources on something that plays no role in their vision is plain stupid. Hence, my suggestion about supporting an already existing distro, however lame the distro is.

Krish - I don't believe it is a blind faith in Google. Existing OSes(especially of the MS variety) are an inhibitor to a seamless web experience IMO. These were designed when nobody even imagined about the web becoming so big and they were too general purpose to support all kinds of OS. And OS is not totally redundant, you still need an OS to manage the hardware and an OS that is optimal for browsing has significant value IMO.

Imagine all the nightmares IT specialists will have to deal with an open source OS like this. And ontop of that will you like to see ads everywhere, as this is what Google is trying to do, break into your personal life so it can sell more ads. Google is a online ad giant and that is it's main objective. If they are serious about breaking into the OS market MS dominates they will have to make it operational offline as well. Not everyone in the world has permanent internet access, and that is why MS will keep it's stranglehold. I will stay with MS because I do not like "Google Politically Correct Spyware".

@Jayadeep, I agree with your argument about MS OSes. But, Google could have rallied behind a Linux distro much like how they did with Firefox initially. Well, in that case, they cannot push their browser and services to people. It makes a perfect business sense. If we take out the business decision part, I am still not convinced that we need another OS to solve the problem we are facing.

[..] Another interesting article has cropped up fromCloudAve.com– They ask the age old (okay okay… brand new) question as to Why. Why would Google need to create an operating system? I think the answer to that is the same reason they felt the need to create a browser. When you have a multi-billion dollar industry, you have having to be reliant upon anyone else. Google is simply doing everything it can to eliminate as many “needs” that are out of it’s control as possible. The article is reproduced below. [..]

Google Chrome OS: Why? Why? Why?

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