Introducing the Google Chrome OS

Interesting. The one missing piece--a RAD development environment that's as efficient as Visual Studio is at producing fat clients. The business world will only embrace the webcentric model when it becomes as efficient to code in as .net click-once fat clients. The idea of simple, cheap, rugged hardware is very appealing. But programmer time is the #1 cost--businesses go for easy drag/drop fat client apps. Software written for 5 users has to be thrown together pretty fast or it never pays back...

Re: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

#5

Post by kylec » Wed, Jul 08, 2009, 5:11 AM UTC

Let's hope this also means that a Linux version of Chrome is around the corner.

Re: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

#6

Post by dcurtis » Wed, Jul 08, 2009, 5:19 AM UTC

I'm glad Google has identified a need for something like this, but I don't really trust that Google has the right talent to build an operating system. They have serious problems with user experience and interface design (see: Doug Bowman). The mere idea that they are attempting to encroach on an aspect of experience as large as the operating system is to me somewhat scary.

I do hope they prove me wrong. But based on their past performance, I am not holding my breath.

Also: Google, if you're reading this, please at least make the typography render properly in this OS. You've already failed at this with Chrome, which has some of the worst antialiasing I have seen in a browser (surpassed in crappiness only by IE).

Re: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

#7

Post by Adrenalist » Wed, Jul 08, 2009, 5:20 AM UTC

jeffspost wrote: post #4

Interesting. The one missing piece--a RAD development environment that's as efficient as Visual Studio is at producing fat clients. The business world will only embrace the webcentric model when it becomes as efficient to code in as .net click-once fat clients. The idea of simple, cheap, rugged hardware is very appealing. But programmer time is the #1 cost--businesses go for easy drag/drop fat client apps. Software w…

Can you clarify your statements a bit more?

I don't think that Google Chrome OS would be suitable for most corporate shops that are generally Microsoft centric (and have been for quite some time). I think this free OS will be geared towards light users that primarily use their computer for surfing the web and checking their email.

Re: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

#8

Post by Xichekolas » Wed, Jul 08, 2009, 5:21 AM UTC

Oompa wrote: post #3

A browser is one thing. But an OS? I have my doubts.

Why? People surely said the same thing about Linus at one point.

Re: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

#9

Post by tc » Wed, Jul 08, 2009, 5:22 AM UTC

mcav wrote: post #2

Key Data Point: > The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.

If their approach to Android is any guide, much of the work will consist of eliminating any GNU or GPL components from the (userspace) runtime environment.

Re: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

#10

Post by seldo » Wed, Jul 08, 2009, 5:24 AM UTC

Oompa wrote: post #3

A browser is one thing. But an OS? I have my doubts.

You have to re-think what is meant by an "operating system".

What is Windows? It's that thing, in the background, that lets you run all the applications you want to run.

But what if all your applications were written in Javascript and HTML, and had URLs instead of .exe files? With all the extra power built into Chrome, they could still write to file systems, store data, work offline, do sophisticated graphics and parallel processing -- these are not hypotheticals, this is what Chrome can do right now. We're just beginning to scratch the surface of what an app written from Chrome can do.

Chrome can be an OS, for some value of "OS".