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Introducing the Google Chrome OS

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Re: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

#71
post #60
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The barrier to replacing X is not replacing X, it is the significant rewriting of software that uses X.

And the first massive hump there is getting the replacement good enough to even bother thinking about rewrites. Google has a chance to leap past that, because they've contrived a situation where they not only don't need X, they don't need to port X apps.

Well, yeah, but you're not talking about replacing X anymore (which is what the GP post was talking about).

Re: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

#72
post #67

If ARM and x86 are targeted, this means no Flash (not surprising, given how poorly it runs on Linux), which presumably means YouTube will be operating in full-on HTML 5 video mode by the time these devices launch. If netbooks continue their meteoric ascent, and if Chrome OS grabs a significant share of the market, we may finally see the realization of the mythical Year of Linux On the Desktop. The ironic aspect, of c…

I enjoyed your narrative.

Re: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

#74
Im convinced it's not a coincidence that this week they also announced dropping a load of beta tags, hid the free apps sign up page a little more and made a number of other tweaks.

I get the impression they are trying to repackage their cloud services together: it would make sense if the plan for Chrome OS is to ultimately tie it all together.

Re: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

#75
post #57

I wonder just how Google Native Client will fit into this, especially extended with things like USB support and OpenGL. There's games, obviously, but what about a NaCL port of iTunes? It's not that far-fetched.

Google has already indirectly "extended" Native Client with native 3D graphics using their O3D API (http://code.google.com/apis/o3d/). It's just a matter of time until someone codes up a library to expose that API through JS interop in Native Client.

I think we can expect very close integration of Native Client into the Chrome OS as soon as or right after it goes public. To the level of accessing hardware ports to control external devices right from your Native Client web-app.

Imagine drivers that get loaded and updated on-the-fly. Of course, Google will have to implement a smart security mechanism (along the lines of RSA authentication for dynamic device/driver coupling) and provide a way for device manufacturers to register their driver's public keys with Chrome OS.

Re: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

#76
post #55
post #30

I wonder if there is possibility their new window system is going to replace the bloated X window system in other distributions.

The barrier to replacing X is not replacing X, it is the significant rewriting of software that uses X.

... and porting or rewriting the device drivers.

Re: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

#77
post #38
post #2

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

I wonder if people will be able to take this new windowing system and use it for their own purposes. That would be fantastic, if the new windowing system is good.

No doubt it will be a windowing system optimized for showing exactly one full-screen "window", and perhaps occasional modal dialogs.

I believe both Qt and GTK+ can be compiled to draw directly to the Linux framebuffer, if you don't want to use X (although they don't exactly provide much in the way of window management).

Re: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

#78
post #67

If ARM and x86 are targeted, this means no Flash (not surprising, given how poorly it runs on Linux), which presumably means YouTube will be operating in full-on HTML 5 video mode by the time these devices launch. If netbooks continue their meteoric ascent, and if Chrome OS grabs a significant share of the market, we may finally see the realization of the mythical Year of Linux On the Desktop. The ironic aspect, of c…

Flash has a few small problems on Linux, but generally is usable.

Re: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

#79
post #67

If ARM and x86 are targeted, this means no Flash (not surprising, given how poorly it runs on Linux), which presumably means YouTube will be operating in full-on HTML 5 video mode by the time these devices launch. If netbooks continue their meteoric ascent, and if Chrome OS grabs a significant share of the market, we may finally see the realization of the mythical Year of Linux On the Desktop. The ironic aspect, of c…

Adobe are working on full Flash 10 for ARM-based linux on netbooks and smartphone platforms, due for next year.

Whether Google wants or needs it is another question.

Re: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

#80
post #58
post #5

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

Chrome wasn't built in a day. Though you'd think if they're announcing a linux-based operating system, centered on their web-browser, making their web-browser run on linux would be trivial. OTOH, could it be the diversity of linux distributions that's making it difficult for them?

I don't get the impression that is actually a significant problem for anyone. Most distributions include the same libraries, recent kernels with similar options and even put things in similar places. Packaging is the major difference - though that's a job best left to the distributions anyway.
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