The Blogosphere Rejoices

Yes, this post is a day late so you’ve probably already heard all about Google announcing a (long awaited) new operating system called Google Chrome OS. Details are scarce, other than the fact that it will essentially be the Google Chrome browser “running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel” and that all applications will be web-based (e.g. Google’s web apps , Photoshop.com, and picnik).

The most interesting part of this announcement is the turmoil being raised on blogs around the web (including our own… ). For some it’s either the “Windows Killer” everyone’s been expecting, or a DOA vaporware that’s going nowhere. But most likely, it will just be a simple, free alternative for your netbook/MID that will thrive and coexist peacefully with other operating systems in the market.

What’s it good for?

My take? Google Chrome OS sounds great for my parents who only ever use Email, the web, documents, and very basic photo editing – all on a platform that runs great on old technology, is free and doesn’t require me to tweak and update Windows every time I visit them. It seems to fit the super lightweight usage niche well – like netbooks and MIDs for people who just want to check email and Facebook. Since it’s so lightweight, it will also boot (nearly) instantly – making your netbook behave more like a mobile device or internet appliance rather than a Windows desktop. With the amazing popularity of netbooks and big players like Intel and Dell trying to deploy instant-on OS environments (like Splashtop, Moblin, and HyperSpace), I would say this is a well-timed development.

Rich Web Apps?

What sets the Google Chrome OS approach apart from OS X, Windows, Linux, instant-on OSs, or even their own mobile-optimized Android OS is its completely browser-centric platform. In fact, it has more in common with the new Palm Pre WebOS where applications are built to run in an open, web browser-like HTML/CSS/Javascript environment. Although the WebOS strategy seems more about providing the simplest app platform for developers and favors client-hosted apps, Google seems more focused on network-hosted apps with offline capability.

What does this mean? Well it means we’re one step closer to Larry Ellison’s prediction that Java-based thin-clients could one day replace Windows (something that’s about 10 years behind schedule). Personally, I’d rather have rich-client experiences over web apps any day mainly because they’re so much more… rich. At least for now. With all the maturing web-based platform technologies like HTML 5, Javascript, Adobe Air/Flex/Flash, and Silverlight the gap between client apps and web apps is closing quickly. One great example of this is the rich client experience we helped designed for World Wide Telescope which has now been ported over to run completely from within a browser using Silverlight technology.

One Open App Platform

This means web developers will need to start thinking more like app developers in understanding and creating rich user experiences, and app developers will need to think more like the web developers in understanding and creating seamlessly-connected social and networked experiences. A really exciting prospect is that one day soon the notion of different OS platforms will completely go away. You pick the platform you like best (be it Apple, Microsoft, Google, or open source) and all the apps you use and love will follow you. I think this is really Google’s strategy – they don’t care whether you’re using Windows, Android, Chrome OS, or Linux, just as long as you’re viewing Google ad-infused web sites and services.

So, will this be the future of computing, or will it just be another internet appliance bust?

What do YOU think?

official announcement: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html