Google OS has been warmly embraced by the anti-Microsoft crowd,
but Davey Winder is less than blown over by the announcement.
"...it's all about the web. All apps are web
apps"
Google exclaims, and everyone gasps and bows before the cloud
embracing visionaries. But where's the step back, the deep breath,
the wiping away of the 'oh gosh it's Google, it's the future' haze
to reveal the problems that lurk beneath the surface? I'm far from
being a luddite, I was an internet evangelist 20 years ago and an
early adopter of everything from virtual worlds to social networks.
I have long since replaced my Outlook client with the grab anywhere
simplicity of Gmail and Google Calendar but I don't want to do
everything in the cloud right now.
"...there are significant benefits to
security"
Google insists, and some aspects of the Chrome OS such as every
app being contained in a sandbox are to be welcomed. However, while
Google has been banging the security drum, I cannot help but notice
how quiet it has been with regards to the privacy issue. Yep, the
one word which will always be a thorn in the side of Google has to
be uttered when we are talking about moving pretty much everything
we do, if we do it with Google Chrome, onto Google servers. At
least when my data is stored on my drives on my desktop, secured as
best I can, I remain a small fish, and therefore a small target, in
a very big pond. Google is the equivalent of not just a solitary
whale, but a whole herd of whales.
"...all apps live within the browser"
Google beams, by which it means the Google Chrome browser
because that's the only one supported. So where's the outcry over
Google producing an OS which not only bundles its own web browser
but actually requires it in order to run any applications?
"...we are obsessed with speed"
Google enthuses, but you know what not everyone else is. Sure,
fast booting is cool, but I don't have time to make a cup of tea
when my Windows 7 netbook fires up first thing in the morning.
After that I just wake it from sleep mode, and that's as instant as
typing my user login. Boot speed is hardly a deal breaker for the
masses, if we are being honest, especially if it means buying a new
machine that's tied into a new computing concept.
I remain to be convinced that Google Chrome will make any real
dent in the OS market, or even in the niche OS market for that
matter. I am convinced, however, that if it were not for the word
'Google' being included the tech world would hardly have batted an
eyelid at the launch of this particular vision of the future.
It's interesting, for sure, but Google Chrome OS as a game
changer? No way! Everything from assuming people will want another
Apple-alike 'buy the hardware to get the OS' model to thinking the
average user is ready to surrender a PC paradigm for a cloud-based
existence is wide of the mark.
Google would appear to have got this one about as wrong as it
got Google Answers or Google Lively. Remember them? No, thought
not...