On July 7th, search engine giant Google announced the Google Chrome Operating System (OS). Google has already successfully produced office administrative tools, including the very successful Gmail cloud-based email service. But an OS is an entirely different animal. Compatibility with third-party software and hardware is a challenge that Google hasn’t experienced yet.

I’ve had a Gmail account for years, and have been using Google Docs for the last few months. While these tools are fine for the basics of what they do, I often find myself longing for more robust features. It also appears that the various development teams at Google don’t talk very much, since functionality is not as seamless between applications as it should be. The basic concept of seamless integration of Google’s existing technology into the OS will be vital to its success.

Google Chrome OS will be open source, so we can expect enhancements from the development community. The OS will also be lightweight, initially targeting netbooks. Google is planning that Chrome OS-based netbooks will be available in the latter part of 2010. For you uber-tech folks out there, it will run on both x86 and ARM chips on top of a Linux kernal… but you probably knew about that already.

Google has stated that “Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS.” Their choice to call the system “Chrome OS” as opposed to “Google OS” highlight their intent that this OS is directed primarily at the avid web user. Google Chrome, Google’s web browser that was released a little less than a year ago, is fantastic. I’ve been using it since it launched and I find it a pleasure. Of course, now with Internet Explorer 8 being released, the playing field has leveled a bit. I’m hopeful that the new Chrome OS will be as fast and intuitive as its browser namesake.

Building an operating system around a web browser heralds the new age of cloud computing we discussed a few weeks back. Google’s user feedback shows that people “want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don’t want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates.” That being said, could Google Chrome OS break away from Microsoft and Apple in the ongoing race towards operating system supremacy? Probably not at first. Chrome OS will likely be a dual-boot option long before supremacy – users might be able to boot to Chrome OS, or a Microsoft OS on the same system.

I’ll be rooting for Google, but they have a long road to travel to catch even Apple, which only has less than 10% market share. The Goliath that is Microsoft is probably safe for a long while, but Google may be one of the few companies that even stand a chance of slinging that stone.

So what does it all mean to the communication professional? At the moment, not much, but in a few years we may need to include Chrome OS into our plans, especially if your target audience is tech / web / computer savvy. Keep an eye on the Software & Operating Systems category for the latest developments.

1. Cooknn Says:
   July 9th, 2009 at 7:13 pm

   I’m rooting for webOS. We already have a cloud based OS built on top of a Linux kernal. For now you need a Palm pre to experience it. I would venture to guess that Netbooks are on the horizon. I’m writing this on a Mac, BTW I still love OS X. But I believe Palm’s webOS has a very bright future.

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