Should Microsoft Fear Google Chrome OS? – The ‘no’ argument

Mike Halsey | Oct 17, 2009 | Comments

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Yesterday, Everton wrote here about whether he thought Microsoft should fear Google Chrome OS. He said…

I think they are, because in order to keep the costs of budget devices down hardware manufacturers want low OS costs and we can see this in the number of devices already shipping with Linux, and this is why Microsoft created Windows 7 Starter edition to try and keep these manufacturers within the Windows fold and to counter this threat.

To counter this argument, there’s the train of thought that Microsoft should not fear Google’s foray in the operating system market.

Okay, so there are compelling reasons to switch to Chrome OS. Google have a strong product line-up now including a browser, online office suite and even push email. You also have to consider that as this OS is aimed at netbooks, you have limited functionality. These machines are designed for light web browsing, writing the odd document and email. But in practice people will always want to do more with their PCs.

How many people are ever satisfied with such light use? I personally have never met anyone who at least didn’t want to do photo editing or playing music.

Chrome os is based on Suse Linux. This is a build of Linux that has already failed on netbooks, with people wanting machines installed with Windows.

Netbooks aren’t aimed at business users. Business might be more willing to accept Linux. They’re aimed squarely at home users and that’s a tough nut to crack with Linux. It wouldn’t matter what Google do with the Chrome OS interface, it’ll still always look more like Linux than Windows.

People are generally resistant to change and Linux on netbooks proved it. Google may have a very strong brand, one of the strongest in the world, but isit really enough to get people away form Microsoft Windows.

Let’s look at the Chrome browser as an example. This currently has a very small share of the browser market, maybe because the word’s not got out yet. Microsoft may help Google with the new Browser ballot screen but the fact remains that it’s still quite small. You then have to look at who is actually using the Chrome browser. I’d be prepared to wager that a very small percentage of that small percentage are home users. These people generally stick with Internet Explorer and they are, in a large part, responsible for IE6 still being so popular.

People in the tech industry, such as myself, make a big fuss about new products like this but when it actually filters down to the marketplace things are usually quite different. Google will no doubt be helped by their first presence on the high street. This is bound to hit Microsoft in some way but I don’t think it’ll be a lot.

Suffice to say that I don’t believe people will necessarily trust any newoperating system regardless of the name that it’s branded with. Linux may be a solid and stable OS, but the man on the street doesn’t know this. They’ll look at the, hopefully, spangly interface for Chrome OS in the shop and even admire it for a minute. But then I think they’ll ask the salesperson “Do you have one with Windows?”

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Andy
Exactly Tom.

"it will use "a new windowing system",[6] rather than existing desktop environments such as GNOME or KDE." -

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_OS

Open SuSE screenshot? Really?

Win7news, can you please post your sources for your information and/or screenshots for this kind of thing? I have found nothing about Chrome OS using SuSE as a foundation.

I stand corrected if proven wrong, but WTB accurate information.

Michael Lankton
Chrome OS will be more similar to OS X than it will to any linux distro. OS X sits on top of a FreeBSD-based userland with a Mach kernel, but everything to do with the GUI and APIs is proprietary. Chrome is going to have a brand new windowing system and developer interface. Chrome OS will no more resemble linux than OS X resembles one of the other BSDs.

We have to wait and see what their new user interface will be like. As far as apps, Picassa is already a coin toss with iPhoto, which is all 90% of end users could ever hope for in terms of photo cataloging and light image editing. I'm sure a media player is in the works, as well as an email client and all the other necessities. Google is a very smart company with a lot of irons in the fire. I doubt very much they would launch a Chrome OS that doesn't stand on its own as a viable, complete operating system.

As to whether it will be a threat to Windows, who cares really? The world is big enough for more than one operating system. Windows is the desktop standard, but to ignore the innovations and smart designs of systems like the NeXT, BeOS, Amiga, and OS X is to deny the very innovations that have forced Windows to improve over the years. Microsoft doesn't innovate, they integrate other people's ideas into their system. Sometimes they drop the ball, sometimes they get it right, but in the end your Windows operating system is much the better for it.

Think of everything you like about Vista and Windows 7, and for almost every instance I bet I can offer which operating system/GUI originated that particular idea, and how many years their execution of the idea preceded the Windows implementation.

You guys should appreciate non-Windows platforms, because certainly Windows 7 never would have been forced to evolve to where it has today without the innovation from the fringes that preceded it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with picking a team and rooting for it, but it's small minded to blindly hate everything else and not recognize where some of the important contributions to your own system originated. If you're enthusiastic about the Windows interface and system, why is it such a stretch to recognize great design elsewhere? Diversity benefits everyone.

Prathamesh
Well I am an Architect & a Windows user cause all the software’s that I professionally use are for the windows platform. I had tried Turbo Linux 5yrs back cause it came with my Compaq machine...I just explored & that’s it...was back to windows...

After 5 yrs...Now I tried Ubuntu 9.04 & I was amazed... An OS which is a firewall in itself...I don’t need zonealarm to protect my OS...So SAD...Windows cannot protect itself because of its design where many services keep on listening to ports...required or not...& I the end user need a 3rd party software to protect my OS... I don’t need a antivirus or a spyware remover in Linux cause its difficult to make a Virus in linux cause even the deb package requires a installer which is separate... so nothing really self executes...I don’t claim everything is perfect…But security wise I found Windows to have windows open for intruders & Linux felt much safer & stronger

Remember one thing…An OS is just a shell where others plugin there products to run…Windows loyalty & market share will diminish in 10 yrs…Today Linux is very easy to use…fast…awesome…so now the shell is perfect…and even vendors have started to launch products for linux platforms…so I use opera browser in windows…I can use the same Opera browser in Ubuntu & many more available…the point is once Adobe launches Flash CS4 for linux, Google does a Sketchup Linux…Autodesk launches 3DsMax, Autocad & I get a Vray for Linux…I am going to jump from the Windows & float in Linux…

I am using Ubuntu for 1month installed on a USB flash Drive & I am assured about its power…its just a matter of time that I get all my professional softwares working on linux & then I shift to it…Today Supercomputers prefer Linux over windows…Ultimately the best survives…who says Microsoft should not fear… They should!!!…

Be it any OS…be it Linux be it Google Chrome… they improve with time… the more the user like me who try other platform the more the vendors create softwares for that platform cause they too have to maintain the market share…

What is an OS after all for me a common man…
A way to Explore Data stored on HDD – a simple task.
A way to install software – now easy in Linux due to repository
A way to navigate installed software – a simple task
That’s it…

So those who say that Microsoft need no fear…yup true for the short term no Fear…For the long term FEAR…LOTS OF IT !!!...

tom delany
1. just because an OS can run off of a USB, doesn't mean it's "powerful"! lol
2. did you say the linux shell is perfect?? give me 2 minutes on your network and i'll have your machine corrupted... people dont attack linux machines because there's no excitement of attacking a machine that holds a couple pictures and some music. hackers want to destroy important information, hours and hours of hard work and steal identities. they are doing it all on windows machines because that's what over 85% of the market is, Windows. There's a mathematic ratio we're talking about, not preference or difficulty of an attack.
3. if you're having problems with viruses/trojans/spam/spyware etcetera on your windows machine, it's YOUR fault! Your PC doesn't become corrupt just by sitting idle (unless your network really really really really sucks, then it's whoever setup your windows security preferences fault). I run no 3rd party security suites on my Vista machine other than AVG Free... and 2 years later - nothing! no security threats. my old xp machines - nothing! no security threats. PC infections are your own fault for not knowing how to properly setup your environment, and/or doing things online/opening attachments that you really shouldn't be.
4. you say "today supercomputers prefer linux over windows". really? did you ask them? lol. thats funny. I've seen just as many windows server servers running just as efficient as linux servers. in fact... if you know what you're doing, windows server is a MUUUUUUCH more user friendly experience. i've been an IT admin for 9 years now at the local tech-college running windows and mac servers, i've had a fair share of experience.
5. you brought me to my 5th and final point of why Windows doesn't need to fear a thing from linux or Chrome. 3rd party software support; it's not anywhere near where it needs to be to go mainstream. not CLOSE. If I could do what i need to do on a linux machine (or a MAC for that matter), I would have made the switch, i'm all for saving money. I feel the only "threat" to Windows is OSX - but barely even. If linux distros and OSX were as compatible with all the software and hardware that Windows is, there would be NO question that window's market would plummit from 85% or so to 25% or less. And isn't this what your concern with switching is you said? You would need Adobe, Autodesk and so on and so on to begin supporting the OS full-time? interesting. Why hasn't that happened do you think? Honestly, there's more money to be made by writing for Windows OS than opensource and OSX. OSX has problems in itself for being so proprietary and Nazi-ish with Apple's regulations that span entire manuals and rules and high costs for licensing. Which is why only super-popular video-games are released for OSX, or because the distributor is able to afford such rediculous fees.
Anyway, there's too low of interest for real companies to support linux based systems that won't make them any money. Windows is better business-wise. Don't get me started on virtualization, because you're just being a hypocrite by running Windows on a linux machine. you're basically saying you can't run linux WITHOUT a virtual windows machine.

yours truly, Realism Fan-Boy

prathameshdotinfo
1.Dear Tom delany I never said that Ubuntu runs on USB that makes it powerful. I am a Construction Architect, but also a technology enthusiast. All that I have said is based on lots of online research that I do in the spare time so that I get the ‘BEST’. Have you tried Ubuntu? Try it!...

2.Most of the users who run Linux like me have windows on a NTFS partition ( a partition that keeps on defragmenting cause of its design itself & the way data is written…And well I can explain this in detail). So if u hack my machine u will get 206GB of valuable data (not just pictures) on NTFS. I also said “I don’t claim everything is perfect”- so linux may not be perfect, but better than windows.

3.I use Zonealarm, Avira Antivir, MalwareBytes & Bitdefender Free as my offline scanner. My friend today the net is such a hostile place that malicious code can run even if you visit an infected website. A popular architect in Mumbai had his Official site infected which I was surfing. I was saved because of Opera Browser which warned me that the site was infected with a Trojan & I should not proceed. Today you don’t need to open an email attachment to get infected. Just opening an infected mail can infect your machine. I am a safe websurfer. I never get infected but always see the threats poping up.

4.Regarding Supercomputers (not Servers)
The Evidence:
Of the top 500 supercomputers in the World,
Linux – 443 (88.6%)
Unix – 22 (4.4%)
Mixed - 29 (5.8%)
Windows – 5 (1%)
BSD – 1 (0.2%)
When I say Linux is powerful, its not because it runs on a USB, but because Supercomputers prefer it.

5.The one who Fears Survives – thats a law of nature. Fear is a survival tactic. The one who is ignorant of the surrounding will vanish in History. Till date windows was a mainstream OS. Hence all the software support favored them. People are scared to try something new. They just want what they are familiar with irrespective of Good or Bad. They don’t like change. If XP gives me everything why should I try high resource Vista is what people thought. Till date I use XP. But with time everything changes. The linux share in Desktop computing as a primary or secondary OS has definitely grown which is evident from the fact that many mainstream vendors are publishing softwares for both windows & Linux. I say 10yrs…See the picture after 10yrs & remember me then…

Kyle
I was a windows guy my whole life for a bunch of reasons. Even with the rise of the osx in the art community and otherwise I swore it off, I was for windows. The problem was, I was living in a dream, a dream where capitalism actually makes things better. I should have known that windows would get sloppy in their monopoly, the teenager me would have been disappointed. Once I tried linux, I cleared ALL FOUR of my machines, and put ubuntu and Kubuntu on them. Why did I wait so long? I was afraid I wouldn't get it, and bought into the microsoftist propaganda that its too hard and different.

But now I know that open source is the future. It is the future because of all the people that work on it, a, the stability, the innovation, and the cost. It is because eventually, while a lot of companies are locked into windows, or even OSX, for the profit - the sheer numbers of people migrating to open source will force those same companies to fan out their development to reflect this migration, the migration that I participated in, that I swore I never would.

Furthermore, we see a congruency in the music industry : CD and albums sold by the record companies < Inter-tribal relationships of bands/fans sharing music freely as information and earning a REASONABLE living doing live performance.

Slowly but surely, people are realizing, why should we PAY SO MUCH for that which we can make ourselves? And for those that can't make it, others will provide it. This is the case with my OS.

However, there are some limitations, and here is a list.

Lame shit I cant do with Ubuntu
1. play computer games like a huge nerd (although if you're not a junkie for the newest graphics you can rock some open arena, or other open source games)
2. Pay 700 dollars for photoshop instead of using GIMP for free. (by the way, i pirated different versions of photoshop for like eight years, not going to pay for it, ubuntu makes this problem go away)
3.Use Utorrent. Just kidding - i run it in wine, and u torrent is awesome!
4. Have a slow OS that actually gets slower the more you use it instead of faster (like linux) becasue of the file system.

So yeah, I'm on the savy end of the computer user spectrum, but I've been bringing all my friends over. One by one. I show them the ropes, and they make the switch - there's some adjusting, but other revolutions have been more awkward.

-K

zelrik
1 - We know NOTHING about ChromeOS
2 - We know NOTHING about ChromeOS
3 - We know NOTHING about ChromeOS

Am I clear enough here?

Dont take Google Chrome browser as an example, because it's actually good and gaining market share...just to let you know.