(It’s been too long since my last post (we’ve been *really* busy at Xuropa), but this is too big…)
There has been buzz about a Google OS for a while, but it’s now official - Google is getting into the OS business.
It’s been something that has been begging to be done for years - a fast, light, and secure OS that gets you onto the web “immediately”. Back in 2001I even batted around the idea (Linux with an Opera browser) at Merinta (R.I.P.) as a way to turn that company around (not enough gas). In ‘95 Ellison had the idea of the Network Computer and announced it at Comdex of that year. This was while I was at National Semiconductor working on x86-based set-top-boxes and the beginnings of what became to be Internet Appliances. As with everything - the first goes around never make it, especially when they’re this revolutionary. The first attempts, ideas, and runs at the problem spur the industry, the environment, the infrastructure, and the thinking of the day to lay the ground work for “the one” to make it happen. All the pieces are in place for this to be a great success. Exciting times.
I particularly appreciate in the Google blog post the statement that the OS is a “natural extension of” the browser. The reversal of the exact position Microsoft took in defending its bundling of the browser with Windows when it first released IE to kill Netscape. Sweet irony.
But to my point about it being bigger that it initially appears. For example, Michael Arrington’s post on TechCrunch misses the mark. He states that “The browser is the platform. The browser is the UI.” He’s only half right and is really missing the bigger picture. The correct interpretation of the announcement, IMO, is “The Cloud is the Platform. The browser is the UI”. And it’s not just Microsoft that should be worried, but Amazon, all other cloud computing providers, and subsequently telecoms companies.
I expect to see a plethora of cloud-based services and a Chrome-based API to access them to come along with the Chrome OS. The first obvious service is storage, but in terms of applications the sky’s the limit. In fact, combining the OS with the browser not only gives Google a competitive position against Microsoft, it significantly strengthens their position against Amazon and other Cloud vendors. It’s another choke hold on access to services that will be too sweet for developers to pass up. Before you know, there will be services and applications built upon the Chrome OS/Browser API’s and a whole infrastructure put in place before Microsoft and Amazon can say “Department of Justice”.
I’ve always said that people were spending too much time talking about Microsoft’s monopolistic position and not looking at Google enough. But just like the advent of other standard platforms (eg. the IBM PC and Windows), this is going to open up tremendous opportunity for industry growth…and mass schizophrenia.
