Google OS

[stray]

I have been saying to my friends that I think the OS is going to basically become a browser, and everything is going to be done in a cloud. This seems like the first step towards that.

Wait... Didn't Bill Gates say that too? Back in the day when the default wallpaper was a cloud?  

[naum]

I have been saying to my friends that I think the OS is going to basically become a browser, and everything is going to be done in a cloud. This seems like the first step towards that.

Wait... Didn't Bill Gates say that too? Back in the day when the default wallpaper was a cloud?  

No, actually, Gates wrote in his 1995 book how the internet was just a passing fad, and how CD-ROM was the future of computing…

[stray]

See, yeah, I'm behind the times then. Everything I know I learned from Cinemania and Encarta CD-ROM's.  

[Teleku]

I have been saying to my friends that I think the OS is going to basically become a browser, and everything is going to be done in a cloud. This seems like the first step towards that.

Wait... Didn't Bill Gates say that too? Back in the day when the default wallpaper was a cloud?  

and how CD-ROM was the future of computing…

Err, didn't that come true?

[Soln]

I don't see how slapping your brand on top of a linux distro can be called an OS.

OS X is just a GUI slapped on BSD.

I fail to see the difference.

G$$gle is the new M$FT in more ways than one.  

Saying things like that makes me want to kick you in the teeth.

truth hurts.   They're a business who happen to have done big things with open source. 

[schild]

I meant how you typed it. Don't do that. Ever.

[Soln]

yeah that was stupid.   Point taken.

[Trippy]

I have been saying to my friends that I think the OS is going to basically become a browser, and everything is going to be done in a cloud. This seems like the first step towards that.

People have been saying this since the days of Netscape. This is the reason why Microsoft worked so hard to crush Netscape, the company. Unfortunately for Microsoft Google came along and in turn that gave the Mozilla Foundation a revenue stream that MS couldn't affect, as the Foundation gets a ton of money from Google every year for making Google the default search engine and default home page of Firefox.

And now we're in the midst of a browser war the likes we've never seen before and Microsoft is rapidly losing market share to the IE-competitors. Microsoft is getting so desperate they are opting for "scorched earth" tactics rather than straight up competing. In the EU when they told Microsoft that IE can no longer be the default and only browser in Windows Microsoft's rebuttal was to threaten to not ship *any* browser with Windows in the EU rather than to allow users the ability to choose a browser during the Windows install.

[Trippy]

I have been saying to my friends that I think the OS is going to basically become a browser, and everything is going to be done in a cloud. This seems like the first step towards that.

Wait... Didn't Bill Gates say that too? Back in the day when the default wallpaper was a cloud?  

and how CD-ROM was the future of computing…

Err, didn't that come true?

Gates' book "The Road Ahead" totally missed the Internet. He was thinking about set top boxes and other crap like that. To his credit, though, once he realized he was seriously mistaken, he was able to rapidly turn Microsoft and embrace the Internet and went on to crush the initial upstarts like Netscape. The book also got quickly revised to include the Internet stuff in it so if you buy a copy now it's harder to tell just how wrong he actually was back then.

[Trippy]

Well the window manager is kinda chrome but they haven't said what they are using for the display yet (custom inhouse rendering or x.org), or filesystem. The kernel is linux so I don't see this whole "we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS ".

I will make the bet that they are writing a complete GUI and window manager for Linux and not using X11 at all. So it won't be an OS but a GUI. The OS part of Linux is fine for both consumers and lightweight devices. X11 is not. They say right there that they aim for you to be using the web in a few seconds from turning the machine on. So that's certainly not X11 then.

I think there will be an OS component. All that talk about security sounds to me like they will be writing something akin to a "hypervisor" or some other sort of layer on top of the Linux kernel that the apps will run on top of.

[Trippy]

This isn't about what damage is going to be done to them in 2 years, but what the implication is 6-7 years from now.  Microsoft will see that and will start taking steps to address it.

What do you think they've been doing for the last 6 years?

The XBox line - an Internet enabled entertainment box for your living room.

We've been through this before. Wake us up when you can run a browser on an (unhacked) Xbox.

[fuser]

I think there will be an OS component. All that talk about security sounds to me like they will be writing something akin to a "hypervisor" or some other sort of layer on top of the Linux kernel that the apps will run on top of.

It might be, I was thinking a true hypervisor or emulation but then realized it cannot be done with the current crop of intel n series atom(aka most netbooks).

For reference a z530 vs n270.

[Soln]

Google has hired developers to just work on Firefox.

[Hayduke]

I'm not really sure this is the slippery slope to a desktop OS like some pundits are claiming.  Seems less ambitious.  Will be interesting to see what Microsoft does and if they have a plan other than keeping XP around.

I have been saying to my friends that I think the OS is going to basically become a browser, and everything is going to be done in a cloud. This seems like the first step towards that.

Hi Scott McNealy.

[Quinton]

I will make the bet that they are writing a complete GUI and window manager for Linux and not using X11 at all. So it won't be an OS but a GUI. The OS part of Linux is fine for both consumers and lightweight devices. X11 is not. They say right there that they aim for you to be using the web in a few seconds from turning the machine on. So that's certainly not X11 then.

I think there will be an OS component. All that talk about security sounds to me like they will be writing something akin to a "hypervisor" or some other sort of layer on top of the Linux kernel that the apps will run on top of.

You don't actually need a hypervisor to build a more secure environment.

Android, for example, uses the existing unix/linux process and permission model very effectively to compartmentalize apps -- apps are all assigned their own UIDs on install, cannot mess with each other, etc.

If you're not looking to just replicate desktop linux as it exists today, the kernel gives you a *ton* of tools to implement security policy that's much richer than typical on the desktop.

[naum]

Gates' book "The Road Ahead" totally missed the Internet. He was thinking about set top boxes and other crap like that. To his credit, though, once he realized he was seriously mistaken, he was able to rapidly turn Microsoft and embrace the Internet and went on to crush the initial upstarts like Netscape. The book also got quickly revised to include the Internet stuff in it so if you buy a copy now it's harder to tell just how wrong he actually was back then.

And they could shift strategy and recover OK because by the mid 90's they owned the business desktop and succeeded in placing a toll booth upon every office worker desk in the developed world.

Microsoft is so ubiquitous, few can even contemplate a Microsoft-less existence, yet in 1990, it was far from a forgone conclusion, where in the office I worked, we handed documents off to secretaries for typing or edited them on IBM/Burroughs mainframe terminals. In the early 90s, OS 2 flourished in some corporate realms. But in just a few years, Windows + MS Word/Office captured every worker's desktop, while OS 2 would whither away into dusty bits and Apple was still engaged in a quest for a real modern OS.

[Surlyboi]

 

This is gonna be fun to watch next summer...

[Quinton]

It'll be interesting to see if our friends in Cupertino decide to build something to fill the gap between iphone/ipod and macbook. 

[hal]

This...This is huge. The windows experience is so lacking. So many intrusions spyware Trojans. Any thing different a 10% more secure could be huge.

[MahrinSkel]

We've reached a sweet spot in CPU power where a "palm-top" or smartphone can do just about everything we generally use a PC for (web-surfing, word-processing, etc.) with cycles to spare while driving a display as big as is meaningful (up to HDTV levels of resolution).  There's not much incentive to drive the next round of upgrades, given that even DX10 couldn't drive gamers to Vista.  Any of you really feel a driving need to upgrade to Windows 7, or are you like me, making sure you've got multiple copies, both legit and cracked, of the install images for various versions of XP and are hoarding all your key codes?  My only Vista machine is a Tablet/Notebook hybrid that doesn't have touchscreen drivers for any other OS.

So there's definitely a window for somebody to come in with a light and lean OS layer that uses HTML to drive the interface.  And Google certainly seems to be aiming at that.

--Dave

[stray]

I don't see a need to get rid of the PC. Smartphones are cool too. I just don't see the need for some bridge between the two, like the netbooks. I can have all the mobility with a phone, and work with robust apps/files with a PC. I'm sure plenty of people find a use for netbooks though... just not me.

[Teleku]

We've reached a sweet spot in CPU power where a "palm-top" or smartphone can do just about everything we generally use a PC for (web-surfing, word-processing, etc.) with cycles to spare while driving a display as big as is meaningful (up to HDTV levels of resolution).  There's not much incentive to drive the next round of upgrades, given that even DX10 couldn't drive gamers to Vista.  Any of you really feel a driving need to upgrade to Windows 7, or are you like me, making sure you've got multiple copies, both legit and cracked, of the install images for various versions of XP and are hoarding all your key codes?  My only Vista machine is a Tablet/Notebook hybrid that doesn't have touchscreen drivers for any other OS.

So there's definitely a window for somebody to come in with a light and lean OS layer that uses HTML to drive the interface.  And Google certainly seems to be aiming at that.
--Dave

I've actually upgraded to Windows 7 (skipping over vista entirely) when I just built my brand new computer, and I love it.  Never going to let XP touch my system again (and I was a big fan of XP).

[Surlyboi]

It'll be interesting to see if our friends in Cupertino decide to build something to fill the gap between iphone/ipod and macbook. 

shhh.... Never you mind what your friends in Cupertino are doing...

[stray]

So far, they've dismissed the idea. Doesn't really match their previous patterns anyways.. They can barely get a cheap sub-1k machine out the door. Besides that, the iPhone is already very functional as it is.

edit: ok, scratch that. if jobs goes away, anything is fair game.

[Surlyboi]

 

[Mrbloodworth]

The 99$ computer.

[Righ]

So far, they've dismissed the idea.

How do you "know" this? Given that Apple have come to manufacturing agreements with three LCD makers to provide a shitton of displays that are too large for an iPhone and too small for a MacBook, you're almost certainly wrong.

[Sky]

When OS X is the most successful *nix variant, and the best they can do with OS X is what 3-4% market share? You really think Microsoft gives two shits about a Googly Linux for Netbooks?

Actually, you're making the argument FOR googlix. Since the main barrier to OSX-flavored *nix is Apple hardware cost/rigidity.

If I could have OSX on a cheap netbook? Oh fuck yes. While an Apple-made iNetbook would sell well, if they could position its price point alongside a googlix or windows netbook, I'd buy it in a heartbeat and MS would shit themselves.

[Engels]

You can already do that with some netbooks. All you need to do is flash the bios with a special signature and that will allow OS X installation.

Here's a handy chart:

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/12/17/osx-netbook-compatib.html

[NiX]

I'm still failing to see why MS will shit themselves over netbooks. I'd imagine the profit to them for the OS installed on them, if there is one, is marginal.

[Sky]

You can already do that with some netbooks. All you need to do is flash the bios with a special signature and that will allow OS X installation.

Here's a handy chart:

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/12/17/osx-netbook-compatib.html

See avatard.

[naum]

When OS X is the most successful *nix variant, and the best they can do with OS X is what 3-4% market share? You really think Microsoft gives two shits about a Googly Linux for Netbooks?

The 3-4% is 2004-2005 numbers. More like 8-10% these days.

I know games are predominately MS realm, but from my analytics from both personal and professional/business/non-profit sites, Macs are ~10% on even the most Win-centric user frequented sites (i.e, the sites where in past years, Mac users were 2-3%). On sites like Tumblr, Mac users ~20% or more…

Having said that, XP has really established itself on netbooks from what I've read… …for Google to be successful with NetBook strategy, they've got to achieve what Ubuntu has failed (though, to be fair, not really in their "charter") — an appealing suite of programs to use (and they can be browser based) packaged together — browsing, email, video, photos + video.

OTOH, I'm in the camp that doesn't see the need for a netbook. They're way too underpowered for serious tasks (for me, coding, some photo editing, audio editing) and I have an iPhone which really is a nifty web OS device in its own right + suitable for tapping out messages and emails (especially now that I have copy + paste, /hallelujah). I suspect all the "smart" phones will continue to get smarter, and crowd out potential netbook market demand.

Netbooks seem to be the wet dream of the Silicion Valley internet millionaire / social networking traveling wannabe guru set.

[Teleku]

Netbooks are very popular with quite a number professionals I know, and are HUGE in college (where budgets are tighter).  Again, the point is that they can do all the things 90% of the population uses computers for, but for cheaper.  A Google OS that packages in all the apps they could ever want for almost no cost?  Even bigger price savings.

This board isn't the target demographic for netbooks.  We all tend to be power users.  From my experience working at the computer lab in my university, and helping out friends/family with their PC's, Netbooks are probably overpowered for what the vast majority of people use PC's for ;).

Still, its not going to be that huge of a market even if it continues to expand, so it wont hurt MS too badly.  Again though, this is an alarming trend for MS, and if Google continues to build up what they do with chrome and Android, it could lead to some serious competition down the road.  Google is the only company with the competence, money, and clout to eventually make an OS that can compete with windows (Apple doesn't count unless they finally make OSX work on hardware that everybody in the world actually uses).

[Engels]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the big bottleneck the availability/compatibility of MS Office, rather than the OS? Sure, you can browse the web in seconds, but can you run the needed macros in your spreadsheet (can't do that in MS Office for Mac, for example) and have your professor read your .doc term paper with the right formatting if its performed in Open Office, etc?

I realise that its all tied together, but office productivity software seems to be the where MS has us all by the throat.

[HaemishM]

I have been saying to my friends that I think the OS is going to basically become a browser, and everything is going to be done in a cloud. This seems like the first step towards that.

Microsoft has been quietly and not so quietly been working on that for years, ever since they integrated IE into the Windows interface and the changes in the desktop app licensing structure they've made over the years. They'd be farther along if 1) the anitrust suits hadn't slowed them down and made them sort of decouple IE from the OS, and 2) their IE programmers didn't suck such copious amounts of cock.