Have you heard about the new Google Chrome OS coming out next year?

It means they are taking in Microsoft head-to-head, and if past experience is anything to go by, such competition results in new, better and cheaper apps for us.

The OS had better be worlds better than the web browser. I love Google but Chrome sucks. I just recently switched to using Firefox and all I can say is WOW! Maybe they should start working on an OS.

I second @Blondesjon completely.

I can’t imagine how it will be any good, but I still hope the Google brand will make it popular so that Linux, around which it will be built, will get broader support, so other operating systems built around Linux (like the one I’m using) will profit from that too.

@Blondesjon Imagine how it felt when I switched, i.e. when IE6 was the dominant browser. Now that was an improvement…

@Blondesjon your comparison is flawed. Firefox is based on Mozilla, which came from Netscape; the codebase is 15 years old now. Google Chrome is barely a year old (to be fair, the rendering engine, WebKit, is nearly 11 years old).

Firefox is better in some ways (extensibility), but Chrome is a completely new paradigm in web browsers. Each tab runs as a separate process, which means a crashed tab does not equal a crashed browser. Also, memory leaks in Firefox are still ugly and bog down the browser. And they (Chrome) will get to where Firefox is a lot quicker than FF did.

In speed tests, Chrome and Safari (both WebKit based) absolutely demolish Firefox.

I, for one, welcome a new alternative OS. To me, a new choice, with new ideas, is only a good thing. Chrome OS will push development in new directions in the Linux distros, Mac OS X, and hopefully Windows.

Oh, goody, this thread has already devolved into fanboyism.

@jeffpetersen . . .I would love to see that happen as well. I am also an enormous fan of Google and Google products. I also agree that Chrome will probably be amazing in a couple of years but for right now it is not what I need.

@pdworkin please explain where you see this “fanboyism”. All I see is measured responses to a subjective question.

@jeffpetersen We are certain to disagree on this issue, because in the way I view the world, your post qualifies as a fanboy post. Each to his fancy, said Nancy, as she kissed the cow.

@pdworkin: It’s good to know that all it takes to be a fanboy is to make a logical and fair comparison between two products.

@pdworkin :rollseyes: At the risk of trashing this thread (oh, wait, that was you), I’m hardly a fanboy. I love the idea of open source, if not the execution. I use Vista, XP, and OS X daily. Different tools for different applications.

On topic, Chome OS is potentially the killer app for low cost netbooks. Whether it will grow into a real competitor on the desktop is anybody’s guess.

@jeffpetersen I can imagine @pdworkin‘s thinking – even though Chrome’s young age might make a comparison unfair, that doesn’t mean you can’t consider it as inferior now. Since a Chrome OS that still has to be developed now is also by definition really young, you can expect the same to be valid for that. Thus, it’s not really a flawed answer.

Anyway, I suppose I’ll also actually comment on the question as my answer didn’t exactly mention why I thought it would be no good.

So, I can only base this on rumours and on what Google said, as of course I haven’t seen the OS yet. However, if it really revolves around the web browser, then I will miss all the applications in which years of work have been invested and which I’m using right now. Plus, I really really prefer Firefox over Chrome, so if it’s built around Chrome then I won’t be able to use Firefox, or at least not better than with any other operating system. (Also, how on earth will Google get away with that if Microsoft has just been forced to decouple its webbrowser from it’s operating system? Didn’t realize that before…)

Anyway, if it does allow me to keep using my current applications, then for me personally I don’t see a real advantage (yet!) that Chrome OS will provide over other popular Linux distributions, besides the name of the company backing it (which might become a compelling enough argument eventually to win me over, but then it shouldn’t be lacking too much in other departments).

So I guess for now, I mainly want to see what Google manages to come up with, and to what extent a community is involved.

Oh, and also, if it’s really focused on netbooks I’ll have to get myself one of those first.

@Vincentt Agreed, I just think you have to consider the maturity of the code base vs the feature set when you are comparing an upstart browser against the well established players. Chrome is still unfinished (as much as any software is ever finished). Google OS is still just an idea.

I’m sure it does not appeal to everybody, and I’m certainly not the target audience. It’s just the logical next step as we move towards an always connected, thin client “cloud” computing paradigm. I imagine a back-pocketable flip top 3G (or better) mini netbook hooked into google services is an appealing proposition.

At least it’s FREE

@jeffpetersen You have to consider that when doing an honest comparison, not when choosing which product to use. Then, only the current feature set is relevant.

Yup. It’s probably going to be crappy.
There’s already linux that is definitely better than google’s OS. Google needs to stick to web apps already.

And Chrome is an ugly browser so my guess is that the OS will be ugly too.

I will try it out on my EEEPC, but I’m worried that it won’t be a full-blown Linux distribution.

@Ivan How can it not be a Linux distribution while carrying around Linux?

@Vincentt

On Google’s Android, you can just open up a terminal and install whichever piece of software you want. Now, of course there are more limitations with phones than with laptops, but I’m afraid Chrome OS will be the same thing.

Ah, is that what you mean :) Technically, it would still be a Linux distribution ;-)

Well, I specified a “full-blown” linux distro. :)

Mea culpa :)