Along with trying to get into your living room with Google TV, Google is trying to get into your netbook with Google Chrome OS. Netbook sales are booming and netbooks honestly could use a lighter operating system. Their smaller processors, hard drives, and RAM capacities make it tough for a full-featured operating system to work without bogging down the system. I will admit there’s a niche there. The hitch I see is the fact that the “OS” isn’t much more than a web-browser. From Reuters:
“The Chrome operating system will be centred around the web browser, with all software including high-end applications such as those used in photo and video editing housed in external servers known as a cloud.”
So what exactly will your computer be doing? Accessing everything “out-there” putting all of your files in someone else’s hands. You will also need to run apps, like on android phones, to access services. The real challenge to this kind of model is the fact that a Google OS based computer will be a fancy paper-weight when there’s no internet access. I keep going back to the rumors I’ve been hearing for years about Google getting into the wireless business. It would be nice for them to have a strong mobile phone platform, a mobile computing platform, and then jump into offering cut-throat rates on wireless broadband / wireless phone service. Big brother keeps getting bigger…
