If You LIKE the Clouds, You'll Love Google's Chrome OS (Maybe)

Filed in archive Cloud Computing on July 11, 2009

© ewen and donabel

This shows clearly what Google is making with the Chrome OS - a web, or cloud, OS that puts the bulk of all user activity firmly up in the web. No heavy lifting on the user's netbook; that will all take place up in the cloud with the Chrome OS handling it all. This is so clever on Google's part, and could very well turn the next page on cloud computing.

Thus says jkOnTheRun about Google's newly announced operating system.

The hype has been incredible. Search Engine Land has a good analysis of all the different opinions available. And the NY Times has one of the best available overviews.

VentureBeat says there are some reasons that you won't like it. They're simple reasons: it won't deliver on its massively optimistic proimses and it won't work on mobile devices (you'll have to get Android for that). But my favorite reason to not like Chrome OS:

Google is turning into Microsoft - Google's engineer/bloggers say they're going to open-source the code for Chrome, really soon. Back in the old days, they would've posted the source first and blogged about it later.

Will it change computing? Maybe. I already base a lot of my activity in the cloud. Chrome OS might stimulate more development in the clouds.

Lifehacker has a good list of features by which we can eventually judge Chrome OS.

My biggest concern is simple. I live in a rural area. I have broadband access. But I also have problems occasionally. If my Internet service goes down for a day, at the moment I still ahve applications. Will cloud based computing mean that I have nothing (or little) to do when the web or network is down?

Google's Chrome OS may not replace Windows, but it will make the clouds a more active place...