Comments on: For Google, less is more versus Microsoft

By: Inflecto Systems [Software Developers]

Inflecto Systems [Software Developers] — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:45:00 +0000

Hmmm… Interesting indeed. There is no doubt that much more software is being developed as web based systems and there is a huge opportunity for IT suppliers to create and sell software using a Software as a Service (SSaS). I have my doubts though that everything is going to go this way though. There are huge security issues that need to be overcome and some software is simply just not suitable for delivery over the web using current technologies and that is not going to change any time soon. Security is a tough one and i’m not sure how some of the security requirements of some companies can be solved in a cloud based environment and possibly they cannot be overcome but this doesn’t stop these companies hosting there own web based applications. In terms of functionality. Ajax based applications can still be pretty flakey and making them more reliable and robust is very costly. Flax / Flex / Silverlight offer some interesting opportunities for increasing the functionality of the web but I don’t think these technologies have really arrived yet but I think this is the area that may help make Google’s dream come true and I am a little shocked they haven’t got an entry in this area of the market.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:00:52 +0000

Hmm, let’s see…
As long as all you’re doing is web browsing, email, and simple office tasks it’s OK. A netbook with a browser and almost nothing else will do. In fact, even a cellphone would, as long as you can put up with tiny screen and lack of real full size keyboard.
But let’s say you need to work with large files – video editing, for example. Pushing these things back and forth across the web takes serious time – and these days people seem not to tolerate watching progress bars and hour glass cursors as well as they used to when computers were slow. Of course the file can sit on the server that does all the processing, and the PC/netbook/cellphone can be used only to transmit commands and display responses. However server processing power is not an infinite free resource, and at some point server farm owners (like Google) will have to charge for using it. OS with monthly fee or per-minute charge attached, any takers?
So we are back to local processing. How many apps can run on Google OS aside from the browser? So far none, and developing these requires time and money, which is not infinite even in Google’s pockets. Maybe, since Google intends to use Linux kernel, Linux apps would work. But then, it would become just another flavor of Linux. The talk about Linux displacing MS began even before last century was over. So far it remains just that – a talk, with real market share in single digit %. If (and it’s a big IF!) Google OS is to take a market share, it will happen at the expense of Linux rather than MS or Apple.

By: Talleyrand

Talleyrand — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:13:33 +0000

Great, so Google comes up with some half-baked software that users will have to fix for the next 30 years. It will not work properly if you can’t get on the web. Meanwhile, because a billion techno-addict neophiles can’t resist buying the latest stuff offered, Google will become even richer and more behemothian. So it’s next project will be to photgraph everyone in their bedroom, or on the john, and publish it on Internet inc, a wholly-iwned subsidiary of Google.

Welcome to the Brave New World, it’s year 101 of our Ford.

By: rick

rick — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:42:59 +0000

we need to seriously improve broadband connections all over the world before this has any chance of really working. high speed would actually have to be high speed. and internet security would have to be about 4 million times better.

By: dale

dale — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:40:58 +0000

Whether the new Google OS becomes popular is dependent on what type of software is available for the OS. Not all software we use is available for a browser. For example, the software developers, even web developers, do not use web browser applications to write code.
Again, even if Google comes out with a desktop OS, the popularity of the OS is dependent on what software is developed for the OS.

By: Mullah Shahin

Mullah Shahin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:12:43 +0000

I am very excited. It was my thinking to defeat Microsoft operating system and I believed that there are possibility to create the operating system through the web. Thanks God at least a genius read my mind. Now, I can sleep like a baby.

By: Stephane MOT

Stephane MOT — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:55:44 +0000

sleepless in Seattle (or rather Redmond) ?

I don’t think so : Google made a gift to MS lawyers and antitrust authorities by pushing its browser brand for its OS.

Confusingly stupid.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 01:28:31 +0000

This might be an interesting niche-market product; but no-one would seriously argue this will have a major impact on business. In fact, the Netbook fad seems to be fizzling; companies are producing bigger, more powerful ‘netbooks’ that look more and more like laptops.

I’m sure Google will find some interest in this venture – and the hobbyists may embrace it, just as they have embraced Linux for the desktop. But mainstream business will ignore this.

And Seattle will sleep peacefully at least in the near future.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:36:24 +0000

I recall a similar plan was said years ago by Mark Andreeson, co-founder of Netscape.

By: David Kirkpatrick

David Kirkpatrick — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:29:34 +0000

Just because, “Google argues” does not make apples equal to planets. This reporting has all the technological understanding that went into the Y2K hysteria. The reporter should sit down with an internals guy for an hour before penning a bunch of buzzwords.