This forums is for OS project announcements including project openings, new releases, update notices, test requests, and job openings (both paying and volunteer).
And if you thought Google had enough markets already, they've gone and set to work on an idea that many of us here on the OSDev forums have continuously mocked:
It's been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.
Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we're already talking to partners about the project, and we'll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.
So, are we all doomed?
"Sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice."
Lol, out of all the suggestions for different kinds of operating systems ive read about on this forum, one that is primarily there to boot up fast and just run a browser seemed like the only one practical enough to go to market. so much for that...
I was actually pretty excited about it, but then I read it's going to be based off a Linux kernel and then I thought: "Great, just what we need, ANOTHER Linux distribution.". They should really try to make something original. Linux distrubutions are just... distributions, Windows is something on its own (doesn't look like Linux at all) and Mac OS X is a nice GUI on top of a BSD kernel. So we have all these Linux distro's, Windows, and Mac OS X which at least tried to be original by wrapping a BSD kernel. Why can't Google be original too and create something new? I know it takes a lot more time, but still, I think they should do something original .
When the chance of succeeding is 99%, there is still a 50% chance of that success happening.
Creature wrote:I was actually pretty excited about it, but then I read it's going to be based off a Linux kernel and then I thought: "Great, just what we need, ANOTHER Linux distribution.". They should really try to make something original. Linux distrubutions are just... distributions, Windows is something on its own (doesn't look like Linux at all) and Mac OS X is a nice GUI on top of a BSD kernel. So we have all these Linux distro's, Windows, and Mac OS X which at least tried to be original by wrapping a BSD kernel. Why can't Google be original too and create something new? I know it takes a lot more time, but still, I think they should do something original .
Why are you so obsessed with originality? In business, it's wise not to re-invent the wheel. Google isn't making an operating system for a hobby, they're making it to be a good operating system. Linux is a great kernel and a perfect starting point. Why waste money and resources on developing an entire new kernel is there is one sitting right there for them to use?
It won't be like any other linux distro anyways; google's using their own light-weight windowing system, so there won't be any X server, for instance. I wonder how this will affect porting applications...
Why can't Google be original too and create something new?
What weed are you smoking? Google has tons of original projects - including their massive infrastructure. And ever heard of that thing...what was it...ah, Android.
Itll be good for us too when it comes out. Its an open source light weight kernel, which would be good to learn from. Linux as it stands now can be hard to go through when your starting out
Creature wrote:So we have all these Linux distro's, Windows, and Mac OS X which at least tried to be original by wrapping a BSD kernel. Why can't Google be original too and create something new?
Well maybe they will wish they had. If they have gone for just another version of Linux, they have done so for the same reason as Mandriva, Novell, Redhat, and all the rest of them. It's an awful lot cheaper. To write a new operating system to go head to head with Windows woul take an awful lot of man hours, and cost even more money. Even with Google's bank balance you might think twice about it, if there is an easier way.
But if they did write a new OS which could go head to head with Windows, and what was more it was free and easy to use, it would spell the end for Linux, except amongst the Unix aficionados (hooray!!)
The continuous image of a connected set is connected.
Dex wrote:I told you all this was the way OS's was going, many years ago, but i was just laughed at by 90% of you
Well if it is really going to challenge Windows it will need to be a general purpose operating system, but upon reading the link, that doesn't sound as if it is Google's intention. If so, Microsoft's share holders can probably sleep easy.
The continuous image of a connected set is connected.
Or at least, not the future for us. But it will work fine for my Dad, who does absolutely everything online already. There will always remain a need for local processing somewhere. An operating system design must take this into account. Who is going to compile our kernels?
Google might have the motto "do no evil", but I think the fact they want to take over the world (of computing at least) is fairly apparent now.
In the future, all people's computers will be running webservers automatically anyways, so they can access their content through their web browser as well as run applications on any machine while still having it do all processing on their own computer
That's the ultimate goal I'd like to see, at least, and it becomes more and more feasible every day as operating systems become more friendly, computers cost less, and fast internet is cheaper.
I'm sure quite a few people on this forum already have a setup similar to this, what with remote desktop software, sftp, etc. making this easy on *any* platform.
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