Google’s Chrome OS platform could potentially be a major headline-stealer in 2011. Not only does it come from one of the most important (and prominent) tech companies in the industry, but it delivers a unique operating system experience that consumers and even some enterprise customers will be keen on getting to know more about.
But as Google continues to improve its web-based platform and prepares it for wide release in consumer markets, the question remains of whether or not it will be a success.
But on the other hand, they might quickly realise that it’s facing so many external pressures along with some serious limitations of its own that could significantly affect its ability to compete in the OS market.
Simply put, there is a very real possibility that Google’s Chrome OS platform will fail. Here’s why:
When all is said and done, customers will judge Google’s Chrome OS platform by what they can do with it. And at first glance, they can do quite a bit, including checking email, surfing the web, editing Office documents, and performing many of the basic tasks they enjoy right now on desktop-based alternatives. But further inspection reveals that they won’t be able to do as much as they can on, say, Windows or Mac OS X. Those operating systems are far more powerful and deliver some key features, like HD video editing and encoding, that just won’t be so easily do-able on Chrome OS.
Microsoft’s Windows operating system has a dominant share over the operating system market around the world. The chances of that changing anytime soon due to Chrome OS seem slim, to say the least. Microsoft is still the chosen operating system for both consumers and enterprise customers alike. Until Google can convince those key parties to switch, it could have a hard time making Chrome OS a success.
Speaking of the enterprise, it seems like one key area where Google’s operating system will fall short. The enterprise requires several features in an operating system, including power, software compatibility, security, and much more. And at least in some of those cases, Google’s Chrome OS falls short. That’s a problem. The enterprise has proven central to the success or failure of several software and hardware platforms throughout the years. That’s not going to change. If Google can’t attract the corporate world at all, it could have some trouble making Chrome OS a long-term success.
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I think that the biggest plus point for the upcoming Chrome OS is its versatility for all kind of devices. However, it is sure to receive tough competition from current market holding OS's. But you never know,it can reverse the existing trend. Its left on the world to decide which one is better.
My friend tried the beta of chrome and told me that the whole os was basically ran from within the chrome browser.... should this not technically mean that all of the "applications" available to chrome os users will also run on both windows and os x if they are using the chrome browser and so defeating the need for a new os?
It is not just basically in the browser... Chrome OS, essentially, is just the browser. Therefore, yes, your point stands, everything that can be done on it will be and already is possible in any browser on any current machine (maybe with the exception of internet explorer of course). But I think alot of people are missing the point, the web can already do most of what you can do on your Windows, Mac or Linux OS already and is well on it's way to being able to do everything, with the release of HTML5 and CSS3 we will have a richer web with features such as hardware acceleration and offline storage.
The point, then, is not that is can do more than today's OSs but that it can do everything the same as you already can but without all of that clutter.
Think of your experience if, say, you want to boot up your PC to use Microsoft office, read your emails with Outlook and talk to your friends on Windows Live Messenger: you would press the power button, wait about 30 second minimum to be at your desktop, where you click on your applications, wait for them to load, log in, and then start work. all of which you could have alternatively done by opening your browser and using Google Docs, Gmail and Windows Live Messenger from in the browser.
On the other hand with Chome OS you would press the power button, wait about 5 seconds, log in, and all your applications are there, just a bookmark away.
Of course the web currently is not up to quite the same standard as the desktop OS yet but the beauty of it is that if you open a browser you have all of the most recent web sites and web applications that are available right now, so Chrome OS will evolve along with the web whatever direction it takes. You will be able to say goodbye to long boot times, viruses, paying an arm and a leg just to use the latest application that Microsoft have convinced you that you need that will take a few hours to install and then not work quite how you would like it.
So yes, it is not, in itself, any more functional than Windows, Mac or Linux but it has the potential to be, and it will always be the most up to date, the most secure and the cheapest way to use a computer for whatever you want to do on it.
Hope this helps to explain things.
Chrome OS isn't designed to compete with Windows or iOS, it is designed to run on a low power (and cost) machine that windows will not run on. it is basically a thin client. I don't believe it is supposed to replace the desktop, I think it is supposed to complement the desktop as a netbook/nettop device.
I work for a software company supplying enterprise level software, and we are constantly asked for web-based applications in place of desktop installs, an environment in which ChromeOs would be perfect.
The biggest downfall, in my opinion of ChromeOs is that it requires 24/7 online capability to be of any use and I think that data charges are too high and coverage and speed are too low for this to be a realistic possibility. I think that is why it is constantly delayed, they are waiting for the mobile ISP to get to the point where they can properly support a 100% online device.