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By Dr.
Philip Baczewski, Director of Academic Computing and User Services
Pretty much every computer has one. The
Operating System or OS has been an integral part of computers
almost since there were computers. It's the OS that allows a
computer to be a general tool rather than an appliance that can only
perform one function. It's the OS that supports running the
different programs that allow you to perform a bunch of different
tasks with your computer.
So when Google, the folks that didn't invent
the Internet but did make it a bunch more useful,
announced that they were developing their own operating system
named Chrome OS (named in parallel with their previously released
Chrome
browser), that was undoubtedly a big deal, right? Well, maybe.
You'd think it was by
reading the IT trade press. There were reasons why Chrome OS
would succeed and reasons why it would fail, and most amusingly why
it would or wouldn't kill Windows. But Linux and Mac OS have yet to
kill Windows, so it seems those that pit Chrome OS against Windows
are probably the same ones that in elementary school would start to
shout “fight – fight” in the school yard whenever two kids bumped
into one another.
Cloud Computing
But Google's Chrome OS does raise some
fundamental questions about computing the current and future
expectations that we have for our personal computers. Google
states that Chrome OS will be a “lightweight operating system
that will initially be targeted at netbooks.” They go on to say
that, “Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most
of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers
ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems.”
What they are really saying is that if all of your computing
resources are online, then you don't need an OS that has a bunch of
overhead to support a whole lot of different programs. In other
words, Chrome OS is built for computing in the
cloud.
If you read your mail on Gmail, and you store
and edit and share your photos on Picasa, and get your entertainment
from YouTube, then Chrome OS is for you. The stable of Google's
online
services just continues to grow, applying truth to
John Gage's statement that, “the network is the computer.” So if
the network is the computer, then what's the computer? The computer
becomes just another network terminal, so you don't need all that OS
overhead – just enough to use the network. Suddenly, your
computer is faster and can be any number of devices, from a smart
phone, to a netbook, to a desktop.
Google is betting that the network will be the
computer and are in the driver's seat in regard to cloud computing,
partly because of some shrewd acquisitions (YouTube, etc.)
and partly because their dominance in the Internet search arena
naturally pulls people into their cloud. Google is the
“Microsoft” of the “network is the computer” age, a fact that is
apparently not lost on Microsoft since they are desperately hyping
their own search engine (bing)
after failing to
buy Yahoo, AKA the next best thing to Google. Microsoft is also
developing their own
cloud, so there's no need to worry or feel sorry for them.
Driving in the cloud
Will Chrome OS spell the death knell for
Windows (or Mac OS X for that matter)? I don't think so. It
may provide an additional tool for Internet denizens wanting to
drive the information highway in something more akin to a
Prius than a
Suburban. You can drive in the cloud, but be sure to get
the fog lights.
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