People are starting to realize that Google is not their friend, and that all this “free stuff” from Google is not about a) philanthropy, or b) keeping Microsoft honest, but really about c) helping Google gain even more control over what you do on the Internet. See a nice piece by John Paczkowski here for an example. [...]]]> http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2009/07/lets-all-take-deep-breath-and-get-some.html

People are starting to realize that Google is not their friend, and that all this “free stuff” from Google is not about a) philanthropy, or b) keeping Microsoft honest, but really about c) helping Google gain even more control over what you do on the Internet. See a nice piece by John Paczkowski here for an example. You know how we call IBM the Original Borg, or OB? Google is the NB. Really, Google, in case you hadn’t noticed, a lot of people are kind of not really liking you guys right now. Even the freetards are starting to turn on you.

Nine months after the release of the Chrome browser Google today announced the development of its Chrome OS. The announcement may have surprised many, but for those who watch the tech industry this was the next logical step for Google.

Google’s aim is to create an “open source, lightweight operating system” that will “get you onto the web in a few seconds”. Shipping in 2010 on netbooks and moving to desktop PCs shortly after, Chrome is built on a Linux kernel. Applications will largely be web based and Google is touting security and a minimalist interface as other benefits.

Clearly for Google this is the next step in their battle with Microsoft for dominance of the tech world and at the moment I get the feeling that most people are rooting for Google. Google is dominant in web search and has leveraged its revenues from advertising to fund a number of projects including the Chrome browser. In combination with gmail and Google Apps the company is trying to erode Microsoft’s lead in the web brower and office application market. Interestingly, nobody has taken Microsoft’s attempts to buy Yahoo, or its launch of Bing, as a serious threat to Google’s search dominance. but when Google announces an OS people are looking to Microsoft’s doom. Amazing what a bit of “do no evil” can achieve for your P.R.

A couple of articles I have read today held the notion that Apple also should be looking over its shoulder at Google. I can see how Google may take some of Microsoft’s market share away, but I can’t really see it effecting Apple to any great extent. There are many reasons people buy a Mac. Although Apple frequently tout the virus free nature of the Mac and the ease of getting things done, were you to ask most users it is OS X and the beautifully designed hardware that make the experience special. Clearly Google isn’t going after the demographic who value these things.

Apple hasn’t ventured into the netbook market where a light-weight, open source operating system focused on web applications makes maximum sense. Most of the netbooks sold run Microsoft Windows XP – although Linux was popular in the beginning. Microsoft have optimised Windows 7 to run on netbooks and is obviously looking for juicy OEM installs of that OS to bolster its flagging revenue in the wake of the disaster that was Windows Vista. It is here that Google are likely to sink the boot. None of which is going to effect Apple to any noticeable extent.

Whatever pundits like Rob Enderle say about Chrome being the first real post-web OS, it still has to perform the functions that people expect of an operating system. I wish that journalists wouldn’t talk to Enderle, but most of the mainstream press including the Telegraph and the BBC have quoted him. Although “the cloud” is becoming bigger, more accessible and more reliable all the time, people prefer to have files accessible locally. So Chrome will need to be a fully functioning OS in its own right. For Google to take down Microsoft they will need to been able to have the Google suite of productivity applications run seamlessly and on the desktop to convince the corporate world that they should abandon Windows. It is there that the real battle will be fought.

I think that this is a very exciting move by Google and the extra competition in the OS space will lead to further innovation all round, which is great for Apple who have made the challenge of out innovating Microsoft appear pretty easy. Perhaps Chrome will stimulate Microsoft into action and really propel exciting developments in operating systems. That said Microsoft are a company who show no propensity for innovation.

I don’t relish a future where Google own the whole widget, from the browser to the search engine, from the mail app to the operating system. In some ways I feel that they are achieving what Microsoft set out to do and own everything from end to end. To roll out the oft abused car/computer metaphor the wish to own the road, make and service the car, sell the petrol etc. Still it is nice to imagine Microsoft getting it in the eye. While the two behemoths are fighting it out, maybe Apple will slip by.

Anyway, the gloves are off and the fight is on.