Google’s Chrome Operating System Strategy: Top 5 Questions
Jul. 8th, 2009 by The VAR Guy
The buzz says Google plans to ship an operating system — called Chrome Operating System — for netbooks. But the Chrome OS strategy raises as many questions as it answers. To wit, here are five key questions Google needs to answer to ensure success in the operating system market.
1. Branding and Positioning: Google has Chrome (the browser), Chrome OS (the operating system) and Android (the operating system). How are they similar, how do they differ, and which markets does each offering target?
2. Independent Software Vendors: Is Chrome OS simply an operating system to run Google Apps, or will Google offer software development kits to ISVs? Do operating systems still demand native local applications — or can Google get by with support for Web-driven applications and online services?
3. OEMs: Dell and Hewlett-Packard, among others, say they are interested in Google Chrome OS for netbooks. But will that interest drive PC makers to actually ship netbooks with Chrome OS?
4. Linux: Ah, Linux netbooks were hot items in North America a few months ago. But North American retailers seem less and less interested in Linux netbooks. Will a netbook showdown between Google and Microsoft push Linux further out of the netbook spotlight? And what, ultimately, is Google’s own Linux strategy?
5. Channel Partners: Is Google Chrome OS purely a consumer play? Or does Google plan to work with PC makers to push Google Chrome OS Netbooks through the channel?
Update, July 9, 11:37am eastern: How Google Chrome OS could impact Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 (WPC09)
Our resident blogger will be hunting down answers to those questions in the days ahead.
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Tags: Dell Google Chrome | Google Android | Google Chrome Netbooks | Google Chrome Operating System | Google Chrome OS | Google Chrome vs. Android | Google Chrome vs. Ubuntu | Google Chrome vs. Windows 7 | HP Google Chrome
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Regarding question four: Chrome OS is based on Linux so Chrome is essentially a Linux distro just like Ubuntu, Open SUSE, Fedora, etc…. It’s in the press release Google dropped this morning.
The Var Guy:
How could Google Chrome OS push linux out of the spotlight when Google Chrome OS is itself “linux”?
Let me quote
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html
“Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.”
Things running ontop of a Linux kernel… are linux.
Why do you feel a need to paint Google’s OSes as not-linux contrary to known fact(in the case of Android) and stated intent(in the case of Chrome OS)? These things are very much “linux” as much as any linux distribution is. Unless Google decides to move to a different codebase for its kernel its linux strategy is self-evident.
-jef
Tom, Jef: The VAR Guy concedes he could have worded point four a bit better. He’s eating a little crow at the moment.
Now, to state his thesis a little more clearly on point 4:
Google Chrome OS will be the brand; consumers won’t realize that Linux is the underlying technology. Example: Mac OS X is based upon the Mach kernel… but consumers don’t think about that, they think “Mac OS.”
Ultimately, Google Chrome OS could push “rival” Linuxes — particularly Ubuntu, The VAR Guy thinks — out of the netbook spotlight.
The VAR Guy must concede: Your comments are on the mark and The VAR Guy should have worded point 4 much more clearly. Again, eating some crow over here.
The Var Guy:
Rival linuxes…that’s still a bit mealy mouthed. There aren’t that many linuxes in the retail and OEM space. Other than Ubuntu..what other linuxes are going to be threatened? Xandros? Linpus?
Are you really telling me that any other consumer oriented linux business other than Ubuntu is even on your radar? C’mon. These other brands are already minor brands and get nearly zero press coverage already..even from you.
Don’t be mealy mouthed about it. When you want to say Ubuntu..say Ubuntu…don’t say linux. Ubuntu supporters and Canonical employees have been talking about differentiated brand value for years now. Don’t undermine all that effort they’ve made to stand up Ubuntu as a separate brand just because that brand now has serious competition from Google’s linux derived brands.
The really interesting story here is not if Google will impact any existing business interests. That’s going to happen, just as Canonical’s entrance into the field undoubtably impacted existing businesses like Mandriva and Xandros. The most interesting stories are going to be defined in how competitive pressure changes how each business interest chooses to compete and to cooperate when engaging the community in the long term over how web services are developed and deployed. More than the Canonical/Google relationship which has very little overlap for cooperation… the Google/Mozilla relationship will continue to be the more interesting to watch as both try to take the mantle for themselves as the leader of what it means to define the web user experience.
-jef
Jeff: The VAR Guy already ate crow. Now you think he’s “mealy mouthed”? He’ll need to chew on that thought a bit…
Just my two cents (and whenever Google makes the news, my two cents are always around)…
I am somewhere on the border of Google Fan and ready to run away screaming from the Solient Green that we are becoming. This was in the works long before the first Android phone ever became a prototype. Back when Google desktop first arrived, the thoughts of them moving into the desktop market started. When Google Apps began it was more of a “I think they are starting” feeling. Once Chrome (the browswer) came to light it was just a matter of time. Personally I expected Android to eventually be ported to netbooks and just grow from there. The Chrome OS caught me by surprise (and I HATE being caught by surprise by Google!) *For the record, Google Voice and Google Wave will play a major part in the Chrome OS* -Let it be known that I wasn’t caught by surprise on that one when the time comes!
NetApex: The VAR Guy likes how you’re connecting the dots between Google Chrome OS, Google Voice and Google Wave. Our resident blogger promises to follow up on that theme.
About question 1, they said Android is targeted at smartbooks and netbooks and Chrome OS at netbooks, laptops and desktops. About question 5, well, they’ve already announced they’re working with HP, acer and asus, and the only way to work with netbook makers that I can think of is planning to offer Chrome OS netbooks.
You miss the point…
It’s not so important the market share that the techincal advancements this could bring.
Think that Google could solve a couple of Linux technical problems (as a Desktop) its facing right now:
1) X server is old and bloated, rewriting it takes years and forces lots of bugs and regressions that (we) users are suffering right now and might never end suffering.
2) Linux sound system is in a bad shape, ALSA is not stable enought (do you like failing a mic? or fading sound when your headphones are pluged in?) and (GPL)OSS4 is also nor perfect nor still well supported in most distros, they are more at war than at a real healthy competition.
Google will be forced to solve (or rewrite) this shortoming and MAKE them opensource, so FOSS and linux users will benefit.
Basically my point is:
How do you want to compete with something that has INMENSE INERTIA, like Windows, BEING NOT superior in ALL TECHNICAL aspects?
I give you 2 examples (at least) in were Linux is clearly inferior:
1) 3d support and graphics drivers work better that Linux ones, because of all the X legacy and its rewrite. Even intel working hard on it has better (and old) XP drivers than their current UXA-GEM ones, try-out Google Earth on a netbook with XP and then with Ubuntu.
2) Sound is buggy and there seems nobody cares, they only care to insult OSS4 from the ALSA camp and viceversa, instead of solving the issues or start a new solution from scratch.
The message is:
Make things right at home, so later you can go out and really compete in the outside world.
Lets hope Google Chrome OS side effects include WORKING opensource sound and 3d systems in Linux.
[...] Google sta pianificando di distribuire un sistema operativo open-source leggero, dal nome Google Chrome OS, specificatamente realizzato per i netbook. Dell e Hewlett-Packard hanno già dichiarato il loro interesse. [...]
I fully understand the concept of applications delivered through the web browser instead of standalone applications. So it is going to a linux kernel, a windowing system and chrome browser with an enriched JS API something like Google gear to integrate better the browser with the OS. Am I right? The first question is if you are going to be allowed to switch chrome with another browser? Then you have to ask if the machine is going to be usable without an internet connection?
I think that the impact on the market is going to be great as it will convince more users that change is not so bad. This could further open the market to other Linux distributions.
Readers: The VAR Guy wants to thank you for filling in many of the blanks. Our resident blogger is getting a clearer picture of where Google will play with Chrome OS.
There still seems to be some overlap between Android and Chrome OS… …
[...] system — called Google Chrome OS — designed for Netbooks. Dell and Hewlett-Packard say they are interested in the operating system. Plus, many netbook providers were already taking a close look at Google [...]
An OS with most apps working from the web is the worst kind of OS I would like to get, but it’s the best one for Big Brother and his NSA/FBI/whatever friends and also for the naive folks out there who don’t get the full picture and are dreaming in the “clouds” which ironically should be called “jails” since everything is controlled by Big Brother (i.e. content/privacy info is deleted not when you want, but when Big Brother wants).
Not to mention that apps development using JavaScript is and will be in the near future like “nailing extra legs to a dog and calling it an octopus”. I’m doing web & desktop development for several years, if you too then you know what I mean.
Now to the point:
1) Google and vendors clearly let us know that Android is no good for PCs and netbooks. That means Google was too naive about its OS.
2) Google is much smaller than the Linux ecosystem (IBM,etc, etc), plus having a distro like Moblin released before the Chrome OS makes Chrome OS look like a really isolated stack.
So far we have the “Vista/Longhorn” effect, lots of promise and fantasies from a big company and speculations in the userland about an OS that doesn’t even exist.
Basically, it is great news that Google is doing this. Nobody can see where this will go, but I believe we can say something about the effects.
Google of course wants to get big in cloud computing. And it knows that MS will never really throw their weight behind that concept, and if they do, they will make sure to create their own closed implementation of it. Linux distros are still based on the traditional desktop paradigm and have not enough clout to push the cloud (pun intended).
So: using their ultra strong brand name, Google will release a ‘web OS’: a light weight OS that allows you to use web services. Now I know that not all current desktop apps (image, sound, video processing, games etc) can be web apps. But that is not the point. Point is that 90% of all desktop work is something that can be done with light weight apps: Google (Gear) apps.
Just because it is called ‘Google’, people will take it seriously, will accept it is not Windows, and will consider it a valuable asset for their work or hobbies.
Google will obviously make sure to have seamless links between their web apps and strong desktop apps (think of the Exchange integration), and will make sure to use document formats that allow desktop and netbook to operate together.
So: we are going to get an even more blurry personal computing landscape. And Linux will organically profit from that. Not only because Chrome OS is Linux, but especially because Open Source development will get a gigantic boost. Very interesting hybrids will start to be developed, that can operate in the cloud and stand alone.
Right now, if you cannot integrate with MS, you are doomed to remain in the niche. Very soon, if you cannot integrate in the cloud, you can shake it. In other words: MS’s stronghold will soon become obsolete, since nobody cares about a closed environment anymore, but rather wants to be able to work seamlessly within and without the cloud.
Google is starting to initiate a paradigm shift. That will undeoubtedly mean the demise of many distros as we know them. But it will at the same time mean a frantic development on top of the Linux platform of news apps and infrastructures, taking place within a strong Open Source context. If that can be achieved, the goal of the FOSS community will be achieved. Maybe in a different incarnation that some people envisioned, but who cares. After all: it is not the strongest of species that survive, but the ones most responsive to change.
How much penetration have Netbooks made in the channel anyway? I don’t know, but I see this as consumer oriented. Nevertheless if Google can get the OEM’s behind them it could succeed. And that would be good for Linux in general. Just getting more people to try something different is a plus, and some of the code will be picked up by other distros and improve the whole base.
Fstephens: Agreed, netbooks aren’t a major force in the traditional channel. But they are a growing force in the service provider channel, where big broadband providers and cellular providers offer up the devices with service contracts. Watch for that trend to accelerate as MSPs experiment with Hardware as a Service.
2pts to NetApex for the Solient Green reference.
The netbook market is quite small, M$ will do all in its power to quash this, and PC makers will do everything they can to leverage this against M$.
All the while Ubuntu server will continue to win the hearts and minds of IT managers everywhere due to its ease of use, cost and reliability.
That Google would go after this new business surprises only those that don’t understand Google. Industrial-era thinkers believe you should “stick to your focus”. Like GM. But Google knows that in an information economy if you don’t keep moving into new markets with new technologies looking for more revenues you won’t survive. Read more at http://www.ThePhoenixPrinciple.com
It’s about effective distribution of remote functionality and not about any OS functions in the traditional sense of the word. The ratio between Microsoft’s TCO/support cost and it’s actual fat desktop functionality has thrunk enough that CTO will undoubtedly see the vision the cloud will funnel through to the Enterprise. Desktops as we see them hold a monumental amount of wasted and unused functionality, a whole lot of CPU power and complexity merely to run productivity, mapped storage, printers and server hosted apps. Go Google – Windows sucks ass and IT like me should know.
I was reading on CNet that Bill Gates has some strong opinions on Chrome:
“There’s many, many forms of Linux operating systems out there and packaged in different ways and booted in different ways,” …. “In large part, it’s more an abuse of terminology than a real change.”
(This is probably old news by now, of course)
Storagepipe: The news is never old if you manage to sprinkle in a new perspective or a new viewpoint. Curious to see who really gets abused once Chrome OS launches…
Title: Web-based spreadsheet?
I have a Chrome web-based architecture question:
I am considering a project which requires greater user input facility than is available in competing browsers. As a gedanken, imagine that I wish to build a website-resident spreadsheet using Chrome as the (remote) front-end. A large “unprotected field”-style “pre-packaged” passive text editor input box just won’t do. I need hundreds of small, intelligent, algorithmically-generated and algorithmically-located input fields in the spreadsheet layout which I will display and access through Chrome. And I need to guide and give the user immediate feedback as she types each character. In this model, the type of feedback is unique to each type of spreadsheet cell, and may also depend on the cell’s previously-input content. If there is a convenient way to implement this complex mode of user-input using Chrome or Chrome extensions, my project is a “go.”
What are the best Chrome tools to use to implement such a distributed spreadsheet? If such facilities do not yet exist in Chrome, do you foresee a solution in the near future?
Thank you.