We reported Thursday on the gPC going on sale at Wal-Mart, a $199 bare minimum PC that runs a Linux package by the name of gOS. Unlike some initial reports suggested, this isn’t the long fabled Google Operating System, but the folks behind it most definitely had Google on their mind.
In an interview at Fsckin, David Liu, founder of the gOS project gave some indication of what they are trying to achieve:
I got interested in Google applications, especially docs and spreadsheets, presentations; and originally, I wanted to create my idea of what a Google OS would look like.. if there were such a mythical OS. As I started looking around at all the Google applications out there, I realized that all of our “computing” could eventually be done in the Google cloud. We just needed an OS that looked really good and pointed people to Google in a really friendly, intelligent way. After seeing this, I got excited because I saw it was also commercially viable for the mainstream end user… Google makes Linux familiar.
gOS is billed as “Linux for human beings who shop at Wal-Mart” but how does it really stack up? gOS is available for download so I gave it whirl under VMWare Fusion to see if we are seeing the future of PCs.
Not your usual Linux desktop
The most obvious difference in gOS to a usual Linux install is the use of the Enlightenment windows manager as opposed to the more commonly used Gnome and KDE managers. KDE and Gnome in a standard install look and feel a little like Windows, Enlightenment looks a bit like OS X, complete with the rounded window open/ close buttons to the left of each window.
A dock bar runs across the bottom and provides links to a range of Google tools, Meebo, Skype, Wikipedia, Facebook and a couple of OS specific apps. A Google search box is embedded in the desktop in the top right corner.
A leaf icon bottom left opens up a familiar Windows style menu, complete with program short cuts and settings options. Interestingly the Live CD comes with Open Office, despite the emphasis on Google apps elsewhere.
It Works
I tested a number of Google apps and they all work, pretty much as they would on any machine. Apps are delivered via Firefox. The only drawback I found is one of aesthetics: the standard font pack in gOS doesn’t make for the nicest online experience, but many wouldn’t notice.
The dock shortcuts are handy, and will probably be more appreciated by those who aren’t highly computer literate, like those who cant save a bookmark or type in a web page…perhaps that’s a little bit harsh but most people don’t need gigantic shortcut buttons.
The Future?
This isn’t a PC anyone reading this article will likely buy, the specs are low and if you’re competent enough to read blogs then you can use an operating system that isn’t gOS. It is however an interesting exercise in where computers may well be heading. In a range of areas, web apps are now the equal to their offline equivalents, or are quickly catching up. If we get to the point where we can do the majority of our activites via an online interface, the need for all-powerful operating systems and computers diminishes. gPC and gOS is a nice try, and for people out in middle America looking for a cheap second or third PC for their kids to do their homework on, or conversely to do their own work on as their kids are using the main PC for gaming, its a pretty good buy. This is very much a first generation, or perhaps even 0.1 effort, but going forward it’s an option we will see more and more of. In 10, 15 or even 20 years time, when the idea of locally installed applications may be foreign, the likes of gOS may well be the norm.
A bare bones PC? Someone please get TC a writer who knows something about PCs. In the PC industry, this would imply a motherboard and case sold without an OS, RAM, and other components.
Oh, it is also called a “windows manager”. Windows is this OS that Microsoft makes, and something you look out at your house.
Nice system from what I read a few days ago in the NY Times. However I heard
that Acer is coming out with a US$199 laptop. Not to mention our own Laptop that may be for US$99 withe all the same features as seen in the US$199 laptop. No joke, but we may get beaten to the punch already.
all same features in US$199 desktop, not laptop
What a misleading title “Where Computers Are Headed”?!?! It’s not even correct English. This is vapourware. There are SO MANY good companies working their asses off that deserve to be on TechCrunch and you publish this crap.
Not a real operating system. GOS use linux. Linux is dinosaur operating system.
Google need a real operating system. Facebook brought parakey and sold to Microsoft. Facebook does have secret operating system. In order for google to win the competition. They need real operating system that connect plan9 operating system and does not use Linux format.
Linux can’t boot through plan 9 os. Try to write boot disk… You will get the idea.
Jack
barebones is meant to signify a bare minimum spec computer. Strange: Toms Hardware here uses it in the same context. However changed to bare minimum for you.
Kim
Computers are headed towards a more net centric future, gOS is representative of this. If you read the article though not in a million years would I suggest this exact OS is the future, but it is heading in that direction.
So Google apps replacing desktop apps is vaporeware… I want what you’re smoking
I personally think the most interesting part here is the money-making angle!
Obviously (If not they are not thinking), the suppliers of Gos have referral deals worked out with Google the equivalent or better than what is available through Adsense.
This would mean that they stand to make anywhere from $2 to maybe $20 on every sold computer that installs the Google program suite (wild guess based on $2 being minimum referral for part of ‘Google program pack’ via Adsense).
I think this is a BRILLIANT way to make up for the ‘income loss’ bundling an operating system is for hardware/manufacturers and I think we will see LOTS more of this in the future! (and I don’t mean AOL pre-installed)
Go Google!
Nahhhh…. smart people use VMWARE rather than installing full operating system in their hd. They choose windows.
Only network admin uses linux. linux you can’t play games. That’s sucks….
I don’t know how to say this. I can foresee Facebook OS powered by Microsoft. More college students will buy it. 99% will buy Facebook OS. The price starts:
$78 with student discount.
I can also foresee. There will Live search engine, Live off-line search, spreadsheet, MSN massager, FBML Basic programming, FBML widget, 3D, Media player, FQL, FQL serverbase.
There is no Google icons either or apps. :(. You have download from the web.
More eyeballs on the Net is a good thing right?
Of course, we do have to admit that one of the great things about the web today is that messages have not been completely dumbed down for mass appeal yet.
Can the push to reach more and more eyeballs be balanced with keeping it real? Does the inherent objectivity and honesty that’s created by the Internet’s openness make the difference?
The money is in the enterprise, and no decent size company would consider gOS for end users. CTO’s and CIO’s for big companies are staying with the Windows/Office option (decisions for servers offer more flexibility). It’s the safe option where they can actually get support.
duncan - what jack was saying is that in the world of PC hardware, barebones already has a definition, and that is a motheboard, case, and any other SPECIFIC related hardware. a shuttle is an example of a barebones computer. attempting to redefine that is misleading.
i will likely be buying one of these computers, if only for the cheap mini-itx components inside. i might also pick up another for my family.
http://mirror.facebook.com/centos/4/os/alpha/
I think this is a great move. Kind of like OLPC pricing … but it’s a desktop unit.
Now if they (Everex) can get to this kind of pricing with a laptop, including Wi-Fi and a screen at least 14 inches, this would be quite compelling. (Even $250 would be fine, I suspect.)
However, I’d opt for a pre-installed copy of IBM Lotus Symphony rather than OpenOffice. IBM Lotus Symphony is definitely more suitable to the target market for a lower-priced unit.
If I lived in the States, I’d buy one just to play with it, see what it can really do.
if you want to make real google operating system or web 3.0 operating system. Go write your own operating system and connect this server.
http://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9/
This will turn your operating system into light blub.
You will see huge fistfight between Google and Facebook. Throwing chairs, fist fights, pie in the face, and UFC bloodbawl employees.
Why don’t they just make Microsoft-Google-Facebook OS. “MGF OS”
perfectly useful alternatives to windows have existed for years yet they fail to take off. at this point ubuntu is probably *easier* to use than windows
most people buying this are just looking to avoid the windows tax…once the box is at home, on goes the pirated copy of vista
Whoopie
I think your wrong on “once the box is at home, on goes the pirated copy of vista”.
For starters these bare minimum PC have only 512Mb of RAM installed and low spec CPUs, which isn’t going to cut it for Vista.
The sort of people who would buy this PC are the sort of people that buy a new PC when there windows 98 machine stops functioning because it is so weighted down in malware. Believe it or not, there are people in this world that don’t know how do download a vista image from bit torrent.
Seriously a $200 computer is big news, we are getting closer to removing the digital divide that is holding back societies from reaching greater quality of life of all individuals.
Does the guy who keeps spamming FacebookOS, and proclaiming linux is a “dinosaur”, realize that CentOS IS Linux? It’s just a re-branded Red Hat
You don’t get any more “Linux” than that 
“Oh, it is also called a ‘windows manager’.”
Well, Jack, as long as we’re nitpicking, it’s actually called a “window manager”.
@Facebook OS… can you send me a copy of your “MSN massager” please?
install windows millenium II ?? oh, sorry i meant vista…
what are you smoking who the hell wants vista. The first thing i do when i purchase a new laptop is to wipe off stupid DRM resource hungry vista!
microsoft is heading into a dead end thats for sure.
The normal user is tired of malware, viruses, spyware, trojans and all the windows crap.
windows is the real Dinosaur here. Linux is the future and thats why walmart is selling it. Smart move WM
Hmm… 512MB and Firefox, eh? I hope they fix the memory leaks! I’m looking at 448MB memory use in Firefox right now, and that’s after killing the Firefox process and just opening a few web pages. No fancy web 2.0 apps or anything.
Wait… 449MB. No, 450. 451. 452! Still growing. All I have open is Bloglines, this TC article, and (454!) three Wikipedia pages (455!), and a meetup.com page. 457! 458! We’re burning a meg every ten seconds. 460! 463! 468!
471! Time to hit Submit and kill Firefox again…
Wait, I got a reprieve. It just dropped to 452MB all on its own. No, 453. Too good to be true. 454. 456. Send me an exorcist, fast!
Nice google introducing operating system u might get more stuff related to applications from http://lapnol.blogspot.com
Microsoft + Facebook + Parakey + Centos = Maybe real operating system.
linux is a dinosaur product
You can’t play good games on linux…
It’s too damn slow…
Boot up display get so annoying…
There is no AOL for Linux
There is no good anti-virus company for linux
Use Windows boot VMWare with linux….
People use windows everyday to work.
It would be great to see something like this in OZ
**You can’t play good games on linux…**
–> No, you can play good games on linux, there a tons of them. You can play Windows games on Linux as well using wine (free program) or cedega (paid program)
**It’s too damn slow…**
–> Have you ever tried Linux before? Linux runs well on low end hardware if you use a right distro. Vista is slow too if you put it on a PC with 256MB RAM but gives it 2GB RAM + good graphic card, it will fly :p
**Boot up display get so annoying…**
–> You can change that if you want it but most of the newest distro have a nice graphical boot display nowadays
**There is no AOL for Linux**
–> Blame that on AOL, not Linux.
**There is no good anti-virus company for linux**
–> No, you are wrong. Panda Software, F-Prot, AVG, Sophos, McAfee, Kaspersky all have antivirus product for Linux. Besides, I never heard anything about Linux machines been infected with virus and the same for Mac as well
**Use Windows boot VMWare with linux….**
–> ;p You don’t boot VMware with Linux, you boot Linux with VMware. Why don’t you boot Windows using VMware on Linux platform.
**People use windows everyday to work.**
–> Yes, you are quite right there but don’t be ignorant. There are people out there who is using Mac, Linux, BeOS, BSD (FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD etc), UNIX etc for their daily work. Don’t be narrow minded, grow up.
Concidering the fact that tuned down OS’s are more and more used into gadgets and other small appliances, you would think that when you’ll be using your “main” computer in the future, you will want a fully functional OS. Simply because stripped down versions are already running on your phone, your toaster and your first born.
Also, the production of “full feature” computers will of course be much cheaper in the future, so there will be a point, probably pretty soon, where buying a fully functional machine is almost just as cheap as buying a stripped down one.
Don’t apologise for them! This IS the Google PC!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
Introducing the $200 Google PC! … Well Kinda’
This Hi-tech computer will be sold exclusively at Walmart, it is running some freebie hacked up freeware OS which they have entitled “gOSh”. Looks like the case is a modified Barbie Fun House to me. I couldn’t find much on the specs but my sources (Dvorak and Company) tell me that for this price they must give you 256 meg of 32 pin memory, a 10 gig HD, a 486 dx processor, no monitor, no sound card, two USB 1 ports, 25k dial-up modem, integrated video and a Hasbro keyboard.
Hey Google Guys, we are shaking in our boots over here!
Oh yeah, they will have one more freebie for you: on your way out the door with this thing they will stamp SUCKER in big red letters on your forehead!
Why wouldn’t Google sue this company? It’s clear they’re intentionally trying to trick users into thinking this is a Google(TM) product. Any judge would hand them their ass on a silver platter.
@Peter J. - I read somewhere that this company has taken all the permissions to use Google in any reference that may arise. Google should be happy that there is more traffic going to get generated (if ever) for Google apps. After all Google does not want anything more. Whats your problem..eh?
My granpa once toldme about little small green screens that patched to some unknown monster called “MainFrame”.. of course nobody ever saw such a monster, since stories said it was hidden in a frozen cave (to keep it from shutting down).
My question is: how is that, if history migrated from that “not very useful” model of computing, to the current model (processing, storage, etc. all in a single case), history might want to go BACK to that model? (and don’t tell me that “because now it can render HTML or 3D” is the answer).
I think that, even if the change in history might take place, eventually it will go back.
I also think that it would be good to discuss this issue, but i don’t want to type so much over here (and give detractors more arguments)
Cheers!.
man. fuck you jack!
Walmart is going to sell a ton of these things. People will buy it not knowing it doesn’t have Windows! This is going to be hilarious.
#35: I hope people will realize it has gOS inside
With more time, and more gOS machines…
I think this article is right on (of course I am biased). The future of computing is exciting. Thanks to Google, Linux, other web 2.0 apps… and thanks to Microsoft for beginning to exclude everyone under 1GB RAM… It’s definitely David versus Goliath, but even so I think gOS has a chance to shine and its own special audience to serve.
-David