Make no mistake. The cute comic book and the touchy-feely talk about user experience is little more than a coat of paint on top of a monumental hatred of Microsoft.
Chrome, the Webkit-based Google browser that launches tomorrow at Google.com/chrome, will give them a real foothold on the desktop and way more control over how web applications perform. While it seems that Chrome is aimed at IE and Firefox, the target is really Windows.
They’ve built their own Javascript engine despite the fact that Webkit already has one. This should make Ajax applications like Gmail and Google Docs absolutely roar. When combined with Gears, which allows for offline access (see what MySpace did with Gears to understand how powerful it is), Chrome is nothing less than a full on desktop operating system that will compete head on with Windows.
Expect to see millions of web devices, even desktop web devices, in the coming years that completely strip out the Windows layer and use the browser as the only operating system the user needs. That was going to happen anyway, but Chrome + Gears just made the decision a whole lot easier for hardware manufacturers to make.
Microsoft, meanwhile, is stuck with a bloated closed source browser that they don’t even tether to their search engine for fear of more antitrust woes. Google can push their search engine and other web services all day long on Chrome, with no government interference. So not only will Chrome drive lots of incremental revenue to Google, it also paves the way for a Microsoft-free computing experience.
I love Chrome already and I haven’t even tried it yet (nor will I be using it much soon, since it will only work on Windows for now). But Google’s days of unchecked growth may soon come to an end. They are quickly becoming the new Microsoft.
Exactly, Chrome will be removing that OS thing!…
I think it’s an over-exaggeration that chrome will replace Windows.
See,finally,it’s running on Windows platform only hence it’s rather dependent on Windows for its own access.I think,it will rather turn IE to the path of extinction(coz mozilla is already on their side and now chrome will simply crush all IE hopes)
yeah, ’cause mozilla has ie on the ropes with its 19% share of browser users. i’m sure microsoft is scared.
It’s more important to look at this as a step in a longer term plan. I keep thinking what IBM was like way back when. Microsoft is heading down the something like same path. Yes, MS will be around forever because they have a ton of cash but there’s a lot of issues there that people are moving away from.
IBM is still very very heavy in computing, just not the computing you might be doing. I am a mainframe programmer and I know for a fact my company and other companies alike that have mainframes through huge amounts of money at IBM for their mainframes.
Actually, Chrome OS will run on a modified Linux kernel, with no Windows inbetween.
I don’t think Chrome OS will be a ‘Windows killer’. It will, after all, just a browser, and nothing else that can make computers more fun/useful. Sure, webapps are powerful, but they far from provide all the kinds of usability that desktop apps can. I hope they add in a portion of that again at least (hey, it’s running Linux, it should be easy).
yeah..lol @ google os replacing Microsoft….have the vm…had just deleted it as a wast of space. The google os could rule on a hmm maybe blackberry…maybe. Oh and yeah I run linux 100% but all this hype about the google os is silly.
lol yeah. i want whatever you guys are smoking. you guys forget that no hardware on the planet will work without drivers, and drivers are all written for windows. so if you want no OS and just google chrome to be shipped on every PC, good luck. every hardware manufacturer will have to rewrite their drivers (new and existing) for…. “google chrome” os?
keep dreaming homeboys. you have no clue as to the underlying system and the roles an OS plays. read up on operating systems. the most complex system in computer science after AI.
Screw what they’re smoking, I want what you’ve got.
Drivers can be developed independently of the hardware manufacturers, just as Linux and other open source OS developers have been doing for years. In fact, lately I’ve been seeing even better out-of-box support for some hardware from Linux than from Windows XP. Sure the drivers exist, but often Linux “just works,” without me having to hunt down
driver CDs or the manufacturer’s web site (which can be a bit of a problem when it’s the ethernet card it’s not recognizing).
Several hardware manufacturers have even started writing drivers for their products for Linux. They want more market share, and as other operating systems climb in popularity it’s in the manufacturer’s best interest to make their hardware as compatible as possible with those OSes.
So, yeah, I’ll keep on dreaming, and don’t be surprised when you hear someone someday say “I told you so.”
Dude, ever heard of Linux?
http://en.wikip....org/wiki/Linux
I’m a Windows user and wouldn’t switch to Linux if they gave me 100 euros for it (but I would for a linux version of photoshop), but I must admit that it has way better driver support then Windows has.
The GIMP is basically that. Possibly more advanced, but easy to use. And you can try it out on windows!
Photoshop > GIMP.
Its the was it is now, and will probably be so forever.
It’s been nearly a year but Google just announced Chrome OS
I think an “I told you so” is in order.
http://googlebl...-chrome-os.html
shouldnt that link about a browser replacing the OS link here instead http://www.tech...obe-with-gears/
So with New Browser, Google Docs and other tools why do Google employees still use MS office-email client at their HQ as basic tools to due business ? why are Google employees required to use MS products as standard job requirement? Do you know they use Client server Oracle/Hyperion as ERP to run their business ? Do you expect that to go away ?
Where are these ubber-Google products in the Google work areas ?
Not to be found! they cant work that well or even found to be acceptable by Google stardards… No Microsoft isnt going anywhere … not even in Google
Why are we still talking about windows. In 2010, It will see the end. 2011 is Dooms Day for Windows. How google OS will kill Windows OSGoogle OS based on Chrome will kill Windows forever
Just installed Chrome. What I can’t figure out is why 90% of the content on the initial tabs was all Microsoft? Even f-ing Bing. In bed with the enemy or what?
Well, I plan to be using a net book soon for 98% of my internet. I can assure you it will not be running f-ing windows vista.
it should be fun to watch Google fail miserably. Google is a one hit wonder. Nothing more.
That might be a bit of an overstatement. Gmail is most certainly a success. Docs is quite good. Etc.
That’s nice, but it’s just web-mail. Nothing spectacular, it’s just huge and …. nothing special.
>Docs is quite good.
Do you write something with it? Books perhaps? Articles? Or do just create some notices? What about privacy, security etc.? Do you care about it? Well then you shouldn’t place your important data to such online services.
you might want to check out this post before putting to much faith in online documents: http://tinyurl.com/64jfrn
Docs is no better than Notepad. Then again, most people just need Notepad and don’t realize they have it already.
have you guys tried buzzword? definetly kills google docs: buzzword.acrobat.com
not to mention youtube, chrome, gears, and basically everything else that google does. I smell jealous, where personally I think you should just be happy that they keep rolling out the innovative ideas.
Gee, work for Microsoft do we… ?
that’s a bit harsh… if I start seeing legal firms start to use docs and throw away Word, then you’ve made your point.
Lets see… they have the best search results, best free webmail client, best maps service (yahoo arguably ties), best online office suite, best rss reader (closest competitors haven’t been proven at scale), and best one-size-fits-all advertising solution. What is their one hit?
Advertisement, that’s their one-trick pony. Google pays all these services with the revenue from their ads.
As soon as this cash flow will stop or decline (and, no, nothing goes on forever) they have to spend their savings, and THEN it’ll be interesting which second idea Google will throw in the ring.
Their one hit is advertising.
The best is never necessarily a hit.
A hit is something that makes money. And Google has one hit.
I disagree.
Their advertising is a “Hit” because all of their other products provide valuable data and make the advertising more effective. In Google’s case, the total is greater than the sum of their parts.
I doubt this will fail. Actually Google Gears has had a good start. It works very nice with Wordpress. Who know what offline capabilities it will bring to GMAIL.
Do you know what ? If all the google and its services will be removed from the web,the WWW will literally go crippled…Google is a pioneer in itself and one should respect this fact()sply. when we start as well as end our day(online) with Google services only(majority).
Dude, If all the google and its services are remove, nobody in this world will notice it. That is the fact. People will simply switch to Yahoo or Live for their search and emails. Google has done nothing that will impact anybody
However if Microsoft is removed, every person on this earth will feel it…. including yourself.
sadly i have gmail and my home page is igoogle
id notice in a day if Google dissapered (likely hours since im online so much)
and since im a linux user i`d be ok if i never saw fail-dows again
i would feel it but in a happy joyful light
would you mind getting rid of microsoft to see if ur right?
I would just make my partitioned HDD of Windows and Linux to completely Linux and possibly morn the loss of the 360. Other than that I wouldn’t lose any sleep.
The world probably wouldn’t be phased much if any at all. There is Linux and Mac OS. I’m willing to go as far as to say that open source is the future and one day we will be without Microsoft Windows, but not necessarily Microsoft itself.
I won’t. And the rest of the world using Apples and such.
One it wonder?
Search
Gmail
Docs
AdSense
Analytics
Reader
Finance
Shall I keep going?
Hmm. Perhaps you don’t know what a hit is? Only one of those that you list makes any appreciable revenue ex-tac.
Where’s the money, except on Search + Adsense (which is the same as we start seeing with the Knol affair).
you can never think about a Google-less web. :
http://frinity....d-internet.html
You cant be serious.. the web with out Google advertising. Is like no TV commercials. Who the heck will miss that ? All these so called services
are third rate.. Businessweek looked at all the Goog Services and rated them
as falling short of expectations… across the board..
Yeah – but it was a 4,000,000,000 ft homerun!
If Chrome is Open Source, I can hardly see the Justice Department doing anything. Secondly, any techniques Chrome uses to tie into Google’s online properties could simply be replicated in FF, Safari, and Opera, because the APIs won’t be secret and hidden.
The Microsoft analogies simply don’t work. No one is forced to “buy” Chrome when they buy a PC. It’ll be open source and open web. Any competiting browser could tie into the same services, as long is it has enough performance. And finally, Google is unlikely to build services that won’t run without Chrome, that would be suicide.
Chrome to me seems to be what Safari/WebKit were to KHTML. Apple took KHTML and made it alot better. Now Google is taking what Apple started and making it even better. It is likely that much if Chrome’s improvements to WebKit will simply be merged back into WebKit, perhaps with the exception of V8.
Hats off to Google. I have long wished for years that browsers a) didn’t use a single thread/process for every tab/window b) were sped up significantly and c) hogged less memory.
2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
Opensource != opensource. Maybe the license isn’t compatible (have a look at Sun’s CDDL Vs GPL) or there are lot of software patents involved and so on.
>And finally, Google is unlikely to build services that won’t run without Chrome, that would be suicide.
Of course not, they will build a browser-OS around Google. There are many ways to chain customers to a company – even with opensource and some gullible customers.
>Now Google is taking what Apple started and making it even better.
Did you see anything? You have just seen a comic, nothing more.
>Hats off to Google.
We should first try it
I used Chrome for awhile and it DID start a new process for every tab. It was fast for awhile, then it started to slow down considerably.
I’ll Stick with my IE.
“Google can push their search engine and other web services all day long on Chrome, with no government interference”
With 70%+ market share, it’s wishful thinking that Google will be able to leverage their global search position to push Chrome downloads with no alternate services options. I’d expect serious DOJ/EU scrutiny of that. Also, before Chrome is an IE killer, it’s likely to be a Firefox killer (if it’s any good).
true since the market for people to lazy/busy/ignorant to change from ie will be firm in their browser for quite some time
then again ie programers mient all be fired if mircosoft makes some really dumb moves
How can an open source project like this fail? Worse case no one uses Chrome, but all of Chrome’s improvements merge back into WebKit. Either way, we win, and more nails are driven into Internet Explorer’s crappy coffin.
Here here! I was just about to give up reading all these ramblings….
Finally someone said something worth the space and bandwidth it takes to make a posting.
Hats off to you cromwellian and to Google.
Dude, Open source browsers has been on this planet for many years and I agree some percentage of fools are using them just to show that they are cool and different.
The fact is those fools still probably use Windows. IE 8 is better than any browser on earth. If you have not tried it. Use it …. you will be amazed
I have used Internet Explorer 6,7,8 Firefox 1,2,3 Safari, Opera, Chrome, Epiphany
The only word I can use is IE Sucks badly! Really badly…. I cant understand how you can support such a horrible browser. Yeah! I have used IE8, the tabs open at quite a slow speed as compared to Firefox.
Please, let me no when i can DOWN-LOAD,it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“I love Chrome already and I haven’t even tried it yet (nor will I be using it much soon, since it will only work on Windows for now)”
This line adds a ton of credibility to the article.
IE 8 is better than any browser on earth. If you have not tried it. Use it …. you will be amazed. Then compare the features with Chrome and come back to this site for your comments
ie is on its 8th version chrome is on ITS FIRST the only fair way to compare how good it currently and how it will be by the time chrome os comes out is to compare it to early versions of ie
if its beatting 4 or 5 then chrome should be better then ie pertty soon
Oh man can you say that in front of Benchmark results. This is Jet Age and Browser must be fast and sleek. which is not possible for IE for about 2000 years.
I really wonder why it would fail Josef? Its not trying to compete (but eventually will!) with browser war.
I’m excited. I just want the OS X version soon!
It’ll likely be called Safari 4.0
@JosefVirek Right, one hit wonder… you’re right, buddy. Search is just a one hit wonder, kind of like Gmail, Google Maps, Checkout, Analytics, you know, just stupid stuff that nobody uses.
I’m sure you’re probably some washed up employee at some no-name firm, and yet it feels good to claim something as big as Google is going to fail miserably. You must be the dude who never swung at the ball when you were a child. Always hoped for the walk, but never even tried to hit a home run in your life.
Ah I see, some fanboy of Google.
Ah, I see, some complete fucking idiot.
Get a fucking clue. “Ooh, look at me, I have a keyboard and lots of opinions!”… wanker.
Actually, Josef is kind of right. A hit product should actually make money, unlike Gmail, Docs, Google Earth, Lively, Google Video, YouTube, etc – pretty much everything else.
“A hit product should actually make money” ?? what kind of ignorant capitalist statement is THAT? a hit product is a product that many people like (and many people probably hate, some will argue) and it doesn’t matter if it makes money. that’s a profitable product. google is known for it’s free (web) services that surely cost a lot of money to develop but don’t bring in any cash (directly). and most of them are hit products.
GMail, etc. DO make money.
Google’s business model is exactly the same as a TV station: deliver audience to advertisers. Google tried to expand their business by attracting more audience. This attracts more advertisers and more money from existing advertisers.
The more products they have, the more time you spend on those products, the more money they make.
Google is becoming a ravenous rat.
Wow, I agree with where you are coming from but don’t you think that’s a bit overkill?
I mean who are you? The guy that lost all that weigh eating Subway?
@Jared, don’t you ever talk to me you nitwit.
JosefVirek, a little guy that is a webmaster of some forgoten little site, his post all over the web distill venom towards google. Maybe google didn’t pageranked his site well. What was that you said? google buys ebay? really? come on. Tell you what, today you are getting a little bit of attention by me and Jared, don’t let that go to your head. Instead stop for a second and do something positive.
It’s Firefox that will suffer, not IE. Many IE users wouldn’t know how to change browser, nor why they might want to. Yet more data capturing opportunities for Big G.
Agreed, Firefox will likely lose more share from this than IE. The core Google targets (those likely to download and use a new browser) are pretty much on Firefox. Maybe Google wants to stop subsidizing Firefox development?
Not necessarily. Google can promote Chrome all over the web. They have the reach to compete with IE in a way that Firefox never could.
They need to build Chrome-only powerful application first to attract mass users.
That would be incredibly dumb.
WebKit is a standards compliant rendering engine. The whole point of web standards is to make all of the browsing environments identical. Chrome is really just a super fast standards-compliant browser. The idea is to attract more users… not less. And that is why you don’t work at Google.
OK , why million of dumb people installed Silverlight?
Because nbcolympics site was Silverlight-only powerful application.
i maybe dumb , and i for sure don’t work at Google , but wait few months and you will see :
* Improved Google Docs .. with a note : Sorry , Google docs use’s V8 JS and as of now its only supported by Google Chrome
*Improved Gmail with much better speed and offline capabilities with a note : Sorry , Gmail 3.0 use’s V8 JS and Gears 2.0 and as of now its only supported by Google Chrome
* Fell free to add to the list.
You cant compete if either can make money on it…
the browser war ended when MS gave it away free and
Netscape went under… no matter how popular Netscape was
it failed…
If you want to make money then sell it for retail…
but again who would even waste even $5 if the alternative is free (IE or other)
No forget it .. not even Google Spying (adsense) makes any sense…
Its just another lame product from Google..
yeah, good luck with that … IE will not suffer from this Firefox, Opera, and Safari are the ones who will suffer.
and developers that will have to test their code in yet another friggn browser.
A real Screenshot: http://gears.go...s/dlpage_lg.jpg
Thanks Martin,
Smart catch.
Sorry…Google home page. You saw Bigfoot.
Google creates their own WebKit browser and that means they hate Microsoft and it’s the end of Windows? Classic blogosphere, this is.
Google’s M.O. is to create things and put them out there. Nobody outside of Silicon Valley will use this, just like most of Google’s “products.”
Ha! well your right.. few in Asia heard of Google.. they have their own
and stick to it…
“Chrome is nothing less than a full on desktop operating system that will compete head on with Windows”
I can’t stand the “browser as an OS” junk. The browser is not the OS nor is it an OS replacement. The browser is a installed application replacement. You still need an OS to actually power the machine. Doesn’t matter what OS it is (WinCE, Linux, XPe, etc), you are not replacing the core OS features using any browser.
On top of that, if you think web apps are going to replace a desktop OS anytime soon you are clueless. All of these “nettop” devices and such are great, but what is the key hack everyone wants to do? Install Windows XP.
The desktop OS isn’t dying yet, and a browser can never “replace an OS” until it is ready to manage I/O and everything else that goes along with actually running a device. As soon as it does that, it is considered a “OS” and not a “browser.” SoC and embedded type BIOS/OSs (which are Linux) can help fill part of that, but the fact remains the browser is not an OS.
I’m not even sure Microsoft is as poorly positioned as many think to take this part of the market either. As they already have the OS that must be used to power the machine (WinCE, XPe), all they really have to do is come up with a lightweight install of Office and sync to the web instead of a physical local drive.
“The browser is not the OS nor is it an OS replacement.”
sure it is.
“The browser is a installed application replacement. You still need an OS to actually power the machine”
correct. and linux works just fine.
“if you think web apps are going to replace a desktop OS anytime soon you are clueless. ”
Have you looked at what MySpace did with gears? Look, then comment.
Michael, what do you mean when you say “operating system”? Every definition I’ve ever heard of operating system involves communicating directly with hardware, which is something the browser doesn’t do. Now, it’s possible to say that function isn’t that important — as the famous OS as a “bag of drivers” quote from Netscape. But it doesn’t make the browser replace that bag of drivers. In fact, Linux often *doesn’t* “work just fine” when it comes to supporting hardware people need. Alternatively, sometimes Linux works better than other operating systems because it does a better job of supporting other hardware. So I’d say these functions are really important. I think you can say Google is making big news without throwing those issues overboard.
The thing is, not everyone spends 100% of their time on the Web, or the cloud, or whatever you want to call it. I spend my time with musicians and visual people, and a lot of their time is spent with audio and video and visuals, and that means getting very intimate with hardware for those tasks. They might even do some of that in a browser, but the “bag of drivers” becomes vitally important.
I think you’re dead-on to point out that this is a big power play for Google. But it can be that without having to blur the definition of what development environments provide. Development in C/C++ and development that talks to hardware is increasingly becoming niche (think gaming, 3D, video, audio, music), but those are all important niches.
This is simply a better browser — nothing more. It just happens (and maybe this is what others are missing) that that’s a whole hell of a lot already.
Do you need a diagram then? You just conflicted your own saying.
You said Linux works fine for an OS, which means Linux is the OS, which means a browser is not the OS.
So, a browser is going to kill Windows? Did Firefox not already have a shot at being the browser running on a non-Microsoft OS that could kill Windows? Gears is great, but it already exists on Linux powered devices that can run Firefox.
So again, why exactly is this new “OS replacement,” that is not actually an OS per your words, yet it is an OS per your again going to do to change the market (besides have ignorant people like you classify it as something it isn’t).
Michael, Linux will not work “just fine”. Consider the lack of drivers and other basic functions required for a tolerable user experience. There is a reason Linux only has a small fraction of the market.
Mike, sorry to say, but you’re wrong.
Seems you’re pushing your web tablet idea a little too much.
You may want to give Big Larry in Redwood Shores a call and see if you can borrow that tail between his legs. I believe there is a tattoo on the tail that says Sun and something about network and computer.
Can you find a website other than My Space, one that people who have used microcomputers or mini-mainframes before the PC was created (say about 1979) or Windows even existed?
My Space is preteen Faustian Hell on Mars.
A major hole in the no OS/linux plan is the windows only release- not necessarily a priority, but I guess the plan is to get windows users used to the concept, then move on with the embedded hardware vendors (like TC!)
The commenters here don’t have a clue. An os should be invisible. What google are trying to do is increase the number of applications you can run entirely from the browser by designing the browser like an os.
Over time, with offline capability and better integration with hardware, theres no reason EVERYTHING couldn’t run entirely in the browser, at which point the os disappears. The os is already irrelevant if all you need is the web + document editing (which is 99% of users).
Google’s just gonna make it easier.
The OS can’t be replaced but the desktop can.
Google is just trying to do that. People already think of machines running only a browser as its desktop. Whatever the underlying OS.
“EVERYTHING couldn’t run entirely in the browser, at which point the os disappears.”
there are so many holes in this argument its amazing… where does one even begin.. ignorance is bliss!
Good lord. Do people here not understand what an operating system actually *does*?
I do get the concept of running web-based apps on a network client; I worked with diskless X terminals back in the early ’90s. But X wasn’t “the operating system” for the terminal, and it sure as hell wasn’t the operating system on the server (HP-UX for that particular project).
Even a diskless device will have some sort of bare-bones OS in firmware on which the browser software (Chrome or whatever) will sit. There’s no way the Chrome browser will *directly* handle all the low-level file, memory, screen, and network management for the device; that way lies madness (unless Google decides it *wants* to build a different version of Chrome for every possible combination of hardware available).
You’re talking about replacing Windows PCs (and potentially Macs and Linux boxen) with (diskless?) network devices using Chrome as the desktop environment; all well and good, although I don’t see that happening in really large numbers (bandwidth, availability and storage issues aside, I would like to have local copies of all my data, please). But please stop saying things like “the browser is the OS”, because it makes you sound like an idiot.
Good approach by Google, they are obviously trying to raise the bar for the browser. As they say, they are trying to bring in a new generation of applications for the web.
However as good as Google is they haven’t moved very far past the technology savvy consumer, my siblings, cousins, friends, and extended family have never heard of 90% of Google’s offerings nor do they care to move away from what they are comfortable with.
With that said, even if this is released tomorrow, I do not expect it to reach a very large market unless they can find new ways of `demanding` people download and use it. Since Google is the `do no evil`company I doubt that will happen. (Unless they become evil)
Expect to see this on the Google OS as the OS moves from mobile phones to set-top boxes to the refrigerator door to your brain …:D we will see a whole new generation of browsers coming out…plus whats going to stop Microsoft and Mozilla from offering what Google will
They say that power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely;
Google is pretty powerful….
So will Chrome track the sites you visit and report back to google or will it tailor ad’s to you according to the sites you visit.
I don’t even care about that, I’m more concerned as a developer that there is YET ANOTHER browser I have to make sure works fine with the sites I build.
Obviously you haven’t understood the concept of open source. Open source means anyone can look at the source, so it would be impossible for Google to add such tracking to Chrome.
No one owns Chrome – Google doesn’t, and no one else does either.
Are you serious right now? Just because it’s opensource does not mean that the GOOGLE release doesn’t have shit in it that can track you. Check out the TOS for Chrome. They flat out tell you that everything you type in the addressbar is sent back to Google, and if you look further you find out that you don’t even have to hit enter and stuff is still sent back to Google.
Google is notoriously bad with privacy.
All the opensource thing means is that anybody can dissect it and make changes. Which means that there may eventually be second hand Chrome releases without the insane tracking, but until then..
I am glad Google is entering this space–it will catalyse things. But as a web developer I dread having to support yet another browser. To make matters worse, I am more or less locked into Firefox because of all the plugins I use (and IE for intranet apps). I would have preferred if Google went into the silverlight/flash space instead.
Are you not already testing Webkit-powered browsers – like Safari?
We fail to understand that the OS and software cost more than the hardware these days. If the browser becomes the OS, you will have an international influx of people who now can afford a computer efficiently. For Google, who cares if they are running on Linux. Vista is a liability by being both more cost prohibitive and slower anyway. More computer users means a bigger audience to blast with targeted ads.
You can hate Google. At this point, they have no competition and they don’t care.
Hopefully it will hasten their death by impotence.
this is going to be an interesting war to watch.
i agree
i hope Microsoft gets a deep wound in its os controlling evil
Windows Killer? No. IE users won’t care. This will just split the Firefox/Opera/Safari crowd.
chrome is to firefox as ralph nader is to al gore.
MEEET LYNX… google killer
Yea that totallly makes sense.. After World is round isn’t it?
I found new information,
Stop the bullshit, nonsense, TECHCRUNCH hype you give to everything google. This is cool, no doubt, but NOT a windows killer. Really, this is just a BETA project, that everyone thinks is going to change the world…
GOOGLE, how about fixing BASE, Checkout, and the other failed initiatives. Just like checkout was going to be the paypal killer. Chrome is going to be well, shiny, yet easy to scratch off.
You forgot the abysmal Usenet portal that plagues reall Usenet lovers.
Gee, another party in the committee when it comes to web standards. All open source, why can’t they just help make firefox better?! Just dreaming…
Browser Doesn’t Equal OS {seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/ahezMcc4N3_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:”Browser Doesn’t Equal OS ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/MIF8Zcjv0d”}}}
“Chrome is nothing less than a full on desktop operating system that will compete head on with Windows”
I’m confused as to how to can compete with Windows when it, for now, will require Windows.
Mike,
So are you gonna run GChrome on TechCrunch Tablet?
uh… browsers are cool and everything, but they cannot replace every function of an OS. For instance, non HTTP based messaging and USB.
You call a new JavaScript engine + gears a “a full on desktop operating system that will compete head on with Windows.” ?!
It’s official then! You can’t fool the over 40 bunch NOR their children.
A linux version better be released the same day or day after because allot of linux users will be more than anxious to try this out, or… MAKE IT WORK IN WINE AT LEAST !
“So not only will Chrome drive lots of incremental revenue to Google, it also paves the way for a Microsoft-free computing experience.”
You’re blindly biased, it’s that pathetic. A Microsoft-free computing experience using Microsoft’s operating system? Get real please. There’s no way this browser, or for that matter, ANY browser is going to compete with Windows or any other operating system.
This has to be one of the most immature blog posts I’ve read in recent times.
Nobody asked why Google couldn’t have just used Firefox so I will….isn’t FF open source after all.
All of this breathless “me too” reporting assumes Microsoft will stand still (they won’t) — we’ll be back to the days of “DOS isn’t done until Lotus won’t run”…..
So far I’m deeply deeply disappointed in the reporting on this Google Browser which seems to draw a conclusion that Chrome is a Windows Killer without any evidence of it whatsoever.
Google didn’t write Chrome from scratch, it’s based on WebKit. As for why they used WebKit instead of Firefox? Because it’s better.
AND because webkit is what’s on Android phones.
I LOVE GOOGLE!!!!!
I think it was an essential and strategic move for Google. They are a one trick pony in that their future growth is tied to the growth of the web and web usage. Their business interest is in seeing the web becoming the center of our universe for work and play. That user experience is provided by the broweser and for that to be in the control of Microsoft was untolerable.
I applaod Google for taking a fresh look into the Browser / WebOS and pushing it forward by a few years.
Had anyone tried the misrable lame duck Microsoft calls IE8 Beta? Is that the best they could do after 12 years and billions od dollars spent?
Hell yes ! I like this analysis so much that I subscribed to the RSS feed twice !
When non technical people write about technical stuff..they are so immature as this article. Mike, you are an excellent writer but that doesn’t mean to bias google you to become immature.
Browsers are good and google is trying to make better that doesn’t make it would replace windows OS. Get Real Mike !!
The web is evolving to turn OS as we know it useless, in a near future people will do 99% of their work in free online products regardless the OS they are using. Shure is not a direct Windows killer since any other browser can do almost the same, but they are the first to see web apps as real apps and treat them as that so the user will enjoy using google calendar as much as they enjoy iCal. ( offline, fast, reliable, independent) and any other web product. So, yea, windows will continue to be preinstalled in almost every computer shipped, but that doesn’t matter if no one use OS based products. Any OS will be good enough if they can handle a web browser. This might never happen but its certainly a good step in that direction, a lot of decisions are yet to be made so we can be certain that this is the future, but i IMHO this is very likely.
“in a near future people will do 99% of their work in free online products regardless the OS they are using”
Nothing is free someone has to pay for the hardware and software.
Are you suggesting some tech-socialist utopia where you give up
your freedom so you get a tech buzz ??? wanna pay more in taxes!
The software costs more than the hardware.
Yeah right,whatever your smoking, please let me have some.
I love the anti micosoft infatuation that some people seem to have.
Generaly the software is farm from the most expensive item, try the processor for starters if you want any credibility.
oh.. i cant wait to try chrome.. nice app..
I was going to ask about the Firefox tablet, but Abhishek beat me to it. Chrome Tablet doesn’t have the same ring.
They probably want to take market shares away from Firefox so they don’t have to pay Mozilla $60 million dollars a year.
I’m goin’ back to Cali…
um. I don’t think so.
If GOOG really hates microsoft . why do they want to depend on Windows to launch Chrome. They would have started with Mac or Linux .. and proved that the other side of the world is far better .
remember the days , google cried … how they want their search engine to be in the search providers list .. in IE and Vista .
They used Firefox … they put their employees in Firefox … they have learned the browser makings … and now ready to ditch Firefox .if Goog really cared about opensource … they would have really contributed to Firefox technically aswell.
Yahoo / AOL should buy or support FireFox / Opera .
Let live the spirit of Firefox.
All this GOOG PooP is for g fanboys. – DO no Evil Google.
No, they believe in a standards compliant browser: Firefox, and they believe that they need to target the OS with 85% of the users: Windows. The mac already has a webkit-based browser.
On the other hand “they have learned the browser makings” wtf? I guess I am wasting my time. Let me know when you sober up.
if Google hates Microsoft .. why do Google employees at their headquarters use
Windows, MS Office, IE and other MS products?
Check out their career page for requirements… if you want to be a Google Accountant, Lawyer, admin etc etc .. you need to know MS applications.
There is where the hype stops…
XD their could be a other reason for that
like maybe making interface similar to it so they get more followers
What Mike is saying is that the browser is becoming the OS in a metaphorical sense, as more and more applications are being built on top of it. Not in the technical sense of a hardware-software middle layer. And Mike’s right, you old people!
No… he said that there would be a trend to “strip out the Windows layer and use the browser as the only operating system.” Read the article.
I don’t see it as an OS killer. That’s too far fetched. Windows is a lot less important than it ever was. But a browser based system is basically a web tablet like the one that Techcrunch is trying to create. Things are changing, but people still need their PC’s with Word Docs and Excel etc. It’s just too entrenched to say that is going away any time soon. Still, it’s great to see Google put the heat on Microsoft in another area.
…i think what Mike is saying that for most people(ie, non-geeks, sv types) the browser essentially plays a more predominant role in the computing experience and is essentially the operating system for all intensive purposes.
Most people could give a rat’s ass about drivers, network config, hw controllers etc.–they just want stuff to work. The browser greatly simplifies that expectation by being the key ‘visual gateway’ to the Internets hence, a pseudo operating system so to speak.
Lay off the Kool Aid Micheal.
Yes you have predicted the future where browser + cloud >= Microsoft status quo.
But please just a little less hyperbole.
For this future to come to pass there is a lot of work yet to be done and really I am scratching my head trying to understand how Chrome advances that work other than to remove some obvious obstacles that the browser has in terms of properly segregating processes. Don’t get me wrong this is necessary but I fail to see how it is sufficient with respect to these lofty claims.
wasnt google finance supposed to kill off yahoo finance? and now after over a year or so still barely any traffic to google finance. its gonna take alot more than ‘copying’ google! what people want is innovation — not immitation.