With so much being said about Google’s new Chrome OS being a direct attack on Microsoft, naturally some of the gaze is now going to shift towards what it means for Apple, which makes the second most popular OS in the world. Here’s what it means — For its products, very, very little. For its board of directors, potentially a lot more.
While some have already talked about this a bit, I think main points have been missed. First, the obvious point: When Chrome OS launches next year it will be aimed directly at a market Apple is not in: Netbooks. Yes, Apple is likely to launch a tablet computer of some kind in the future, maybe next year, but that is not a netbook. That will be a touchscreen device that will undoubtedly run some kind of special flavor of the iPhone OS or OS X or a combination of the two. And I would bet that it will have stand-alone apps like the iPhone. That is not what Chrome OS is about.
Secondly, while Google’s long term plan for Chrome OS is obviously to expand beyond the netbook realm and into more traditional PCs, that once again is unlikely to affect Apple. Apple makes computers that sell at high margins. This makes them expensive compared to some PCs, as has been talked about a lot recently thanks to Microsoft’s ad campaigns. Even now, in just about the worst economy we’re ever likely to see, Apple hasn’t changed this too much. Apple customers pay this premium because they think the melding of great hardware with Apple’s solid software (OS X and iLife) is worth it over a Windows-based machine.
Chrome OS will directly appeal to those users who want out of the Windows environment but don’t want to pay the Apple premium. That is to say, it will appeal to the lower end of the market, which again, Apple doesn’t participate in.
Third, while Apple clearly is committed to Mac OS X right now, remember that it first and foremost makes its money off of hardware sales. This is the opposite of Microsoft. During WWDC this year, Apple kind of danced around a key statistic: that the iPhone OS is quickly taking over as the dominant OS X version. If Apple can get out of its AT&T exclusivity in the U.S. (which I’d bet will happen next year) and do things like expand to China (which I bet will happen later this year or early next year), the sky is the limit for where that OS can go. Apple could well be more of a mobile company (iPhone and tablet) in a few years than a traditional computer company.
A lot of people may not like to hear that, but it’s true. The trends don’t lie. And there’s a reason Apple dropped the “Computer” from its name in 2007.
And Google Chrome OS is not a mobile OS, that’s Android. Assuming it can get on more devices, Android should be more of a direct competitor to OS X (I didn’t say Mac OS X) over the next decade than Chrome OS will be.
Still, there are some good points to be made about the relationship now between Apple and Google. As Anthony Ha of VentureBeat wrote last night, this move may mean the end of Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Apple’s board of directors. (And Arthur Levinson too, the Genentech CEO who currently resides on both Apple and Google’s boards). When the FTC was looking into Schmidt and Levinson’s roles on both boards as a possible antitrust violation back in May, we wrote that we thought it was just a shot across Google’s bow, and unlikely to force Schmidt to leave Apple’s board. He didn’t.
But Google getting into the OS business makes things decidedly more murky, even if the two OSes (Chrome OS and OS X) aren’t likely to have much effect on each other. Schmidt already has to excuse himself in Apple board meetings when the iPhone is talked about. Now he may have to do the same when OS X comes up. That leaves the question of just how much is there left to talk about at the board meetings when both Schmidt and Levinson are in the room?
Even though they’re probably not likely to understand too much about Google’s actual plans with Chrome OS, you can bet the government is quickly going to take a hard look at this relationship again. And that could well force at least Schmidt, and probably Levinson, to step down in the near future.
And while Apple may not like that since both are seasoned execs who undoubtedly provide a lot of insight in the board meetings, it will be fine. And that just makes more room for COO Tim Cook to possibly join the board.
As for Chrome OS and OS X themselves, I wouldn’t waste too much time thinking about it. While it will take several years for this all to play out, this is a direct attack by Google on Microsoft’s core. It’s perhaps the most bold move in a series of battles currently raging between the two (Android vs. Windows Mobile, Bing vs. Google Search, Google Docs vs. Office, etc). This is all about Microsoft, and not about Apple. And I don’t think Apple is losing any sleep at night over Google attacking what is also its rival.
If it’s not OS X for the reasons you’ve mentioned, then why should it be Microsoft?
My thoughts exactly.
Google Chrome OS aims at a market that Microsoft couldn’t care less about.
The main hype was created by people who have no clue about what it actually means… aka, 80% of twitter users.
I correct myself… Win7 could lose some market.
But it still not enough to “kill” Windows. HYPE!
I agree. They could lose the high-school student market that steals Windows and other applications for free.
They could collaborate with Bono and take over the sub $200 plus free software African market and rule the African marketplace.
Any plans on adding a solar panel to these PCs?
Apple Computers (-iPhone) has a very globally share in market about 0.9 % GLOBALLY
Microsoft has about 97% market share for OS (All OS Combined together)
If Google drops a Nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, it does not matter weather 0.9 % of Japanese population grows to 0.0%
But if Russia drops a Nuclear bomb on USA, yes, it’s a big impact.
Get it??
Dvorak says Google is full of it. I agree.
http://www.mark...an-just-a-bluff
Sadly the true losers here will be the Linuxes of the world.
Eventually it will affect Microsoft but it will take years. The first Chrome OS iteration will probably get a lot of press but the average Joe on the street still wants his OS to look like his neighbor’s OS.
Kinda why Linux never really took off.
“Chrome OS will directly appeal to those users who want out of the Windows environment but don’t want to pay the Apple premium. ”
apple doesnt have netbooks.
I do believe that Chrome OS will not have a significant impact on the OS market due to the fact that Microsoft is pretty much ingrained as the “standard” Operating system for the average joe. When said person goes out to buy a computer they don’t really care about what is the “best” so to speak they just want something that works and works with everything. As the computer world knows Windows is pretty much compatible with everything a college student, a parent, or a grandma needs to do typical computing. And lets not forget the PC gaming world. Nothing runs games like Windows does.
He just spent 1000 words explaining why Microsoft… Did you not read the article?
My point is that you can’t really make a logical distinction between the two operating systems..
By far the best Operating System is this:- http://su.pr/1NFHYH
Crunchpad + Chrome OS + 3g/wifi = the ultimate web tablet
Google had emphasized Chrome OS will be for those with “heavy Internet use”. That means many people. It also means those with access to broadband, plus don’t care too much about individual applications. If they want to type a two-paged document, their main concern is the content, not “Word, OO Writer or AbiWord” – any dumb program will do. Google Apps are good enough for them.
i want a version of linux.
i am getting many problems with windows xp and vista. vista is dead slow.
xp is stucking.
i want a ligthweight os which is a version of linux.
i think does it.
Regs,Pradeep.P
I couldn’t disagree more with the author. If anything, I think the Chrome OS has potential to hurt Apple more than it does Microsoft. Most people stick with Microsoft because their work apps only run on Windows. Most people that own Apple products have them as more ‘entertainment’ computers … meaning they use them for internet, email, facebook, multimedia, etc. I see Chrome OS falling more into this ‘entertainment’ based group, no going after the corperate users (Windows).
@AlexNC – You obviously don’t know anything about Apple largest corporate market: Advertising.
And you obviously don’t know anything bout Apple buyers. Microsoft sells on price. They are the Wallmart of OSs. Google’s Chrome OS strategy will be to out-WallMart, Microsoft. Apple buyers purchase Apple product for the same reason that BMW buyers buy BMWs.
If you think this is aimed at Apple buyers, you’re clueless.
For Mac OS X and its computers, that’s a simple way to put it that’s mostly right.
BMW.. You mean people buy Apple’s products because they’re overpriced, full of design/manufacturing flaws and make you look like a douche?
Ha.
BMW and Mercedes have Greatest Saftey Records as against Japanese Toyota, yet Toyota is largest market share globally. does this mean that Safety-Crap Toyota is not Microsoft?
What if BMW launches a Chromy Car with $1999 price tag? … hey it’s no iPhone, it’s a Tata NANO!
Toyota has better quality than BMWs – in tems of life time reliability and maintenance costs.
BMW’s value is performance.
Incorrect comparision.
Most?
lol
@alex,
“I couldn’t disagree more with the author. If anything, I think the Chrome OS has potential to hurt Apple more than it does Microsoft.”
so you mean to say, Tokyo has more influence than GM?
Can BMW (Apple) hurt Microsoft’s (Toyota’s) Share?
Again remember BMW and Mercedes have Greatest Saftey Records as against Japanese Toyota, and they are having the “cool” factor attached to it.
Google would never compete with Apple on like a major level. They have a great partnership. The reason why the Chrome browser didn’t initially come out for Mac is because they didn’t want to make Safari sad. If Chrome OS falls into the entertainment group, then they will have to make their own suite of apps similar to iLife. But I doubt they would do that. They just want to make a desktop operating system that can sync well to their web services.
What’s the difference between initially and eventually coming out? Chrome not coming out on Day One I doubt had anything to do with it’s impact on Safari, and even when it does come out, there will still be many who prefer Safari. Chrome OS would likely just rely on Google’s established phot software Picasa, and Youtube for video. So in some ways Google does already have their iLife prepared. Does it matter? Probably not. I’ll still be using OS X as my first choice OS, and Windows as my second.
Exactly. I don’t know why everyone is saying that Google is trying to compete with Apple.
First of all, Google knows how Apple works. We’re talking about Apple here. Apple, a.k.a. the company with the ridiculously loyal fan base that other companies only wish they had. And it’s a proven fact that most people who use Apple products also use Google products. Safari’s default search engine is Google. Google has a slew of great iPhone apps. iWeb only has a Google AdSense option. Google is not worried about Apple.
What we should really be talking about is how is Google Chrome OS going to effect MS Windows.
Google Chrome OS gives Windows the legal cover to leverage thier monopoly and crush Google as they are now an OS competitor.
Google will now get crushed.
Apple will buy out Google in 5 years.
That will be a nice combination but should happen sooner before Google loses its brand value as Netscape and all the others did.
If the author’s basic thesis is correct, then Apple presents absolutely zero threat to Microsoft.
yea yea….o/s will be in browsers, and gaming will stream to my tv from a little box.
seriously…..for this to affect MSFT, it would take years. With today’s technology and bandwidth, a webapp for advanced photoediting, videoediting, musicediting, etc etc is highly unlikely anytime soon…
ALSO, don’t you think that MSFT is working on some sort of cloud o/s??
“advanced photoediting, videoediting, musicediting”
95% of PC users don’t do that. 95% just use a computer for internet, email, word processing.
make that 98%
Plus, there’s adobe flash, there’s silverlight (assuming MS makes a linux-compatible plugin). You can run games + photo editing apps on top of the browser. i can see myself using photoshop through flash on my next netbook (yes, i ‘m going to wait that long)
your out of touch, everybody i talk too uses those programs, you can’t survive without
i don’t know where you got that stat from, but lets say that is true….
then why would it matter to anyone what OS is on their machine? people will buy what they can get cheap. This will not hurt msft
Nothings cheaper than free…
Nothing is free.
@ Alex,
Love & Smile are still free, are they not free in America?
exactly. $0 < $79.99
I love that it needed a visual to get that point across.
If you mention photoediting, videoediting and musicediting because of the large files involved to point out that the cloud can’t handle this any time soon; what if that large file is and stays in the cloud?
Streaming a detailed map of the complete world to my computers (Google Earth) works pretty well today. Why not video-editing tomorrow?
Besides; Google has more computer power then I do at home. I would rather let them compress that video in 5 seconds instead of waiting for hours for my own computer.
Even if you could get the video compressed much more quickly in the cloud, you’d need to spend a potentially huge amount of time getting the full, uncompressed video into the cloud in the first place, yes?
I agree, and Google’s computing power is magically free.
Also, I for one would immediatly move all my company and personal data onto Google servers to save $499.99 bucks on Microsoft Office and use an underpowered PC to do all my work in the cloud over Time Warner’s unstable Intenet service.
No photo editing anytime soon?
Check out Aviary, webapp photoshop: http://aviary.com/home
I was just about to post that link too, but thought I should scroll down first just in case someone beat me to it.
Seriously, Aviary is proof that Chrome OS has a viable future. The cloud is only going to get more powerful and versatile, making traditional desktop computers seem very clunky. As long as the cloud is stable, secure, private, and connection speeds are reliably fast, Chrome OS will definitely be a big deal.
yeah seriously MG fanboi, get over it.
apple will not be able to compete with google on the netbook market
i ‘m looking forward to chromeOS-powered apple netbooks and chromeOS-powered iphones
Ask a developer whether she prefers to code on apple’s ancient proprietary platform, or in the open, universal and ubiquitous platform that we call the Web?
“apple will not be able to compete with google on the netbook market” right, like I said. did you read this?
what happened to my reply? deleted?
No. Your Internet Explorer failed.
+1
I’m not convinced by your argument that Apple’s touchscreen device won’t be a netbook. Why? Because it has a touchscreen and not a keyboard? From my understanding it will be going after the same market – similar pricepoint, similar user demographic (cheap device to surf the web). Doesn’t that make it a touchscreen netbook (with the addition of an app store)?
No way Apple’s tablet is a similar price to netbooks. Simply no way.
Apple’s table will compete with Amazon’s Kindle. Kindle is a potential game changer, not Chrome “Linux version# 2,345″ OS.
i know quite a few mac owners who bought their machines as a rejection to windows as much as anything else. if they could ‘reject windows’ spending less money i believe many would. while they have tolerated the high price of mac ownership they could easily be swayed by a less expensive competitor.
i also remeber cleary the suggestion when android was announced that it would be for ‘cheaper phones’ than iphone, windows mobile, symbian, etc. that is not quite the way things worked out.
great point…but according to MG, it will not cut into apple’s marketshare. I’m not sure he understands why apple has any marketshare to begin with, but when he figures it out, he will see why apple won’t last long in the computer world.
seriously guys, is it really that much to ask to read the post before commenting?
sorry to mention it, but it’s borderline tl;dr
ok, reread and I don’t understand what you mean.
You clearly stated that Google is not attacking apple, yet Tom made a point about people buying macs cause they don’t like msft…so an alternative that works well should drive people away from apple.
I guess you must not know that Apple has a much, much higher customer satisfaction rate than Microsoft and other PC manufacturers do. So, Apple customers will probably be staying put….
http://bing.com...tisfaction+rate
Bing!
I also heard the Google will launch “free” Google Stores in class A high-rent shopping centers around the country.
There will be advertisements playing in the store which will make all Chrome OS customer support free.
Oh…I tried to look up Google support and turns out they don’t have any? Is that because all of there software is still in beta?
Eric Schimdt and Steve Jobs are multi-billionaires. They could care less about boards and/or board seats. Period.
maybe google needs to get into the broadband business too- wifi is still SLOW in most parts of the USA/ I’d die without my laptop apps
The only way Google can ‘win’ the non-tech savy people for their OS is to make deals. Good deals. Great deals, with the OEM partners…
Hope this move will make Windows a better OS in the future…
They’ve already stated they’re working with OEM partners. But I agree, competition will only breed good things for consumers here.
this will likely be OSX for the masses. there are tons and tons of people who would love a mac but can not afford one. i see thoose people going for chromeOS
See here
http://www.neow...-os-next-monday
Microsoft is the “business” software company. They make their money in the enterprise. you think 15-year old kids are shelling out the $500 for Vista Business or Office 2007?
With Google wanting to own every single piece of data, I would be really scared to put Google products inside my company. Especially an OS that probably records every single action you make to “profile” you.
Right, and Google is betting those business products are moving online. Which Microsoft is also betting on too, by the way. It’s just a question of will they run online better on Chrome OS or Windows (long term, obviously).
I do not see Google “owning” data, rather owning the mechanisms you use to access your data.
In this sense, MS and Google are identical.
The difference is that MS thinks of software as tools and data being a by-product. Google reverses this.
As a business person, the more efficiently and effectively I can access my data (the purpose of all my tools) the happier I will be. So far Google gets closer than Microsoft and the ChromeOS is a natural extension of this focus.
Otherwise, I agree with the business comment. There is not much that rivals Excel in doing some of the stuff I do; the day something better comes along, adios MS.
“I do not see Google “owning” data, rather owning the mechanisms you use to access your data.”
Ehhh, I’d have to disagree. There is CONSIDERABLE value to having access to all this data. Technically, they are providing mechanisms to help you access you’re data but I think we would be silly to think that Google is not capturing a lot of this data in some form or another.
I agree with the comment about companies being reluctant to “hand over” a lot of these tools to one company (especially Google). It’s scary. Although, I don’t think Chrome OS is geared towards business users anyway.
If I were Microsoft I’d be more worried that Mac OSX (or even Linux) was going to start stealing away my business customers as more and more employees start to request these OS’s over Windows.
Google is all about data and nothing else. It’s how they make money.
Owning data is the core of Google’s business. Every app and tool they create gathers buckets of data.
Yes, I can’t wait to give Google all my business data. I hated the responsibility of owning it.
Just put it all on Google servers, for free of course.
My employees have lots of free time during the day and so I’d love to let Google stream advertising directly into my employees heads all day long.
It’s more of an attack on Microsoft because Microsoft doesn’t sell much hardware. Apple can “embrace and extend” Google OS by supporting it on it’s hardware if chooses to do so.
Microsoft can’t, it’s a direct attack at their bottom line.
I hope Google is ready, because for sure now it is on. There’s going to be blood all over the floor.
I know, it’s exciting.
I’d be willing to bet that Apple even updates BootCamp to boot into ChromeOS.
I agree, its on!
What great legal cover for Microsoft to now completely crush Google into a tiny pulp by leveraging thier OS monopoly.
I predict Windows 7 will have cloud features, browser embeded back into the OS, Bing search emdeded all over Winows, and nice little hidden anti-Google code.
I went long MSFT stock today in a big way.
They won’t have to update BootCamp. It’s Linux, so you just install it.
Chrome OS will not likely put in a dent in either really however certain segements may lose out to Chrome OS.
Chrome OS will be a web os basically and therefore will need devices that have internet connections.
Right now you dont have internet everywhere via wireless carriers + the internet still goes down via home internet, or wireless carrier.
Unless Chrome works without being just a web os Microsoft and Apple will have nothing to worry about.
If it works seamlessly on the web as well as a non internet environment it will become a huge threat but if it does not solve the problem of when there is no internet it will not succeed because at some point the internet has been down for everybody.
I doubt that the Google OS will have impact on either Apple or Microsoft in the short run. Google is counting on the fact that web applications are going to continue improving and will provide a desktop-like experience. While that is true, the rate of adoption of these apps will be slow. The majority of PCs are not really used at home. Rather, they are used in the workplace and when it comes to administration, control, and management, Google will have a long way to go before something like this will be ready for the business world. Also, the applications themselves are very much still client-server and the majority of them are based on technology that can not easily be ported to web applications.
While they plan on attacking the netbooks market, how big of a market is it? It is not that big of a market when compared to the PC market and for them to make it successful, it will have to be introduced to the PC market eventually where more than web apps are used.
The interesting thing will be Microsoft’s response. Microsoft has been building their OSs in such a way that they can be made to work on many PC platforms (including netbooks – I have one that runs Vista and it works quite nicely) and for them to make a special version that only provides a browser would be simple enough.
Bloggers are claiming that this will kill Microsoft but that has been tried before. Open Office was supposed to kill MS Office and that never happened. OS/X is supposed to kill Vista, but that definitely did not happen. Java was supposed to be a game changer in development and that did not happen either.
My favorite headline was that Google was dropping a nuclear bomb on Microsoft. I highly doubt that it will do any lasting or major damage.
Sure, short-term of course. But this is completely a long term play by Google. But you need to get in early to get developers on your side (which they mostly already have thanks to web applications), but open-sourcing the OS is also genius, IMO.
Open sourcing does not really help an OS grow in popularity. Look at Linux as an example. Open source OS with a lot of potential that is still not being used by anyone other than technical people nor is it being pre-installed by major computer sellers in great quantities. It is usually an option and not the default.
Open sourcing will help in getting apps for this OS, but in the long run, most serious developers (individual and companies) are there to make money and there is no business model in an OS that is free and requires all software to be free as well. Again, just look at Linux.
I think this is purely a marketing play and specifically against Microsoft for releasing Bing and taking a little thunder away from Google in its core business.
If Chrome (browser) is anything to look at from a development timeline and feature set, this OS will be very limited and will not have much extendibility built into it until much later after release.
Something else to consider. If GMail only now came out of beta after 5 years, how long will it take an OS to come out of beta? This is something that for sure will be a stumbling block in getting it pre-installed on laptops and PCs. Hardware manufacturers will never put a Beta product on a PC considering that they can not get support for it.
I just don’t see this as being anything viable in the near term. Long term, yes, it has the potential, but we will never see a purely web based computing device taking place of our current computing landscape and with the infrastructure that needs to be in place to support such a device in large quantities.
Fanboi ism’s aside, its obviously a longterm play by Google, but Google making this announcement today is more of a reaction to what Microsoft will announce next week than what’s already here.
Now if you’re naive enough not to think that Google will not eventually move into Apples territory in some way..than you’re fooling yourself.
I can see some sort of touchscreen Tablet like device based on Android, regardless of what Apple eventually releases .
And if Google decides not to compete directly with Apple via some sort of Agreement..than the DOJ will be happy to step in.
You’re right. This Google OS is a solution for a short term problem — netbooks and mobile devices have weak processing power at the moment but this will change over the next couple of years and netbooks at least will be able to run a full OS with little problem. Who really wants a watered down OS when they don’t need it? Consumers still need the power to manage their photos, movies, and use the applications they are comfortable with. A huge reason many people never drop windows for a Mac or Linux is the comfort level and the fear of starting over.
The jury is still out on web apps. Sure there are some minor successes with a few of the google apps but as other companies and startups have learned not everything can be done in a browser and many people just aren’t interested.
This Google OS will have little impact and success. Definitely a bomb.
Why did Google announce this 6 months in advance?
Obviously in desperation to stop Windows 7 from crushing them.
Do you think this will be launch as a typcial 5 year Google beta software or will they actually try and QA a real consumer product?
Android and Chrome OS are no doubt designed to be a Google experience increasing advertising revenue by driving visitors to Googles online services.
What do you class as Microsoft’s core? Windows, Bing/Live or cloud services?
I think the possibility of threatening Microsoft’s market is just a nice side effect.
Daniel
it’s a matter of taste. do you prefer for-pay TV with no ads? or free TV with ads?
I opt for the latter – for the greater diversity
Yes, I’d all my employees to have advertising streamed into thier heads all day long so that I can save $499.99 per employee.
Google’s history dictates that they would go after the mass market, which subsequently impacts Microsoft. The real clincher is when Chrome is the OS choice of the inexpensive pc manufacturer, then it’s less of a reach for everyone to migrate to the cloud and use GoogleDocs, or more importantly – stop using Microsoft Products. What’s in it for Google? More internet usage equals more ad revenue.
I don’t think a company -any company- can get into the consumer ‘operating system business’ and not be a competitor to both Microsoft *and* Apple, Inc
I wouldn’t let the ‘form factor’ of proposed devices, target markets, or the board relationships mislead:
This is a battle to control the user experience from soup-to-nuts. And It’s looking like it’s going to be everyman for themselves.
Sounds more like the this is coming from the writers heart and personal bias then reality (Microsoft = Bad so Google will kill it; Apple = Good so Google will arbitrarily leave it alone) . Ahh, the world of Identity Politics extends itself to Tech Crunch.
This is a clear PR trap. No launch to the dev community until “Late this year” and no consumer product until Q3 2010? The big question is: WHY DOES GOOGLE PR NEED TO SQUASH ALL OF THE REAL NEWS RIGHT NOW? Come on Arrington, Where’s the Crunch?? How ’bout writing about the New Operating Systems that are about to trounce Microsoft this Christmas.
Apple is healthy, Microsoft is healthy enough. Moblin and Android devices are the real news. They need the press.
Why write in support of companies that are following the lead of the dev community. Why not go back to your old style of writing about the new and innovative products and services?
Look at this comment stream. It’s a travesty. There is really amazing work being done that should be covered by the independent media. The independent media that you are an amazing force within.
Next time spin something like this to people like me (http://bit.ly/androidmakers) or to Moblin (http://moblin.org) or to Ubuntu (http://educatio...net.com/?p=2770).
To ride the GoogleOS announcement buzz and direct it into an analysis of how it does/does not hurt apple is like an “Et Tu Bruté” moment for everyone who’s been laying the groundwork for something like ChromeOS to even be possible.
Sid Gabriel
excuse me, please replace references to Michael Arrington with “Tech Crunch” I do not mean to imply that Arrignton wrote the article. Just that he is responsible still for the editorial integrity of TC.
Before all you idiots here start sounding the death knell for this or that, let’s just wait until 2010 for the Chrome OS. For all you know, it might be a pretty crappy OS worse than Vista.
Seriously man..one announcement and all you guys are already making conclusions. MS has some pretty darn good engineers. What do you think will stop them from further out walmarting Chrome OS?
All it has to do is run a browser and a few other things like Google Desktop. It’s not trying to do much more than that. The target audience is going to be ok with that.
Who is the target audience? Please explain.
Sounds like high-school students that steal all thier Windows software for free and then complain about it?
The beauty about Apple is they have one OS to combat them all, no confusion of 7, windows mobile, android, Chrome, etc…
Same way the beat the mp3 player market 1 iPod.. while sony had version this, version than..
one phone-iphone.. while nokia has N97, N-that… Samsung has .. u get the point…
The big thing u mentioned is when they get out of the ATT ring… i think it’s the only reason their not ahead of RIM now, imagine if they were on Verizon now?
Uhh, iPhone OS X is different from the desktop one. And they’re also releasing the new Snow Leopard this fall. Don’t know how that’s “one to combat them all”
He means that you don’t have to decide between OS X Home Edition…and OS X Professional… and OS X Student Edition .. you just buy one OS X for your computer.
If it is true that Microsoft strength is in the enterprise ecosystem then it would follow that most of their customers are at work when it is used. Since most in the workplace have internet access it would seem to be a perfect candidate for an internet based os. The workplace is Microsoft’s domain. Google wants to be there too.
It’s not all over yet guys!
Don’t underestimate Microsoft when it comes to “surviving”.. they know how to survive better than anyone around. Microsoft has an answer to this and I’m sure it’s probably the biggest answer by MS in the last few years.. But round one definitely goes to GOOG
And I would like to point out that Apple fanboys do not hesitate to say they are GOOG fanboys too.. it’s going to be very interesting!
From what I gather unless they put the apple icon on it then apple will be ok. Those who buy apple only seem to care if it is an apple.
another crap article form MG.
Chrome OS wont hit Apple hard, yes, but it also wont hit MS hard.
Windows on Netbooks is such a tiny and unprofitable market that it wont hurt MS at all.
And before Chrome OS is used in corporate enviroments (thats there MS is making their money MG) we will be living on mars.
For the record, I’ve yet to see a crappy article from MG. You’re missing the point with netbooks. Google is going to fuel a more rapid adoption of netbooks, thus essentially cutting MSFT off from that market. As for Chrome in the enterprise, we’re already seeing widespread adoption of Google Apps in the enterprise and while MSFT is focused on enterprise desktop apps, Google is gearing up for the future–browser based computing.
Yeah and now that we see GOOG’s netbook partners…huge.
Ha Ha. The only people in corporate America using Google apps is that guy that stole Goldman Sachs trading code and uploaded it to his gmail account in Germany.
LOL. Do any of you people actually have jobs or work in corporate America?
Came in here to deride MG for not stating the real reason it doesn’t affect Apple (because they’re not in netbooks), then I actually read the article.
MG for the win.
Well thanks for reading
Good post, MG. You raise some interesting points about how Goog & Apple may eventually collide. Also interesting to see how the musical chairs at the board level may play out in the not too distant future.
I think the CrunchPad will give us first row center stage view on what the world of computing will be like in [fill in a number] of years.
I hope I can pick one up when I come down on Friday
If not I hope there will be a Canadian contributor announced soon.
This is just fascinating in my book. I’m a Mac user (and, by extension of our business, a Linux user too!) and I love my OS X… but increasingly, if I observe how I use my Mac, I’m rarely “in OS X.” I use Safari 4, dozens of web apps, and occasionally Apple Pages (because Docs just doesn’t cut it for fancy proposals).
One rich client app. That’s it. And there’s nothing stopping Pages from being a web app, of course.
My Mac’s OS does matter – but what matters more these days is the hardware, which I care about, and the browser. And the browser doesn’t need most of what’s under OS X’s hood to run!
The netbook market is tiny and I don’t see much growth there, to be honest. I think what will grow – and where Apple will enter – is a keyboard-less laptop. A touchscreen MacBook, if you will. Or a touchscreen Lenovo laptop. In other words, this is really a distinction without a difference.
Give me an Internet connection, give me HTML5 offline/Gears support, give me a virtual keyboard, and I’m happy.
As a web app company (we send out our first round of invites on July 31 at http://bloomapps.com), this is great news for us. The Register’s response to TechCrunch last year was absolutely ridiculous. Tomorrow’s web browser IS the OS. It’s already happening and you can see it in the data of how you’re using your computer.
Chris from Bloom Apps
I think iPhone OS is more the “answer” to Chrome OS, than is Mac OS.
good post.
This is just fascinating in my book. I’m a Mac user (and, by extension of our business, a Linux user too!) and I love my OS X… but increasingly, if I observe how I use my Mac, I’m rarely “in OS X.” I use Safari 4, dozens of web apps, and occasionally Apple Pages (because Docs just doesn’t cut it for fancy proposals).
One rich client app. That’s it. And there’s nothing stopping Pages from being a web app, of course.
My Mac’s OS does matter – but what matters more these days is the hardware, which I care about, and the browser. And the browser doesn’t need most of what’s under OS X’s hood to run!
The netbook market is tiny and I don’t see much growth there, to be honest. I think what will grow – and where Apple will enter – is a keyboard-less laptop. A touchscreen MacBook, if you will. Or a touchscreen Lenovo laptop. In other words, this is really a distinction without a difference.
Give me an Internet connection, give me HTML5 offline/Gears support, give me a virtual keyboard, and I’m happy.
The Register’s response to TechCrunch last year was absolutely ridiculous. Tomorrow’s web browser IS the OS. It’s already happening and you can see it in the data of how you’re using your computer.
Chris from Bloom Apps
Google Chrome OS? I think its name is GNU/Linux. It’s an awful thing to misrepresent the work of millions.
You could argue iPod touch as a netbook lacking support for Flash and large displays.
You could argue that Google Apps competes against the MS stack to – especially Exchange vs. GA-Mail, SharePoint vs GA-Docs.
I don’t see this as an OS war. This is a smart strategic move by Google to help accelerate adoption of its Chrome browser. Google is using the same strategy with Android on the Smartphone. The target is the hardware manufacturer, who now has an increased incentive to adopt Google’s browser (=search) experience of Google, by saving the OS licensing fee that would be paid to MSFT.
In both cases Google sees an opportunity to take share where Msft has been slow to adapt to the market trends and needs (WinXP on Netbooks and WinMobile on Smartphones).
Google is not in the OS market like Msft or Apple are. They will not seek to establish parity of features with Msft or Apple. They just want to remove a business barrier to entry and provide an economic incentive to HW manufacturers to adopt their web platform (it’s a lot easier to say “take my browser and save $xx on the cost of the OS” then “add my browser on top of Windows and IE and get in an uncomfortable relationship with both of us”).
Apple has little to worry about here since Apple does not sell its OS to HW manufacturers, so there is no direct threat to their business model.
Amazing the lengths TC will go to protect the Apple brand.
This post is idiotic.
If indeed 95% of users don’t need to do “photoediting, videoediting and music editing” then why would they still need a Mac?
Please complete the following question, if all I do is surf the web and read email, I need a Mac and not Chrome OS because_________________
Idiotic.
Google seems to have heard that Microsoft will be making some interesting announcements next week, best to get some PR for Chrome now..before Microsoft reveals its intentions for the Web.
Call me sensitive if you like, but I find it jarring to casually use a picture of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, killing tens of thousands instantly. If you want to use the nuclear metaphor, maybe use a picture of a test.
TechCrunch Japan has deleted the picture on the translation page and spelled out its apology, since it is not appropriate. As a Japanese, I strongly request TechCrunch to delete or use other pictures. I am disappointed that you see the Atomic bomb is just a bomb.
Here is a brilliant idea. Why don’t I install a cut down o/s on a netbook that can run a full o/s. Yeah as netooks are getting faster and with better battery life the last thing I want to do is install a cut down o/s.
Windows supports a multitude of different h/w combos so will Chrome – so in the end this theoretical performance gain will be less than people expect.
I bet MG was up all night trying to write a Pro Apple article and dreamt this crap up.
If this chrome o/s strategy was so clear why didnt they use it for smartphones- why did they bring out a full smartphone o/s in Android?
Chrome o/s is a re-has of Palm Web o/s howver Web o/s gets panned for not allowing native apps but Chrome o/s is championed for the same thing. Get off your Google and Apple love-in.
Micheal,
Any word if Google will launch Chrome OS as a “beta” for 5 years?
or will they actually try and figure out to QA and release a consumer software product?
So is Google going to pay (bribe) hardware vendors to write drivers for Chrome OS?
Otherwise why would they waste thier time?
It will be fun to see Chrome OS constantly “crash” due to buggy drivers and other 3rd party software…the Google will get the same rap has Microsoft has.
is there ANY way at all to block all posts my this apply fanboi “MG Siegler” – im so sick of his posts and bashing of MS and worshipping Apple
Gotta love all these pundits who bought AAPL @ $190 /share, and keep arguing that no matter what AAPL will never be affected by anything. The Scott Bournes of the world. Keep pumping the stock…almost there! Oh yeah, everyone in this (and future) economy can afford a $4k laptop or a $300 AT&T monthly bill with that iPhone, just to show a compass to friends. Almost there…I see green shoots…
I think if Google will make a good OS, this will be very used and my question is: how Google will make money with this?
in my opinion it’s the best thing that could happen. even though apple is doing quite good in challenging market share, they will probably never get into mainstream as MS did (because apple stands for luxury and high quality products). so the google OS could do the job of building a free, easy to use, good looking operating system which stands up against MS dominance.
but funny thing though – first MS realeses Bing, a reasonable google competitor and shortly after, google announces its own OS to bash MS
Reading through all these comments takes me back to the days when IBM ruled the roost and all the talk around the water cooler regarding the future of IT (oops, we called it DP back then) centered on speculating about the latest bold, strategic move by IBM or one of the “BUNCH” (Burroughs, Univac, NCR, CDC, and Honeywell).
Guess what, folks … we were ALL wrong.
The entry of Chrome OS into the playing field certainly makes the game interesting, but I can’t help but suspect that there’s a lot more to come in this space before we get any clear sense where it’s going.
Dude, seriously, you are making a fool out of yourself. Just admit, along with MA that you both prematurely ejaculated over the ChromeOS announcement. I don’t even think Google is lauding it the way you two are.
I’ve lost a lot of respect for this site over the past 24 hours.
It seems to me that a few days ago your argument turned on the fact that everything is moving to the cloud, and the current OS’s were conceived before the internet was used by most people. Now you are pruning that argument to make it apply to Microsoft and not Apple. I actually think Apple has some serious challenges ahead of it, posed mostly by Microsoft. You talk a lot about how people are stuck viewing things based on their current mindset, without the ability to see the future. Well it seems to me that you do this selectively. You seem to assume that Microsoft will continue to be plagued by Vista-like problems forever, slowly getting their market share eaten by ChromeOS and other competitors. But what if Windows 7 is a smashing success (as all early reports suggest that it will)? Then suddenly Apple’s ability to command those enormous margins will dry up, as users (even Mac fanboys like you) have a harder time justifying paying more for a computer that is the functional equivalent. I think Apple’s prices will continue to drop in the coming years to be competitive with PC’s. Since Apple makes its profits by large margin, whereas PC manufacturers make theirs by volume, Apple is going to necessarily have to eat into Microsoft’s market share.
What a bunch of arrogant know-it-alls in this comments section (not all, just most). This WILL happen. This WON’T happen. This will NEVER happen. Such certainty! You must all be rich given your predictive powers in tech…except, of course, that you can’t all be right (and I suspect that very few of you are actually on the money, your views tend to be too extreme and what actually happens in tech – and most things – tends to lie somewhere in between extreme predictions).
I had given up reading comments sections after Digg and Youtube but I thought that the comments on Techcrunch might be more illuminating. Well, that was half an hour I won’t get back.
Here’s an example of what I had hoped to see: I “suspect” that Chrome OS will take some time to get real traction but that it, or a derivative of it will cause, at least a shake up (or a re-evaluation) of what an OS means or needs to be. I agree that in the short-term MS is “more likely” to see competition on terms of netbooks (although they will have had a year for Windows 7 to gain traction and there is also another year for moblin and ubuntu netbook remix et al to get better too). “If”, however ChromeOS is a game changer then inevitable Apple will “probably” be affected as well in the same way that it has been the interface and integrated experience of the iPhone that has altered how people see and what they look for from a portable device.
Given, that all of the noticeable effects and impacts of ChromeOS are at least a year away and “probably” more like two or three years away then I think it is actually very hard to predict what will happen longer-term as, in the tech world of late, two to three years is like a lifetime. Given therefore, that we are all just speculating wildly (in some cases) could we all just back the righteous certainty (and name-calling) down a notch or seven?
Google passed most of the constrain test leading other browsers like Firefox and Safari.
Chrome definitely has a big effect on browsers this season