I haven't yet had a peek of Google's OS - Chrome OS but have been following it closely over the last few days. Yesterday (11/19) Google held an event to update prospective users and prospective competitors about the status and some of the features of Chrome OS (Project: Chromium OS). I took instant liking to many features and am also skeptical about a couple of them. I will address my concerns below.
Many of Google's products have been runaway successes. Many useful applications come to mind, including their flagship 'search engine'. GMail, Calendar, App Engine, Maps, Transit stand out. A few haven't taken off that well but are surely promising. But all these products have a commonality. All these apps focus on our day to day activities and are very efficient. I cannot fathom using an email other than GMail because I haven't come across another service that offers more features than GMail. They aren't even close. Google has attainted its stature from the quality of its products. And that is what makes it so imposing to its competitors. Google's open-sourced operating system, Chrome OS, is the next big thing from their stable.
Honestly, I am not 'living on the cloud'. Infact, I am nowhere near to living on the cloud. This is because I am dependent on my local machine for many quotidian activities. Chrome OS is a browser-based operating system that makes you live on the cloud. No hard disks, No viruses, No native apps. Just the internet, web apps and solid performance. That is what Chrome OS aims at. It is a new paradigm which started evolving a couple of years back and we are near to embrace it. Another very encouraging feature of this OS is the boot-time and patches. 7 seconds to boot-up. I wouldn't ask for anything less. And Google has mentioned that security and software updates will automatically be applied to the OS from the cloud. So, no more system downtime. The fact that you can access your data on the move is cool. Speed, Simplicity and Security mark the crux of Chrome OS.
That said, Chrome OS is targetted at netbooks (or secondary computers). A Chrome OS device may be the primary device in terms of the amount of time you spend on the internet but there will be things that this won't do (yet!!!). If you code a lot and that requires an IDE or a standalone software like SAS or Oracle, Chrome OS is not ready for that. Likewise, unless Apple comes up with an online iTunes concept you still cannot efficiently use your hard disk-less Chrome OS for syncing your iPhone/iPods. As always, workarounds will find their ways through but, a workaround is a work around. It is not the best way to do things. Second thing concerning Chrome OS is security. Agreed, Chrome OS will be virus-free and security and update patches will be applied automatically but one need not steal your computer to steal your identity. All a thief has to do is steal your online login and they will probably have access to all your Google accounts and everything on your Chrome OS PCs. This coupled with the fact that all your stuff is on the 'cloud' can give you salvo for privacy. The last thing you want is Google or a market research company monitor your online behavior to 'enhance' your online experience. I wouldn't be comfortable with that.
But, it is what it is. I think we can trust a Google product based on the company's track record. I am thinking out loud, but biometric logging can reduce the risk of login-based security threats. I think it is not a bad idea that these Chrome OS based netbooks have fingerprint readers and Google makes it mandatory to login through this or a similar biometric logging feature to access one's online content. It would surely be a good identity management norm.
To sum it up, Chrome OS is a revolutionary move from Google. All that remains to be seen is how they will go about implementing it. And we all know how good Google is at implementing stuff!!!
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