By now you've probably heard: Google is on the warpath with the announcement of Chrome OS. Just a mere 12 hours after the information was posted on The Official Google Blog, everyone is buzzing about the new operating system, what it means for Microsoft and how the public will react.
Well, it seems they already are. Within 10 minutes of sitting down at my desk, when I was able to finally access my mail, sign on to Instant Messenger and open Chrome, I was bombarded with articles, tweets and IMs about Chrome OS. Maybe this is the reason why. According to the Google Blog, the Google team is "designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds." The difference is that the Chrome OS will run on the web, versus cluttering up your computer's performance. This concept of cloud computing isn't brand new- both Good OS and Microsoft have tooled around with a cloud-based OS. Good OS's Cloud was released last year and hasn't caught the attention of the general public, but Cloud 1.0 has been "optimized for netbooks" and is coming soon. (Unfortunately, any chance of widespread popularity was just usurped.) Microsoft's Azure is a services platform, which may be a terrific tool for developers, but for those of us who 'don't do code,' Azure has very little value (at the moment anyway.) What's interesting is this quote from Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie, regarding the future of applications and computer use:
"All of us are going to be standing on their shoulders" as the technology industry transitions from offering and using traditional software run in enterprise IT networks to running more applications on the Internet via cloud-computing environments hosted by large vendors..." -- Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service
However I think they anticipated Microsoft being the "large vendor." The cloud, aka The Internet, the virtual highway- is it still virtual? With the concept of widespread cloud computing, and an entirely web-based operating system, the interactive space seems to become palpable. With all of our information, our manageable life existing entirely online, it seems we're moving into virtual real estate. (I may be exploring the outer limbs here, but it's a big tree.) One of my biggest concerns, and one I think the general Internet community will also harbor, is that of safety. Google claims that the Chrome OS "should just work." No viruses, no malware... No identity theft? And although voicing different concerns, the recent announcements for all-in-one telephone application Google Voice also stirred questions of security. 1-- I know a ton of my information is already on the web, but everything? My comfort level is questionable, even though I know myself and my love for Google's simplicity. 2-- What is Google doing with all this data? Google Voice will have the ability to record your phone calls for data purposes-- don't you think they'll cache your spreadsheets, presentations, photos and SSN? Now, Google gets data when we use their web based apps and desktop products. With the Google Chrome OS, every action you take is on their system. What do you think about the issue of security, data sharing and the new Google OS? Drop me a line!
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