Google OS to Launch Next Year!
A new operating system to rival Windows will launch about this time next year. On Wednesday, Google announced its new Chrome OS will release on netbooks and will build on its increasinly large Web 2.0 market.
This is a natural expansion for Google. For years, they have had to rely on other operating systems like Windows and Apple (not to mention Linux) to bring their products to consumers. Google has created a series of applications that move all of our data to the web and reduce the need to store files on our hard drives. The new Chrome OS will build on this strategy and be a lightweight (i.e. it’s NOT going to eat up a lot of hard drive space), fast moving system for the growing netbook market.
This helps budget minded computer users as well. I haven’t used Microsoft Office for a long time now. Google Docs takes care of 95% of all of my file needs for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and more. I use another third party application online to manage my banking accounts and everything is online making it easy for me to manage all of my business whereever I travel. All I need is a web connection to keep things up to date.
I’ve been wanting to buy a netbook for some time now but might just wait a few more months to see how this develops. My only concern is that developers come up with new software designed to run like Google and that it will run with or without a connection like Google Gears allows. There are a few times where I might need to access a file when I’m not online and much of our church software (song presentation) is running on third party applications that could be ported over to the Web 2.0 format.
In any event, competition is a good thing. Having Google as a competitor will make its rivals better innovators. I can’t wait to see what Google’s OS will do. You can bet I’ll be one of the first to give it a try once it’s available.
