Search giant Google’s recent announcement that it was would enter the operating system arena with its newly unveiled Chrome operating system (OS) caused quite a buzz in the tech world.
That’s not surprising: When Google announces a new product, people generally listen, in large part because of Google’s programming muscle and its reputation for boldly venturing into untested waters.
But the world of operating systems is untested for Google. In fact, the overriding question for many is whether Google will succeed. And, if it does, what would that success mean for computer users like you?
Read on for some answers.
Q: Why is Google releasing an operating system?
A: The primary reason, according to Google, is users’ frustration with the speed of today’s operating systems and the computers they run on. The number one gripe of many computer users, says Google, is that their netbooks, notebooks, and desktops take too long to boot up, too long to open applications, and are fraught with too many problems.
Few can disagree with that, of course. So with the Chrome OS Google is attempting to do with operating systems what it has done with search, its Chrome browser, and many other Google-branded tools: get out of the user’s way. Today’s computer users, says the Google blog entry that announced the new OS, “want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them” and “they don’t want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware.”
The Chrome OS, then, will be about speed, simplicity, and ease of use. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Microsoft has been beating that drum for years with Windows, and Apple has as well with the Mac OS. The definitions of “fast,” “simple,” and “easy,” though, tend to change over time — and depending upon who is using…