google chrome os. sure. whatever.
the internet is abuzz with talk of google’s announcement of its impending OS. it has been met with a lot of rejoicing and curiosity. it is true that google creates many advanced technologies, but i am skeptical as to whether those new technologies will translate into a better OS. the crux of google chrome os seem to be to cater to the web browser. this makes sense for their strategy.
it uses linux as the kernel. aside from that, not too much information is provided. it sounded as though they will still use GNU software. i don’t see any reason why they would re-implement common commands. so where is the innovation going to happen? i’m sure they have optimized the kernel in there for… things. that leaves the gui stuff. they could write their own gtk/gnome or qt/kde, but i’m not sure why they would do that. it doesnt seem to prevent optimization of the web browser experience. if they did, it wouldn’t be as mature as what already exists and many software libraries that developers know and love would be unavailable (think chrome browser and extensions).
so how could this be more exciting than just another distro? the fact that google didnt just release their own distro makes me think there is going to be something more going on. something more.. fundamentally different that will change how developers and maybe users interact with the OS, something like having concentric user permissions to prevent unauthorized information leakage. on the otherhand, it could just be a marketing and branding thing. i just hope its not something lame like making browser windows “first class citizens” in the window manager so you can alt-tab between different windows running different webapps.
one thing i thought would be cool is if they created a safe way for the browser to interact with the OS allowing for webapps to have more native functionality. you know, like activex controls, but good. this feature makes sense to me and could require drastic changes in the OS to implement corrected.
i guess we’ll see what it brings, but i’m too excited about it. no doubt they will have some kickass technology in there, but i am skeptical as to whether that will result in a compelling product.
