Probability Of Google Operating System?

[Blank]

Just thought I'd create a new topic for the Google OS idea because I'm interested in what other people think about it.

Quote from Google:

"All of us at Google spend much of our time working inside a browser. We search, chat, email and collaborate in a browser. And in our spare time, we shop, bank, read news and keep in touch with friends -- all using a browser. Because we spend so much time online, we began seriously thinking about what kind of browser could exist if we started from scratch and built on the best elements out there. We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that's what we set out to build."

Taken from this article

I think it's highly likely that Google will either create an OS of their own (For free of course), or as the writer of the article speculated, create something which can be run on any device without Windows.

We already know that Google is a major threat to Microsoft due to its massive array of open source / free applications and the whole idea of Cloud Computing seems to be catching on. But would there be a market for a Google OS or would it struggle to break into the home user market like Linux?

[threegee]

They already have. It's called Android. And lucky T Mobile users can get it right now.

http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/t-mobi...7-33283585.html

More phone manufacturers likely to take it up soon. Also Nokia are throwing [totally] open the Maemo platform from the next device (I use Maemo every day on my N800 - which is now thoroughly hacked ). In addition to that Nokia are pledged to throw open the Symbian platform too. All of which is great news for users and bad news for M$.

[Blank]

They already have. It's called Android. And lucky T Mobile users can get it right now.

http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/t-mobi...7-33283585.html

More phone manufacturers likely to take it up soon. Also Nokia are throwing [totally] open the Maemo platform from the next device (I use Maemo every day on my N800 - which is now totally hacked ). In addition to that Nokia are pledged to throw open the Symbian platform too. All of which is great news for users and bad news for M$.

Android is around for mobile, but what about an OS for my PC?

[threegee]

Android is around for mobile, but what about an OS for my PC?

It's a proper OS. In fact it's much more powerful than the likes of MSDOS or AmigaDOS of old. When the source code is available you'll find folks porting it to just about anything. Don't be fooled by the tiny screen, these are just presentation issues.

[Monsta®]

secret testing!

[Mr Darn]

If they make it easy to use from the outset, it'll do well.

Linux based OS's downfall was it started out complex, and got a name for it's self as being 'for geeks'.

Now its developed into a much friendlier OS, but people (including me) are still put off by the old image.

i personally think choice and competition is exactly whats needed in these times, the only problem being compatability between them.

no-one wants the problems created where you have a document in a format that cant be read by any pc. (like microsoft created with its office suite)

[Monsta®]

If they make it easy to use from the outset, it'll do well.

Linux based OS's downfall was it started out complex, and got a name for it's self as being 'for geeks'.

Now its developed into a much friendlier OS, but people (including me) are still put off by the old image.

i personally think choice and competition is exactly whats needed in these times, the only problem being compatability between them.

no-one wants the problems created where you have a document in a format that cant be read by any pc. (like microsoft created with its office suite)

linux is easy to use and gets easier with every version. there were some and still are some hardware issues such as drivers etc. and would you be talking about docx you can make it just doc or even a rich text doc so where's the problem?

i think the future for os's is in the cloud only a small dos run app to manage drivers etc so you'll be able to get to your desktop from any pc any where. scary

[threegee]

secret testing!

Android is, of course, a bone fide OS already, and Google never intended it to be restricted to phone handsets.

Drivers aren't really a problem. If you've got fairly modern hardware the Linux kernel can generally handle it. I've only had one problem and that was with a wireless LAN card where the manufacturer wasn't particularly Linux supportive (note to self to avoid that manufacturer in future). The solution was to use the ndiswrapper around the windows driver. Easy to get it working but took me a few days to work out how to make the thing permanent - so I didn't have to keep reactivating the driver after every boot - but now it is and the hardware works just as well as under windows.

Data compatibility is really a Microsoft thing. Once you break free from the MS stranglehold of only supporting exports in their own proprietary formats you can more or less say goodbye to any hassle. You'll note that it's always a lot easier to import data to MS software than export it in an truly open and properly documented format.