Google to launch operating system

[soda72]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8139711.stm


So will Aces High be supporting this OS?

 

[Denholm]

I'm inclined to believe Google Bot will be crawling your hard-drive.

[humble]

Actually google has already launched a full OS, android is very capable of running PC. In fact I'd guess that whatever is in the works is android based...

[Irwink!]

The as yet vaporware Google OS will be Linux based. Linux OS's have been around for awhile. You can download and install any number of different flavors of Linux right now for free. The downfall of Linux OS's is the inability to run software coded for Windows other than through somewhat lame and limited emulation strategies. Linux in and of itself is a great OS. In and of itself it is in many ways superior to Windows. But no OS is any better than the software available to run natively in that environment.

Gaming is probably the single biggest downfall for Linux OS's as of now. Commercially it is almost totally unsupported by anyone.

For business and professional use it's a somewhat different and better story but still far from perfect.

[Skuzzy]

Actually this is not based on Linux.  But it will not be able to run the game as it is more like an "application portal" than an operating system.  Where all the applications you want to run are not installed on your computer, but run off of Google servers.

It is zero threat to Microsoft's domination and will only fill a niche market.

I am incredibly disappointed in the approach they took.

[Irwink!]

Actually this is not based on Linux. 

I haven't researched it in depth but the news reports that I have read stated that it was Linux based. That's all I was going on. I haven't looked into it further because to be honest I really don't care too much at this stage. It doesn't yet exist and press releases are notoriously optimistic wherever they come from - M$, Google or whoever.

[Fulmar]

The news articles and Wikipedia pages I've read on Google OS says its using a linux kernel.

[Mace2004]

Actually this is not based on Linux.  But it will not be able to run the game as it is more like an "application portal" than an operating system.  Where all the applications you want to run are not installed on your computer, but run off of Google servers.

It is zero threat to Microsoft's domination and will only fill a niche market.

I am incredibly disappointed in the approach they took.

I use such a system at work.  The server, located in DC, handles pretty much everything except the IO and our "desktops" are just blades that don't even have hard drives.  It's global and gives you access to everything from anywhere so when traveling I can log into any work station and see/do exactly the same things regardless of where I'm at.  Also, there are no worries about updates, configurations, backups, etc.  It's all handled at the remote server.  There is a huge downside to this though.  Without a good network connection everything can lag and if the network itself goes down you have absolutely nothing.  Maybe a compromise between the existing standard and my remote system would provide the best of both worlds.

[Skuzzy]

Sure, one day you log in and they updated an application tossing out backward compatibility and you cannot open any of the associated documents without having run some other program to bring the old data to new standards.  While they are at it, the old files get stripped of some of its formatting features and you are left with a mess.

There are many problems with that model.  The lack of an Internet connection is most serious.  Go into a meeting to do a presentation, only to find no Internet service.  Uh,..ok,..hand puppet shadows anyone?

All it takes is one time and you just lost some business to your competition.

This is definitely not something for business use and that is what will end up hurting it the most.  At home, people will use what they are used to using at work, for the most part.

[Mace2004]

That's all true Skuzzy, that's why I was suggesting that there may be a happy medium where you can get the best of both.  I've had exactly what you mentioned happen to me, everything I had was on the server and they had a major problem that shut it down for 10 hours.  I was completely dead until they could bring the system up.  Lucky for me I didn't have to have my stuff right then, it wasn't till the next day but it sure made me nervous.  Based on that failure though, we've suggested funding multiple dispersed server sites and hard drives on the blades for essential files automatically synchronized with the server.  That's what I was suggesting as a possible compromise.

I agree that, given the track record of stuff that you mention, it's probably a pipe dream but who knows where we'll be 10 years (or five for that matter) down the road?

[Roscoroo]

Yea I was a hoping theyed step up to the plate with a killer OS ,,but alias another of lifes disapointments has arrived

[Denholm]

...Where all the applications you want to run are not installed on your computer, but run off of Google servers...

So, Google beats Microsoft to the future?

[Skuzzy]

Well, here's hoping it will be a huge flop and deter other companies from trying to go that route.

[Getback]

I for one, don't want my applications away from my harddrive.

[humble]

Its a two edged sword. At a consulting firm I used to run we put in a 100 seat Citrix network for a number of reasons. Partially for ease of conformity and ability for a "desktop" not to be physically linked to a location. But also for intellectual property security and to minimize a lot of unwanted possibilities that existed on stand alone PC's. Obviously a lot of trade offs but it was certainly helpful for me when I was traveling in South America to be able to grab any laptop/workstation and not only be on my "work station" but not have the hassle of having documentation/data covered by NDA's floating around on my laptop when traveling.

I think the real issue is integrating distributed computing (for lack of a better term) into the current realities. I (and most of us) are limited to windows simply because most of what we do is windows specific. The real unknown is simply if 3rd party developers will write code for the new OS. The only reason for windows dominance is the combination of internally generated software (office etc) and the efforts of all the developers that write windows app's. Any true seamless emulation for Linux would break the windows OS vice very quickly IMO....