Yesterday, Everton wrote here about whether he thought Microsoft should fear Google Chrome OS. He said…
I think they are, because in order to keep the costs of budget devices down hardware manufacturers want low OS costs and we can see this in the number of devices already shipping with Linux, and this is why Microsoft created Windows 7 Starter edition to try and keep these manufacturers within the Windows fold and to counter this threat.
To counter this argument, there’s the train of thought that Microsoft should not fear Google’s foray in the operating system market.
Okay, so there are compelling reasons to switch to Chrome OS. Google have a strong product line-up now including a browser, online office suite and even push email. You also have to consider that as this OS is aimed at netbooks, you have limited functionality. These machines are designed for light web browsing, writing the odd document and email. But in practice people will always want to do more with their PCs.
How many people are ever satisfied with such light use? I personally have never met anyone who at least didn’t want to do photo editing or playing music.
Chrome os is based on Suse Linux. This is a build of Linux that has already failed on netbooks, with people wanting machines installed with Windows.
Netbooks aren’t aimed at business users. Business might be more willing to accept Linux. They’re aimed squarely at home users and that’s a tough nut to crack with Linux. It wouldn’t matter what Google do with the Chrome OS interface, it’ll still always look more like Linux than Windows.
People are generally resistant to change and Linux on netbooks proved it. Google may have a very strong brand, one of the strongest in the world, but isit really enough to get people away form Microsoft Windows.
Let’s look at the Chrome browser as an example. This currently has a very small share of the browser market, maybe because the word’s not got out yet. Microsoft may help Google with the new Browser ballot screen but the fact remains that it’s still quite small. You then have to look at who is actually using the Chrome browser. I’d be prepared to wager that a very small percentage of that small percentage are home users. These people generally stick with Internet Explorer and they are, in a large part, responsible for IE6 still being so popular.
People in the tech industry, such as myself, make a big fuss about new products like this but when it actually filters down to the marketplace things are usually quite different. Google will no doubt be helped by their first presence on the high street. This is bound to hit Microsoft in some way but I don’t think it’ll be a lot.
Suffice to say that I don’t believe people will necessarily trust any newoperating system regardless of the name that it’s branded with. Linux may be a solid and stable OS, but the man on the street doesn’t know this. They’ll look at the, hopefully, spangly interface for Chrome OS in the shop and even admire it for a minute. But then I think they’ll ask the salesperson “Do you have one with Windows?”
