Dream Not Of Today: Four Reasons Google’s “Nuke” is a Dud
MG
· 6 months ago
I found it interesting that there still isn't a good version of Chrome available for Linux yet Chrome OS is nothing more than Chrome ontop of a Linux kernel. Even if it work perfectly I don't see how this could be a killer of any OS. Their release made it seem like nothing more than a bootable browser. If your entire experience is supposed to exist inside of the Chrome browser then what difference does the OS make?
Rob Spectre
· 6 months ago
Which is itself completely disappointing. I don't understand why there isn't more innovation in the desktop experience.
Windows hasn't introduced a significant user interface innovation since the start button and MacOS has been stagnant from a UI perspective since Panther. The biggest innovation in the last decade has been Compiz, which remains beta-quality software that's only available for Linux. There have been huge advances in tablets and surface computing, but the *desktop* is largely as its been since 1999.
It's disappointing that the desktop has been abandoned completely in favor of the web. It is such a fundamental way to revolutionize the way people use computers and Google would be the kind of outfit capable of producing that innovation.
Aaron Traffas
· 6 months ago
You make a good point about Google's products being consistently behind the market leaders. Google’s Chrome browser was over-hyped and feature-poor, and it’s still slow more often than it’s fast. Chrome doesn’t have the beauty of Safari, the legacy of IE, the applications of Firefox nor the completeness of Opera. In the same way, Chrome OS won’t have the beauty of OS X, the robustness of Linux nor the install base of Windows. Google is again trying to force its way into a market space by inserting a product that is trying to compete with established players by surpassing none of them on the merits.
Smart money is that Google’s Chrome OS will be as slow and feature-poor as its browser still is, but its tough to immagine how this play from Google isn’t going to shake up the netbook and low-budget PC market.
Rob Spectre
· 6 months ago
Agreed.
I guess I'm having a tough time seeing how dominating such a niche is a strategic imperative for Google. Netbooks are all the rage among dorks and pretty frequently seen in the valley and San Francisco, but are they that popular elsewhere? And with full featured notebooks getting as light and small as the Macbook Air and the growing power of smartphones like the iPhone and Pre, are they going to become a fad?
Business users do more than email and that's where an OS has to play in order to make a significant difference. Users aren't interested in being versed in multiple operating systems - they use what they use at work. Schools buy what their students are going to use in the workplace. The desktop fight is won and lost in the enterprise, and "web-enabled" isn't enough.
Targeting this niche for a launch a year away just doesn't seem wise.
MG
· 6 months ago
Well, what are the general user needs that are not satisfied by existing google web services? You hit on most of this in your article: - Games. Core games certainly will not shift this direction but that is fairly niche. There are a lot of online games that a much larger group of the "gaming market" takes part in though. - 3rd party. Both hardware and apps. I don't see why a lot of this couldn't be done via browser apps. I don't see the desire for it from a user perspective but perhaps Google does? Releasing a "Google OS" may be a pitch to the industry to advance this effort instead of an effort to directly gain userbase. If Google can convince everyone to start moving things into the web app world then their model will gain traction. This may drive some innovation being that there is little desire for a user to use "application X... but in a browser!"
Rob Spectre
· 6 months ago
I believe there has to be a better paradigm for computing that windows - that's windows with a little "w." There has got to be a better way to interact with applications that the limitations the currently available desktops provide and I'm surprised fewer people are getting in that space.
T-Dub
· 6 months ago
There is.
SkyNet.
And we all know where things are going to go from there.
All Comments
Windows hasn't introduced a significant user interface innovation since the start button and MacOS has been stagnant from a UI perspective since Panther. The biggest innovation in the last decade has been Compiz, which remains beta-quality software that's only available for Linux. There have been huge advances in tablets and surface computing, but the *desktop* is largely as its been since 1999.
It's disappointing that the desktop has been abandoned completely in favor of the web. It is such a fundamental way to revolutionize the way people use computers and Google would be the kind of outfit capable of producing that innovation.
Smart money is that Google’s Chrome OS will be as slow and feature-poor as its browser still is, but its tough to immagine how this play from Google isn’t going to shake up the netbook and low-budget PC market.
I guess I'm having a tough time seeing how dominating such a niche is a strategic imperative for Google. Netbooks are all the rage among dorks and pretty frequently seen in the valley and San Francisco, but are they that popular elsewhere? And with full featured notebooks getting as light and small as the Macbook Air and the growing power of smartphones like the iPhone and Pre, are they going to become a fad?
Business users do more than email and that's where an OS has to play in order to make a significant difference. Users aren't interested in being versed in multiple operating systems - they use what they use at work. Schools buy what their students are going to use in the workplace. The desktop fight is won and lost in the enterprise, and "web-enabled" isn't enough.
Targeting this niche for a launch a year away just doesn't seem wise.
- Games. Core games certainly will not shift this direction but that is fairly niche. There are a lot of online games that a much larger group of the "gaming market" takes part in though.
- 3rd party. Both hardware and apps. I don't see why a lot of this couldn't be done via browser apps. I don't see the desire for it from a user perspective but perhaps Google does? Releasing a "Google OS" may be a pitch to the industry to advance this effort instead of an effort to directly gain userbase. If Google can convince everyone to start moving things into the web app world then their model will gain traction. This may drive some innovation being that there is little desire for a user to use "application X... but in a browser!"
SkyNet.
And we all know where things are going to go from there.