Amazing news, Google, the one most non-technical people only for it’s search engine and the neat email tool, has decided to launch their own Operating System (see details here http://bit.ly/jIsIN).  This is meant to compete with the popular Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS (as well as Linux). However it appears that Google isn’t simply trying to create another desktop operating system in hopes to compete with Microsoft. Google is trying to be a catalyst for the Cloud movement.

Arguably, Google is the forerunner in the “Cloud Race”.  This new Chrome OS may release as early as this winter in time for you to get your significant other a Chrome OS Netbook. With the annoucement of the Chrome OS, many people are beginning to wonder if Google can really compete with Microsoft, Apple, and Linux in the OS realm, and if it’ll stay true to Google’s cloud ideology. From what I can gather, it seems like this OS is going to be lightweight as it is meant primarily for Netbooks. It’s main function will be to provide a workstation interface for their cloud. Essentially, they have taken the idea of the web portal from the 90s and early 2000s and moved it from the web browser to the desktop.

Now the question remains, how will this work for Google? Afterall, are we ready for a new OS? Most of us are comfortable with the Windows and Mac OS X and Linux, why would we change? Also, with the release of Windows 7 slated for late October, is that the right time for Google to be trying something new? I think so. Technology is changing all the time. Are any of us using Tandy’s anymore? Who amongst us is still trying to code in punch cards? Most of our current OS platforms are just rehashing the same idea. They have some innovation but very little of it is true innovation. We seem to be modifying the same idea for the past 25 years or so.

It is time for some real technological change. In about 5-10 years, we are going to have platform agnostic machines that will really be functioning as terminals. Now it is hard to fathom running a resource hungry application like Adobe Photoshop on a cloud but we are still trying to look at it by today’s standards. In the next few years, the cost of data and bandwidth will decrease, the advancements in processing capabilities will increase, and who knows what else will arise to make clouds grow. My first computer had an AMD Duron processor, 64MB of RAM, 1GB Hard Drive Space, and ran Windows 98. This was about 8 years ago. If I tried to install Office 2007 on that machine, it’d burst into flames. In the next few years, expect to see advancements in cloud computing. Either these software vendors will port their software to a web application platform or we’ll see application virtualization come more into play. Companies like Citrix and VMWare will become more relevant.

Earlier this year, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer described Google as being a rival to the desktop OS. At this point in time, the only real crossover from the internet to hardware was the Android OS for mobile devices. Now with the announcement of Chrome OS, it’ll be interesting to hear what Ballmer will say about all of this. Microsoft is beginning to see Google as a real rival which is probably why they are investing so much into Azure. They will be moving more toward the Software as a Service (SaaS) platform over the progression of the next few years. Earlier this year, Microsoft finally announced a rough pricing platform for their Azure Cloud.

Regardless of what is said about the Chrome OS, one thing that we must say is that Google is stepping forawrd in trying to merge the desktop to the cloud. One can only hope to see more growth in the cloud industry.

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