The tech world is buzzing about the possibility that Google, the mega search engine entity, is going to release a cheap PC with its own operating system (OS). No real info is available yet, only speculation. That speculation has caused Google to be one of the hottest stocks in the world.
Google has been doing a good job of acquiring various Internet and desktop tools during the past couple of years. Google has in its stable Blogger (blogging), Gmail (e-mail), Picasa (graphics and photos), Desktop (search your PC), Earth (satellite maps), Talk (instant messaging), and Base (free classified ads). Not to mention tools for mobile phones, a tool bar for Internet Explorer (and a Mozilla/Firefox extension), image search, news groups, shopping (Froogle), video, RSS news feeds, and a web accelerator. They even bought a web site statistics program and are giving it away for free (if you get a Gmail account). This should make some Webmaster very happy.
They have also registered www.gbrowser.com, .net, and .org (although Google swears this was a joke). What is missing? Let's not forget their relationship with Sun and their plans to distribute Open Office anywhere they can. Heck, they even have plans to offer FREE wifi in select US cities.
OK, let's recap. Google owns or has close ties with: search engines, office software, photo software, e-mail, maps, news feeds, wireless internet access, and classified ads. The only thing missing is an OS. My prediction is (and if I am wrong, no big deal) that Google will offer a cheap PC with a Java OS, preloaded with ALL their tools. Just think, if they got into the OS business, you could quite possibly have another contender for Microsoft.
Currently the competitors to Microsoft are few. You have Apple, but Macs are not cheap, although the software is rather easy to use. Linux, which is free, but for the most part it is not very easy to use. That is about it. Well, there are other OS's, but Linux and Mac OS are the only ones that are used in the mainstream and that segment is small (well, compared to Microsoft that is). What about the other OS's, the ones that are really in the mintority? Well, Linspire is Linux running WINE, so it is very "Windows-like" but it is still Linux. Amiga is dead, and so is BeOS (although there are open source versions (free) being made of these). Solaris has a free Intel download, but it is a bear to install and configure, so it is typically used by diehard geeks. Solaris (the Sun OS) is best suited for Sun hardware.
Apple has not (and says it refuses to do so) released a version for Intel PC's,. Too bad. I feel this would be something that would sway a lot of people towards the Mac OS. Most people do not want to use Mac OS because it only runs on Mac hardware. Mac hardware is expensive (compared to Intel hardware that is). I could go one forever about Macs, but I will try to say on point. This post will be long enough as it is.
There are a few more obscure OS's being worked on: SkyOS, Syllable (both are new, Unix-like OS's with very nice graphical interfaces) and ReactOS. ReactOS is interesting because it is the only OS I know of that is made to be compliant with Windows, not Linux. All 3 of these are still in early development, but they show promise. None of them will never be mainstream OS's (mainstream meaning usable by Joe Consumer) because no one will ever write applications for them out side of the open source crowd and most likely will not be "idiot proof" to install. No, they will be "hobby OS's" that geeks like me will play with and learn on and tweak.
Now I think that a Java PC from Google would really be interesting. If you are not familiar with Java, it is a programming language that allows you to write the code once and run it on any machine (providing you have the Java Runtime Environment on your computer). Java is used on PDA's, in cell phones, on Unix / Linux, Windows, and Mac. It can be slower than the native OS, but on its own it does OK.
So let's look at a hypothetical situation: Google releases a PC with a Java OS (Courtesy of Sun). You could connect to the web with Google's free WiFi service, do all your searches with its search engine, work on your resume in the free Open Office Suite, surf the web using the free GBrowser, check your free Gmail e-mail account, organize all your photos with Picasa, and play tons of free Java games that are available on the web. What did all this cost you? The price of a PC, nothing else.
If you did this from a Microsoft perspective, you pay for your PC, much the same as you did with Google, but with Microsoft you would pay for MSN broadband every month, use the inferior MSN search, pay for your Office Suite (MS Office), use the insecure Internet Explorer to surf, and check your Hotmail account (which has less storage than Gmail does, unless you pay for the upgrade).
I am not saying that Google has a "slam dunk" here. As a matter of fact, I think this scenario would COST Google money initially. However, if they software is easy enough to install (like Windows), free (like Linux), easy to use (like Mac OS), then Google could make a difference in the way we use our PC's.
To be honest, I really do not want Google to be the new "800 lb gorilla". While it would be nice to see some competition as well as some standards (why is it we have standard graphic and sound formats, but not a standard document format?) in our marketplace, but as much as I like Google, I do not completely trust them.
I do not have Google Desktop or Picasa installed. I do have Google Earth (more of a toy than anything) and a Gmail / Gtalk account. I did not install the Gtalk client (I used GAIM, the open source IM client). I do not put all my eggs in one basket. Just as I do not like Microsoft having COMPLETE control of a normal computing environment (OS, Office suite, browser, e-mail client, chat, newsreader, etc), I do not put all my faith in Google. They are the kings of searches, hands down, but their other tools are not all that great. Good, mind you, but not great. The IM tool is very limited, Google maps has been wrong more than right when I have used it, the Picasa interface/usability takes a lot of getting used to.
Gmail is good and the changes they make to it are making it better. Blogger is nice (not plugging it, I just like it). Google Earth is very neat, but more as a toy than anything else. The image search in Google has been very helpful at work when my boss asks me to find pictures of obscure hardware we are making documentation for.
I am not a fan of Microsoft, but I am not "anti-Microsoft" either. I still use their OS on one of my machines at home (the other two have Linux). I do this mainly for my wife and for the odd occurrence where Windows and Internet Explorer are required. It is not often, but it does happen.
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