I Just Jizzed Myself

[Minute]

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/ ... me-os.html

[Ddrak]

Interesting. It's a fairly limited OS (stripped down Linux) that's basically designed to run Chrome so you can access the Google apps online. Probably won't run much else for a while, but being open source won't make it as limited as the iPhone where Apple has to bless everything.

The more interesting question is how well the hardware manufacturers will pick it up. With a stated goal of eliminating hardware upgrades they'll be somewhat shooting themselves in the foot to go with it, but who knows? Certainly won't be a serious competitor for Windows (in my opinion) on the desktop but will cut into both Windows and vanilla Linux distros on netbooks.

Dd

[Taxious]

As a google fanboy, I'll definitely be trying it out.

[Kulaf]

However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web.

I gotta confess that I duck snorted when I read that.

[Ddrak]

However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web.

I gotta confess that I duck snorted when I read that.

You mean operating systems like Unix (designed in 1974), which Linux cloned and Google is now rebadging as ChromeOS?

Dd

[Kulaf]

Yeah.....and not to mention every MS OS is modern. This really reads like a clone of the Apple manifesto.....we so modern.....they are filled with bugs and viruses.

[Fallakin Kuvari]

I've had less problems with Mac OS than I did with Windows.

That aside, I am looking to bootcamp my laptop now.

[Kulaf]

The Mac OS runs on a much more homogeneous platform than Windows does for one......and secondly is not the target of every hacker and virus creator because of its insignificant share of the OS market.

[Bahd Zoolander]

I remember 15 years ago when the future was Java and the thin client...

[Klast Brell]

There will always be things people want that a thin client just cant do. How many polygons can you squeeze though a broadband connection? We only recently got to the point where you can do streaming video at a watchable resolution over an internet connection. Regular computers were doing that 10 years ago. I'm sure that in ten years a thin client, cloud computer, whatever it is 10 years from now, will be able to do anything a regular desktop can do today. But a regular desktop of 10 years from now will be able to do so much more. Thin clients will always lag years behind.

[Select]

cloud computer

I love that idea. Creates a great mental image.

[Kulaf]

There will always be things people want that a thin client just cant do. How many polygons can you squeeze though a broadband connection? We only recently got to the point where you can do streaming video at a watchable resolution over an internet connection. Regular computers were doing that 10 years ago. I'm sure that in ten years a thin client, cloud computer, whatever it is 10 years from now, will be able to do anything a regular desktop can do today. But a regular desktop of 10 years from now will be able to do so much more. Thin clients will always lag years behind.

That depends on what you consider a "thin client". Using something like XenApp you can run things on the backend and just send the screen images to the client. The client doesn't need anymore processing power than it needs to effectively show the images and send user input.