Emre Sokullu is writing about a hypothetical “GoogleOS” again. As a long time OS guy, let me be the first to say that this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. For one thing, Google already has an “operating system”. It’s the web, and Google dominates the web, so why in the world would they give their main competitor such an obvious advantage by moving into its turf? Furthermore, Google no more needs an operating system in the traditional sense of the word than it needs an office suite in the traditional sense of the word. Releasing yet another Linux distribution isn’t disruptive—redefining what an operating system is is disruptive, and Google’s already doing that. Two predictions for 2007 that I’m fairly sure will hold up: 1. This won’t be the last of the GoogleOS speculation; and 2. there won’t be a GoogleOS.
you’re almost certainly right. but that said, i think it largely depends on what’s termed by support. Google’s done quite a bit to support operating systems that do in fact compete with their biggest competitor, most obviously on the thin client side but just as clearly on the thick (Google Earth for Linux, etc).
so while it doesn’t make sense, necessarily, to create another distribution, doing what they can to make stronger is almost certainly in their best interests.
Yep. Supporting a competitor to your competitor is always a good strategy. If it happens, though, it’ll look more like Google’s support for Firefox than a new Google branded thing.
Then again, there’s a clear challenger to Microsoft in the browser arena, and I’m not sure there’s as clear a challenger on the OS side (sure, there’s Linux generally, but what is “Linux” anyway?).
Personally, I think a more likely approach is a Google Pack for Linux that more or less builds a consistent Google client layer across Windows and Linux (and MacOS X), i.e., abstract away the OS entirely rather than choosing sides.
Of course, it needs to be easier to target generic Linux for this to work. :-)
-ian
Consistent Google client layer? Wouldn’t a user rather have Google apps that work like the native apps they’re already using than like the Google apps for another platform, that they aren’t?
Good question. I guess the answer to that is another question, namely “What platform does the user consider himself to be using?” As for me, I increasingly consider myself to be using the Google platform—after all, I spend most of my day in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Reader, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, etc. So, I like the fact that Picasa looks and feels the same across the operating systems I happen to be running underneath, namely Linux and Windows. I’d say the same thing about Firefox and Thunderbird. But it’s a good question. I may or may not be representative of the larger market. -ian
Hi Ian, I agree with your points. Web is Google’s operating system, yes.. And Writely, Google Spreadsheets and others are the new applications. This is the end of desktop apps era and the beginning of web apps.
What I claim is with the introduction of Windows Vista, Microsoft Live services can put pressure on Google; because this will be a seamlessly continuous experience for users, and they won’t even feel that they’re switching from offline to online space. And I think IF this happens, Google may want to introduce a Windows alternative at that point – just to cut the MIDDLEMAN, Windows. From my point of view, desktop operating systems are quickly becoming nothing more than a middleman in between you and the internet and thanks to Linux, OS is a commodity now.
So IF all these hypotheses come true, how will be the Google OS – a whole new operating system? No of course, a Linux distro.. but more like a thin client OS with the sole purpose of establishing internet connection and firing up Google optimized Firefox. Have you ever seen ByzantineOS, something like that.. And in this last article, I even go more in detail and discuss what strategies are possible and vice versa. We’ll see, nothing is for sure of course… But I believe that Google may already have developed this “GoogleOS” but just waiting for the outcomes of Vista. Thanks for reading,
+1. google is NOT gonna make their OS; They’ve got their share on the market and will concentrate on it. In case they will start development of Linux based OS, company resources (financial, labor, time, etc) will be involved into this. So, a good marketing speicalist (i hope there are a lot in google) Understands this and I assume will NOT recommend the Google Top Managers to do this.