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The Top 10 Questions For Chrome OS in 2010
Posted on 31. Dec, 2009 by Daniel Cawrey. 
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As we wrap up what has been an eventful 2009, I thought that now would be a great time for some reflection on where Chrome OS is going and some of the big questions that do not have concrete answers yet. An official release by Google is at least six months away for Chromium but even so that leaves a lot left to the imagination at this point. So here is a review what are the biggest issues relating to the Chrome operating system and my best attempt to try to explore them. Enjoy and here’s to a great 2010!
Who will manufacture the GoogleBook?
A look at the third quarter 2009 market share for netbook manufacturers puts Acer out in front with a 38.8% piece of the pie. But Asus is not far behind at around 30%. I don’t believe that a brand like HP or Dell would want to slap a Google logo on hardware that they’ve designed, so my bet right now is that Asus is Google’s HTC in the netbook market. However, a contract supplier such as Foxconn or Flextronics could offer a sweeter deal and have no qualms about branding issues.
Will it be subsidized?
As we’ve already seen with Google’s Nexus One Android Phone pricing, subsidizing and partnering with a wireless provider looks like the best path for the GoogleBook. It doesn’t look like Google wants to eat any cost trying to release this product, and why should they? There should be enough hype prior to an official launch. And don’t forget that open source developers will have had their hands on Chromium, release their own builds. This project is starting to mirror in some degree the path that Android took to completely blowing up this year, and I mean that in a good way.
Will it be secure?
It’s going to need to be. McAfee has already reported Chrome OS as a top vulnerability of 2010. In a hacker’s eyes, Microsoft is no longer the big daddy, since they have gotten their security up to snuff in the past couple of years. Now it’s time for the focus to be shifted onto software that is complementary to operating systems, such as Adobe’s Flash or Reader. Since Chrome OS will be both the OS and the applications, that’s where the concern is. Basically, cybercriminals are going to target the software that has the lowest level of protection in terms of security, and I think that McAfee has now put Google on alert with their report.
Will there be hardware options?
No, there won’t. Just kidding. But it’s interesting to see Google deciding what hardware is going to work with their operating system. I don’t blame them, because they want to make something that is simple and just works. Microsoft has spent so much time trying to be everthing to everyone in terms of hardware support, and although I don’t blame them, I am curious to see how creating specific standards for Chromium could potentially make this operating system so simple to use there’s no thinking about it.
What about the competition?
Amazingly, there are a lot of options out there for operating systems designed with netbooks in and mind that there too many for me to list here. We just did a review of Moblin, Intel’s open-source foray into the realm, and we plan on posting more soon. A little competition never hurt anyone, especially in the tech market since that is just going to make products that are better for us end users. This is especially true when you consider that sales for netbooks is expected to grow by 297% within the next three years.
Is Chrome OS a marketing ploy?
You have to start wondering if Chrome OS is supposed to be a conduit to everything Google. If you think about it, the operating system complements things that Google has been working on for years. Take Google Apps. While it has been out for 2006, and it did experience an outage this year, it appears that Apps is starting to gain some traction with large companies such as Genetech implementing it. Now give users a Google-branded device that doesn’t have Microsoft Office and what do you get? Instant adoption of Apps by a wide range if users. This method could potentially be used for an array of other Google offerings.
What about Android?
It’s difficult to figure out the strategy on this one, because although Sergey Brin says they’ll eventually converge, it feels like there is a chasm that is further separating these two especially as Android begins to take off in the mobile phone market. Along with a tepid review for the Acer One D250 netbook loaded with Android, it feels like for the time being these two are going to be very, very separate in terms of functionalities. Besides that, I keep wondering about the human-computer interaction element of the two that makes them fundamentally different: for a netbook to be really useful, it needs a full keyboard which is not a feature that is in any way desirable on a phone.
How does Chrome OS affect privacy?
It wouldn’t be surprising if Google CEO Eric Schmidt would like to take back his recent comments on privacy in terms of search, but he has not retracted them as far as I know. While it’s a great idea that cloud computing can allow someone to log onto a machine and get their data from wherever they are, let’s not forget that the logon you use is your Google account. The information from your account is currently used to target advertising while you search and use Gmail. If that is the case now, in the future who knows what else? Did I mention that the login to Chrome OS is your Google account as well?
What will open source developers’ impact be?
We’ve already seen iterations of Chrome OS developed by open source developers, and there is already a 64-bit version out there to try out. This leads one to wonder where this will go in the next six to eight months before there is an official release. Since Chrome OS is open source, it’s entirely possible that techies out there will run there own builds that allow them to do more than a commercial version would. Regardless, open source is the way to go. Developers outside of Google will make this a legitimate competitor in the netbook market, and we shall soon see if it will either quickly dominate or not.
How will Microsoft fight back?
Although Steve Ballmer doesn’t seem particularly concerned with Chromium, there are some indications that Microsoft is going to have embrace more open source projects in order to stay relevent in a market that is increasingly on the moving towards that direction. For example, Windows4all is a browser based version of Windows 7 that has been developed by Microsoft’s open source community called Codplex. Also, They are releasing Office 2010 with browser based versions. They are going to attempt to stay in the game, but really it seems like all they are doing is trying to not fall completely behind.
