9/24/2004
Google OS revisited
Recently there has been a lot of speculation of what is commonly called a ‘Google OS’, a term I think has been coined by Jason Kottke. The idea behind this is, that Google is trying to advance into Microsoft’s territory by providing applications through the web browser, which formerly ran locally on the users machine. Gmail, which popped out of nowhere in April 2004, might have marked the beginning of this trend. In fact, due to it’s mighty javascript frontend, Gmail feels much more like an actual e-mail client than any web mail service before.
Then there have been rumours regarding a messenger service Google might be developing. It might be Jabber based and could use orkut data for contact lists. Other people think it might be built from Hello, a picture sharing application which belongs to Picasa, which was acquired by Google recently.
Finally there are even more speculations surrounding a Google browser, which might be built upon the open source Mozilla. Even the mainstream media has caught up on this, as the NY Post recently wrote about the possibility of this browser. And the domain gbrowser.com is actually registered to Google Inc.
So it seems like Google is going to stirr up the net some more soon by releasing these applications (and maybe others, yet unthought of). One should remember though that a bunch of applications do not make an operating system. In fact, according to OS guru Tanenbaum, such user space application do not even belong to the OS. Having these applications can make users more independent from the operating system they use though. You won’t need Windows any more to start up your Google Browser and write a letter in Gword. If Google succeeds in providing useful web applications that become widely accepted tools, users formerly depending on Windows might switch to other platforms such as Linux or OS X. This is where Google might actually hurt Microsoft. Let’s see where we are going tomorrow.
September 27th, 2004 at 9:41 pm
Bravo! I like Microsoft, but todays computers are way too dependent on it. I wouldnt mind learning Linux, or Other such OS’s.. i think it would be a nice change. Google is doing a magnificent job and i really do hope they do all of the things rumored. it would be such a great thing! I would totally die to have a Google Messenger, instead of using trillian, which i currently use now. AIM is very plain and boring and i dont like to have 3 seperate messengers going either, but back to the point. I hate all these people who are so utterly against A NEW CHANGE, I currently use Firefox, because i hate Microsfts Internet Explorer. To many popups, and Firefox’s Addblocking Skills are also amazing. if google came out with a browser using Mozilla im pretty sure they would incorprate the same ideas into their own browser. Tabbed browsing anyone? Its a beautiful thing… and since when did Internet Explorer EVER have such goodies? Microsoft is going to have to come up with some really great stuff in order to keep up. i think they just got a bit too full of themselves and now theyre stuck catching up. Whats a matter Bill, cant handle a little competition????
January 24th, 2005 at 12:36 pm
I think it will be a really good thing if Google do all the things (and possibly more!) that they have said (and what people have speculated). I would love to see GIM and can’t wait until GMail is up and running fully. The best part is, Google make good clean software unlike certain other unmentioned software companies. If Googles new applications become widespread people may switch to other OS’s. Plus if this happens it will be encouragement for other companies to their software compatible with other OS’s… and then we will have real choice in the software market. Nice one Google!