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Five Reasons Why Microsoft Does Not Need to Worry About Google Chrome OS
Posted Jul 09, 2009 11:22am EDT by Joseph Tartakoff in Investing, Computers, Internet, Software and Services, Products and Trends
From paidContent.org, July 9, 2009:
Microsoft still hasn’t commented on Google’s plans to introduce an operating system of its own. An official statement is coming later today and we’ll post it here when it comes out. (Update: Microsoft now says it will in fact not comment). But there are lots of reasons why Microsoft does not need to be too concerned about Google’s foray into its home turf. Here are five:
—Windows 7 is not Vista: Google’s operating system, which is initially targeted for netbooks, will only be available starting in mid-2010. By then, Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows 7, will have been on the market for at least nine months. Unlike its predecessor Windows Vista, Windows 7 has received rave early reviews. Also unlike Vista, Microsoft has promised that Windows 7 will work as well on netbooks as on high-end gaming PCs. As one Microsoft employee wrote on his blog today, “If Win7 didn’t have a SKU for Netbooks, this might even be interesting.” Microsoft will therefore be in a strong position to defend its turf than when Chrome OS comes out
—Microsoft is building its own browser optimized to run web apps: Like Google, Microsoft understands that more people are running applications from within the browser—and is moving quickly to adapt its products to that reality. The company’s research arm, Microsoft Research, is developing a new browser called Gazelle, which it describes as a “browser-based OS” optimized to run web apps. Just last week, the company put out a summary of the principles behind the project.
—Chrome OS will compete with Ubuntu: Chrome OS—which is open source—will further fragment the open source operating system market, since it will provide yet another option, writes Renai LeMay at ZDNet. This comes just as Ubuntu was becoming the dominant choice. He writes, “In this context, Google’s decision to create its own Linux distribution and splinter the Linux community decisively ... can only be seen as foolhardy and self-obsessive.” That could obviously benefit Microsoft.
—Are consumers ready for a life on the web? Most of the user experience in Chrome OS will take place on the web, so it’s not likely that computers with the operating system installed will be able to run any Windows applications. That will likely limit adoption. Writes Bernstein Research’s Jeffrey Lindsay, “Google would need to rely on people to more fully adopt web-based services (a long-dated proposition), or for software developers to port their applications over to Chrome OS.”
—Google’s track record outside of search is poor: Google has launched other high-profile attacks on Microsoft products, with only limited success so far. The company has gone after Office with Google Docs and Internet Explorer with Chrome. Both products may have generated lots of buzz but not much market share. And, of course, Microsoft is also going on the offensive, with its revamped search engine Bing, which directly targets Google’s core business.
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Lee - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:40PM EDT
any OS not made by MS has a special attraction for me. if you like high prices, unnecessary & non-beneficial periodic software changes [MS calls them, 'upgrades'], regular crashes, [& did i mention costly??], stick with mr. softy. i'll put up with modest limitations for a free alternative NOT made by ms. c ya. i'm leavin & poppin a viagra. you?? hang w/mr. softy.
EJ Garcia - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:40PM EDT
A google OS may be good for netbooks and phones but I don't see it getting adopted by corporate America anytime soon.
Seapath - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:44PM EDT
S. Charles: You are so far off base it is stupid. Obviously you know absolutely nothing about taxes. The middle class pays the bulk of the taxes, not the rich. In fact your numbers are reversed the middle class pay nearly 90% of all federal income tax. It would not be possible to run the country even if you took every single penny all of the millionaires in the country had. I suggest you do some research.
David - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:44PM EDT
I wonder if and how much the author is getting for rubbishing Google. Can I get some money for rubbishing them too? PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! I'll do a good job.
Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:45PM EDT
did MS shove money down your throat to write the article full of BS and FUD? everybody thought the same about browsers (that when chrome came in it would eat mozilla's share...but in reality, it was MS at a complete loss... Personally I fully support the Chrome OS. its a good start and a good alternative instead of MS's bloatware which just cripples our systems and causes us to keep us continuously upgrading our systems like maniacs when we could do the same thing with a more lean and clean OS
David - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:45PM EDT
I wonder if and how much the author is getting for rubbishing Google. Can I get some money for rubbishing them too? PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! I'll do a good job.
jekram - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:45PM EDT
This story about Google is like a movie that we have seen before. Google announced Goggle Docs 5 years ago and have to execute on Google Docs to bring in real business customers on its platform. Similarly Google announced Android it mobile platform with not so staler results. Google has yet to prove it can execute something of its own outside of search. Do no evil company has trouble executing anything out of search.
blank - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:45PM EDT
GOOGLE HAS LESS SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTS THAN MICROSOFT (ACTUALLY GOOGLE HAS JUST 1) GOOGLE SUCKS AND THE GOOGLE OS IS NOTHING BUT UNIX MICROSOFT ALREADY CONQUERED UNIX
CHJ - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:48PM EDT
Hope MS dies, they've never innovated anything and steal their tech from lesser companies. Then they charge an arm and a leg for the software to get off with some slap on the wrist from the government years later. With MS the consumer loses MS wins. At least with google the have a business model that is built on the idea of free to the consumer.
Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:48PM EDT
Good things happen when you regard the stock market as a female beast.
CHJ - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:49PM EDT
Hope MS dies, they've never innovated anything and steal their tech from lesser companies. Then they charge an arm and a leg for the software to get off with some slap on the wrist from the government years later. With MS the consumer loses MS wins.
jayme - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:49PM EDT
ubuntu asus eee pc was a major, MAJOR failure. no wonder the new versions of asus eee came packed with windows. people , average people (what represents 99%) are "trapped into a matrix" called windows, and honestly, they dont feel like getting out of it. so when it comes to OS'es , I am imperative to say, windows will keep on ruling the market. the same cannot be stated to cloud computing and opensource softwares, specially msoffice. now thats a whole different story.
CHJ - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:49PM EDT
Hope MS dies, they've never innovated anything and steal their tech from lesser companies. Then they charge an arm and a leg for the software to get off with some slap on the wrist from the government years later. With MS the consumer loses MS wins.
Yahoo! Finance User - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:53PM EDT
"At least with google the have a business model that is built on the idea of free to the consumer." And you always get what you pay for
Green - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:53PM EDT
This articles does not make very strong convincing arguments but it does do a good job hitting good point. Yeah, no many people are ready for all-web OS. Yeah, Microsoft has over 25 years of experience and success with OS while google has zilch (Google bread and butter NOW is only its search engine.) Nevertheless just because the odds are against them does not mean they can be overcome. Internet access is becoming greater by the day. You need failure before you gain sucess- Microsoft was not initially successful with things like Word. It will be a nice battler.
Disaster - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:56PM EDT
Most posters have it wrong...It's all about commoditizing the OS. If Google is successful then Microsoft will lose the ability to charge a significant premium for their desktop OS. It's obvious the promise of Network Computing has evolved. Google's OS will make this a viable business option. With Google Docs, Chrome/web browsers and other Google Services, this is going to give compelling reasons for companies to replace windows/office. 10% of users use 90% of an Operating System's features while 90% is happy with basic OS features. This is going to cost companies who invested in bloatware a great deal.. and the king of bloatware is Microsoft. Rules changed.
VJ B - Thursday July 09, 2009 01:03PM EDT
Thank you to users "buddy.wilson" and "DM" - you're dead on with your points. Companies are not going to adopt this, and even the average security conscious end-user should think twice about allowing their personal documents to reside on Google's servers (or Akamai's - or whoever they partner with to publish their data for them). Not to mention the fact that your iPods\iPhones\Digital Cameras\etc aren't going to communicate with this OS. I realize netbooks are more geared towards web-work only, but I know I use mine for a whole lot more than that. Microsoft has nothing to worry about with this announcement.
No one you know - Thursday July 09, 2009 01:07PM EDT
Plus you'll get to experience the adventure of Russian hackers finding security breaches M$ never dreamed of. Always an exciting software package. But, of course, Microsoft THIS TIME learned its lesson unlike every single previous version of Windows. Yessiree they sure have. 100% sure.
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Slammin_Sam - Thursday July 09, 2009 12:39PM EDT
This is slop. My company already runs Linux because it's FAR more stable than Windows and we're switching to Firefox as our browser because it's faster and more secure. Open source software will always be by it's very nature more secure because a whole community is backing it. And Vista is great, if you like stumbling, bloated garbage and are 14 years old and want to play War Craft.