Google's Chrome Operating System may not be available to
end-users until late 2010, but Microsoft has a response to its rival’s release of the OS to open source for developers on
Nov. 20.
The
Chrome OS is browser-based, and will run on netbooks as a Web-centric
alternative to traditional desktop-based operating systems built by
companies such as Microsoft and Apple. Users’ applications and data will be
stored in the cloud and accessible through Google Chrome Web browser, which will
run in conjunction with Chrome OS.
Google already has another operating system, Android, that
primarily operates on smartphones such as the Motorola Droid and the HTC Droid
Eris.
"From what was shared, [Google Chrome] appears to be in the
early stages of development," a Microsoft spokesperson told eWEEK after the
Google presentation. "From our perspective, however, our customers are already
voicing their approval of the way Windows 7 just works—across the Web and on the
desktop, and on all sizes and types of PCs."
The spokesperson also echoed a line originally delivered
by Microsoft
CEO Steve Ballmer during Microsoft’s Nov. 19 Annual Shareholder Meeting,
suggesting that Windows 7 had sold "twice as many units" of both boxed and
pre-installed software as any other Windows operating system over a comparable
period of time.
During that meeting, Ballmer declined to give exact sales
numbers other than to describe them as "fantastic." He also suggested that
Windows 7 would give Microsoft the opportunity to make in-roads with a younger
demographic of users, such as college students, who are ostensibly enamored with
Apple.
In the short time, Microsoft has reason to hope that the
release of Windows 7 will allow it to maintain primacy in the operating-system
market. Statistics-analysis firm Net Applications estimated in a recent report
that Windows 7 occupied more than 4 percent of that market by Nov. 9, outpacing
Vista; another research note from
NPD Group suggested that U.S. sales of Windows 7 boxed software were 234 percent
higher than sales of Vista during comparable time periods.
It remains to be seen, however, how the rising prevalence of
cloud computing and browser-based operating systems such as Chrome OS could
potentially affect the complexion of the OS market in the medium- to long-term.
Chrome OS allows users to access applications such as Google Gmail, Calendar and
other programs through a series of tabs, but will apparently not support
traditional desktop applications—something that could potentially retard its
spread among business users who rely on such applications.
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