My holiday gift giving season started early Thursday morning when the UPS guy pounded on my door and handed me a package. Inside was a notebook -- Google's much-discussed cloud-based Cr-48 Chrome OS laptop, which was announced by the company on Tuesday.
The CR-48 has landed! This morning, we received one of Google's first Chrome OS-powered laptops. As you'll see in our video, the CR-48 looks a lot like an old black Apple MacBook that's trying to sneak past customs -- it's all flat black with no stickers or even product logos anywhere to draw attention.
Google says it is working on an operating system designed for netbooks that boots in seconds, is impervious to viruses, and is designed to run Web-based applications really well. What's not to like? Plenty--if you're the number one software maker, Microsoft. Expect a showdown. Google faces an uphill battle rolling out its operating system, Chrome OS. The irony is, Google may not care if Chrome OS succeeds or fails. Here's why.
The amazing thing about Google is how a business that makes 97 percent of its revenue selling advertising has people convinced that it is a technology company. And then gets a free pass despite a series of failures outside its core competencies in search and online ad sales.
The announcement a few days ago of Google's new Chrome OS was simultaneously shocking and expected. It's a typically understated and quietly ambitious move on behalf of Google. It's also proof -- if it were needed -- that Google people are supremely smart. They have their sights firmly set on the future as well as the here and now.
Do you trust Google? If you use its multitude of online services on a daily basis you might, but is that assumption wise? For some, Google is a wonderful company with a broad selection of useful online tools that make life easier, but for others Google is a looming, unregulated monster just waiting for the moment to drop the 'don't' from the company's unofficial motto, "Don't be evil."
Google's unveiling of its Chrome OS project was akin to opening a Pandora's box of questions. Perhaps actor Joe Pesci said it best in his role as David Ferrie in Oliver Stone's "JFK": "It's a mystery wrapped inside a riddle inside an enigma". While we know a few basics -- open source, lightweight, targeted initially at netbooks, runs on x86 and ARM processors -- there are a lot more mysteries to be solved before netbooks running the Chrome OS hit the shelves next year.
Google's idea of an operating system sounds pretty cool: Lightweight. Speedy. Secure. Web-centric. But while I'm sure Chrome OS will pick up some fans, I have a hard time seeing this as the way of the future for computing.
News of Google's Chrome operating system is sending waves though the tech world with some saying the OS signals the beginning of the end for Microsoft and others who say Google will fall flat on its face and fail.