ChromeOS – Revolution or Bust!

Everyone seems to be going a little over board with the newly announced Chrome OS. Don’t get me wrong, I love all new shiny things – I’m a shiny-new-thing-lover, but people are not only blowing this out of proportion, they’re not even talking about the right things. Let’s break it down shall we?

What IS Chrome OS?
Simply put, Chrome OS is Google’s take on the PC. They essentially stripped out the actual operating system and you’re running a slightly glorified browser. Why slightly? Well, because they’re essentially using Google Chrome with a few added tweaks. Want to know how it will run? Just pop open Google Chrome and hit the maximize button. Sure there will be a few UI tweaks and a couple of additions here and there, but that’s essentially what you are looking at.

What’s the big deal then?
The big deal here is two-fold. First off, it’s by Google! For die hard Googlers (me and damn near everyone else -.-) nothing Google can do is wrong! And even if they put out something questionable, they either fix it, or kill it and explain why. Google is also huge on the internet. Their applications either enjoy huge successes, or bomb and are killed quickly. Therefore, people come to expect a certain level of awesome from Google, and they expect that by Google officially calling Chrome OS it’s own project that they will get awesome. Secondly they used the word “cloud” multiple times, and right now that word is a game changer.

I’m confused.
Don’t worry, you’re not alone, a lot of tech bloggers seem to think that Google tipping its toe into the PC market will result in a revolution. Some people even think that Microsoft should watch out. They’re wrong. Google is trying something different, sure, but it won’t have much of an impact on people who aren’t tech savvy. Let’s examine this idea a bit more, with the use of some average customers.

Customer 1 – Just want it to work
I worked for a while as a sales associate at a fairly large computer store. Customers would come in daily looking for a computer that they could use just for checking their email, browsing the internet and listening to some music. They didn’t do anything fancy, and were therefore not looking for anything overly expensive. Sadly, Chrome OS only satisfies 2.5 of their results, and even then, it clobbers them into something they’re not quite comfortable with. Web based email is something that is finally catching on to the main stream. It’s the newer generation that are really making strides with the cloud. Older generations are more comfortable with Outlook Express. That isn’t to say that won’t get used to a web-based client. It will just take some time. It took me a few months to move my parents away from Outlook Express and to Gmail. My father handled the move fairly well, but my mother found it a hassle. In fact, to this day she will delete and email rather than archive it, even if there is a chance she will use it later. The internet is what Chrome will excel at. But “browsing the internet” usually translates into 25-30 pages that a user will visit frequently. The last bit is where users will really get confused. Since ChromeOS doesn’t have a native file-system, there isn’t any way to store your files on it. That means that all your music on your old PC will stay on your old PC. If you have an mp3 player you can definitely hook it up and look at your music, but you can’t play it. Of course, if you have an iPod you’re just out of luck. iPod’s will require iTunes which requires a hard-drive. If you want to listen to music now, you’re stuck going with online services like Lala, Pandora and Last.fm. Of course, Pandora doesn’t work in most places, and that extensive library that they’ve build up won’t work.

Customer 2 – The Gamer/Hardware Guru
They know exactly what they are looking for and won’t waste your time. They’ll have a list of things they want and they’ll just run through your store and pick them up, stopping you only if they can’t find something. They’re veterans. They already know ChromeOS won’t let them play games or download movies and music or even let them tinker about with some music editing software that they need and they won’t waste time thinking about it.

Customer 3 – The self-proclaimed guru
These customers generally have some idea of what they’re looking for, but have no clue about specifics. They think of themselves as better than the average user and tend to have idea’s about systems that they’ve just picked up from others. They don’t know if ChromeOS is right for them, but once you mention that it doesn’t have a hard-drive they’ll be a little skeptic.

Customer 4 – Curious
This is the only customer that will pick up ChromeOS. They have an idea of what ChromeOS is about, and they know that it won’t replace a desktop or laptop, but still, they’re curious about it. These customers will come in looking specifically for ChromeOS and if you don’t have it, they’ll move right on to the next place.

And that is why ChromeOS isn’t going to go up against any of the big OSes. It’s not designed to. At its core, ChromeOS is meant for a very niche set of users. People who like Google’s products and are looking for a hassle free way to access them. It’s not meant to replace your current machine, it’s a supplement, something that Google themselves has tried to make clear. If you’re interested in reading up some more on Googles ChromeOS, I’ve included a couple links to some articles that I think address the situation rather well.

http://gizmodo.com/5408712/what-google-needs-for-the-chrome-os-to-succeed
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/11/chromeos-announcement.ars/