Should Microsoft Be Scared of ChromeOS?

By John Biggs

While you won’t be able to sense it at first, expect to feel a high frequency buzz from the direction of Redmond in the next few months. That’s the Windows 7 and Office group fearing the rise of a new juggernaut on low-cost computing hardware, ChromeOS.

ChromeOS may not be powerful, it may not play Far Cry and it may not run Microsoft Office but it’s a game changer. The underpowered laptops that limped along under Vista, XP, or 7 will fly under a new ChromeOS regime and thin-and-light laptops will fall below the vaunted $199 mark as the so-called “Microsoft Tax” – basically the small cost manufacturers pay for OEM licenses – disappears.

I’ve been saying for most of this year that Android will replace Windows Mobile as the “default” smartphone operating system. Thus far, if a manufacturer didn’t have their own OS or wasn’t in bed with a certain provider, they chose Windows Mobile. That operating system is still popular with a certain subset of user, namely users with lazy IT departments or computer owners cursed with the inability to download and install odd syncing software. Android will change all that.

The same will come to pass for lower-end hardware solutions, solutions where Windows or Windows CE were once standard.

My prediction is this: netbooks, as we know, them will come with ChromeOS as a boot option. Ultrathin laptops (think the Dell Adamo or the HP Envy 13) will come with Windows 7. Netbook configuration, then, will consist of entering your IMAP and SMTP info, a few social media credentials, and maybe uploading a picture of your dog as a background image. The rest – installing apps, buying games (other than Android/ChromeOS games), and running Microsoft Office – will be gone, thrust into the cloud.

I’m usually a pessimist. I’m not when it comes to something like ChromeOS. This is just what Asian OEMs are looking for – a respected software stack for their underpowered hardware.

Original post

Comments

[Josh B Thompson]

> I'm usually a pessimist. I’m not when it comes to something like
> ChromeOS
your article clearly reads with a hyper pessimistic tone. The tone is clearly aimed at MSFT with your claim of discovering MSFT's destructor with GOOG being the keymaster.
Google [like you] is making the petty mistake of trying to 'get' Microsoft. They should make the right decision to serve their markets rather than being so petty. Only computer geeks appreciate the drama regarding MSFT.

2009 Nov 19 04:12 PM

[Bozzo]

Why not just use MS-DOS, or even better for MSFT-haters like you some other DOS, it'll fly on any hardware made in last 10 years :), if that's your point behind "Chrome won't be able to do much, but it'll be able to run on gimpy hardware and won't cost you much".

2009 Nov 19 04:25 PM

[jack dee]

yep, its just what everyone has been waiting for.

A desktop/netbook that does less than the average smartphone will by the time it hits the streets.

good luck with that. Goog is taking its eye off the ball.


(long goog msft)

2009 Nov 19 04:30 PM

[Tom B]

"A desktop/netbook that does less than the average smartphone will by the time it hits the streets."

This is why the iPhone is the "REAL" "net book".


On Nov 19 04:30 PM jack dee wrote:

> yep, its just what everyone has been waiting for.
>
> A desktop/netbook that does less than the average smartphone will
> by the time it hits the streets.
>
> good luck with that. Goog is taking its eye off the ball.
>
>
> (long goog msft)

2009 Nov 19 09:20 PM

[Snitzer]

The only market share Chrome will get is leftover Linux, as their capabilities seem to be about the same. The Cloud, while enticing, has yet to achieve critical mass, and the desktop still has some years left in it. The computing world is far larger than just email and web surfing, with the likes of C4D, Maya, Sonar, Vegas, etc, tied to the hard drive for the near term future.

2009 Nov 20 03:59 PM

[SteveWeatherby1]

Everybody touts these "netbooks" as revoluntionary.

Here is what I've learned in the few months that I've owned a netbook (Asus EEE 901):

XP Home ran like a dog.

Ubuntu NBR (and EEEubuntu) run just fine.

"Surfing" or "browsing" the web on a 8.9" screen is not satisfying. Nothing is formatted for reading on such a small (and wide) screen.

Typing on a scaled down keyboard is not satisfying.

The only person that "enjoys" my netbook is my 6 year old son, and only when playing flash/shockwave games that actually fit on the little screen.

It's also handy to keep in the kitchen for looking up recipes in a pinch.

I could see it as being handy as a portable movie player - of course without a DVD drive you would have to spend time ripping/converting the movie and then transferring it to the netbook.

2009 Nov 23 12:12 PM