Google Chrome OS

Google announced its Chrome OS some time last year – trying to create a lightweight operating system targeted mainly towards notebooks. Chrome OS is designed to mainly work through the web and can have web applications. Even the Chrome OS startup page looks like a web browser. All files for the applications have to be stored online or in the cloud. This is the first cloud based operating system that we will be seeing. Just this week, Google finally announced their pilot program to provide test notebooks to qualified users so they can get feedback from those users. The notebooks will have no hard drives since one of the primary goals of the Chrome OS is to be fast. Some web applications designed for Chrome OS will run without being connected to the Internet. It remains to be seen, how seamless the integration of web-based OS with web applications can be considering bandwidth speeds. Also, how successful can a lightweight OS be for bigger corporations or data intensive workload that can be done with traditional operating systems. Will Windows be wiped out or still hold a niche market for enterprises?

Google also demonstrated printing in the cloud from within the Chrome OS. There is still a long way to go, but it can be a great idea. Security is the first concern in cloud-based printing. Will Google snoop around in the documents to target advertising? And of course, how does this all connect to having a physical device to print? HP already has web printers that can be used to print from anywhere. The physical printer does exist in your home/office but can be used from anyplace.

Google Apps

We all know about various Google services such as Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar and so on that are available for personal use. These are provided free of charge and are universally popular. But, I want to delve more into Google Apps for enterprises and educational institutions. Google offers the same suite of applications to business users while providing more storage, features for nominal charge. However, Google Apps for educational institutions such as universities and K-12 schools is free.

But Google’s true cloud offering is the App Engine which allows companies to run their web apps on Google’s infrastructure. While providing reliability, support and security, Google’s app engine runs using Java and Python environments. This can be a limitation compared to Amazon’s varied offerings in multiple environments. Google is in a good position to build its clout in the cloud arena and diversify its revenue resources from its advertising model. However, the support and services for the cloud offering need to be more comprehensive especially in the IaaS and PaaS section of cloud market.