The Chrome OS

Google has released their operating system and it looks like my expectations were wrong.

Chrome OS is in fact a glorified web browser. Driver support will be designed for specific limited hardware, the operating system is embedded in firmware and everything is designed to run in 'the cloud'. It's a courageous attempt to address current issues with operating systems and is a massive leap from existing computing paradigms.

But who would want it?

It's just a cut down version of an operating system (any operating system) with Chrome running as the browser. If the applications all run through a browser, then why not any browser? What use is a second computer that only performs a small subset of functionality of another computer? There aren't anywhere near enough applications (desktop productivity, business organisation, graphics manipulation, 3D games, educational packages) to make any computer based on Chrome OS anything but a casual toy or instant-on web browser. There's a market for these two areas, but it's at the cheap end of the scale.

The OS doesn't get any cheaper than Chrome but it's still got to run on something. In fact, it has to run on something very specifically designed for Chrome. So what we'll be waiting for now is a hardware manufacturer to design and build an internet appliance with a short shelf life for a small market segment which will be cheap enough to reach a secondary market where demand is driven by price point and usability. Well, usability is a no brainer because touch screens are still way too expensive to fit to any reasonably sized system at a neat price point so the computer we're waiting to see released is a very cheap sub-sub-notebook with a usable keyboard. I wonder if there's a manufacturing company out there called 'Bland' or 'Hopeful'?

What company is going to risk the farm designing and marketing a product for an unknown market with very low profit margins?

I'll give you a guess who's going to need to fund the release of this hardware, the company's name starts with G and ends with oogle. This is unfortunately a product well ahead of it's time... well ahead as in 10 years ahead of it's time. Tech pundits are probably relieved about not having to manually synch data anymore, but if you're a pundit... is this REALLY going to be your only computer? Will you suddenly stop using the desktop applications you've been using for 20 years? If so, why haven't you started already?

This is a glorified smart phone that isn't a phone, doesn't fit in your pocket and does less than an Android phone at what will probably be a higher price. It's not a mobile communications platform (despite communications being it's foundation), not a primary computer, not a negligible purchase and not a self-starting market.

IMHO: Don't waste your time contributing to the Chrome OS project, this particular lump of concrete may even have the Chrome browser's boots stuck in it.