Chrome Google Insider

There's a rather nice interview with the Chrome OS engineering director over at ars. This is such an unusual interview that it's really hard to explain. It's very candid, honest and to the point. It provides technical direction and gives the reader a real understanding of how Google operates and what's going on in the minds of the people developing Chrome OS.

The Google guys seem to have the right idea about the OS. Trying to make everything simple and seamless. And if this can be accomplished then the environment may even have a future. It's a very difficult uphill battle, because there are so many elements to integrate into the operating system which must be improved from the best operating systems of our era. Things like file and device security, external plugins, application toolkits... the list could potentially be endless.

The surprising impression throughout the interview is that Google is really just winging it. Slapping about with a little side project to see how much enthusiasm it might generate, and how realistic it could become.

As a commercial developer I'm quite stunned by the development approach. Time and cost aren't really taken into consideration. The developers are creating little changes to check them out, dropping and picking them back up again. All of this to apparently see what might work well, and the things that actually work are punched out to the Beta users to see how it fairs in the real world. It's a very user focused kind of approach, but more than that, it's really hinging on the gut instincts of the people making the software. And it make sense if a business can trust it's people.

And perhaps even despite all of it's flaws, the Chrome OS might become something because the developers are focusing so carefully on the user experience. There are obvious massive benefits to the successful widespread deployment of a cloud operating environment so it would be great for this to work.

Once again we're seeing another attempt to blur the line between what's sitting on your desk, and what's floating off in cyberspace. And while the web apps might be beautifully strong and resilient, there's also an added level of security holes when the web must be able to access the local hardware. Perhaps it's the right approach and the Chrome OS team can engineer past this potentially massive security hole? The cynic in me recognizes the high demand for malware, botnets, on-line fraud and other nefarious activities so can't help recognizing that where there's a will...

In the modern inter-connected world the browser is a sand boxed portal to the greater web. But what happens when the entire computer becomes the browser? Well, the computer is the portal to the greater web and ... well, imagine the potential for disaster? In the meantime the angel on my right shoulder is hoping fervently that the Googlers can pull this one off.