http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/08/google-chrom...

Google Chrome operating system you say? Yes please!
Great news if your not Microsoft's best fan, should stir things up. I am a bit concerned it will be nosey like the Chrome browser, uploading data here and there, but excited at how fast it might be. Can't wait to see.

What do you think, will you be trying it out?

I'm all for innovation, but I'll pass on this one. Google didn't become a $127 BILLION dollar company by giving stuff away for free. They make it on the user data, trending, and clickstreams they collect. I use Google almost exclusively for search, but I'll keep what's left of my privacy, thank you. They're not the company they started out as - the one that would "do no evil." I simply don't trust them with my pictures (Picasa), local files (Google Desktop), browser (Chrome), or pretty much anything else, let alone everything else.

I'm with Vendetta on this one. Google's nice and all as a search engine, but all this new stuff is... ugh.
Including that YouTube has always been worse since it was bought by Google.

Yeah, I have to say that I'm not too fond of any of Google's desktop apps, except for Google Earth that is, but from their toolbars to Chrome, I haven't seen anything I care for yet. However, I'm interested in this anyway due to the fact that they'll be basing their (open source!) OS on a flavor of Linux, so that's one more big OS joining the Unix / Linux world, and I'm sure that they'll contribute something back to the community while they're at it. For their port of Google Earth to the Linux desktop, they apparently made considerable contributions to the Wine core.

Vendetta--when did you get Wii Music? Maybe I just never noticed that mention in your sig, but you should head over to our little thread and befriend everyone for some video sharing, if you're into the game. Or did you already enter the thread at some point? It's so many pages long now that I've forgotten exactly who said what.

I am just interested in how it will turn out more than anything.

I don't really understand the concern about privacy, personally. If Google knows I check Nintendo Life's forums a million times a day, I am completely fine with that, and they can do whatever they want with that data for all I care. If they were stealing my credit card number or something illegal, then I'd be concerned, but whatever information they have on me I'm sure is harmless. Chrome has been a bit buggy lately, but I don't feel compromised in any way for using it.

I like Vista and OS X, but I don't think either is as simple or straightforward as purported to be, and I really don't think an OS is something that should have to be purchased. As much as I'd like to use Linux, it is just a bit too confusing for someone who doesn't want to do much else other than word processing and web browsing. So from my standpoint, Chrome has some huge potential, and I'll be following it eagerly.

@Adam

I agree with much of what you're saying--in particular, the possibility of bringing the benefits of Linux to those that wouldn't be able (or care to) deal with the OS in its current state. They noted that this release is specifically targeted at laptops, at least to begin with, so that's a good thing to hear, for it certainly makes it sound as if they'll be focusing of the lightweight nature of Linux, and I've never understood why so many consumers who never use anything outside of a web browser or a word processor are forced to buy ridiculously advanced and expensive hardware just to support some bloated OS. Honest, for the use many people make of their home computer (particularly older folks), it's a crime that they're paying anything over maybe 200 bucks, because that's more than enough to get sufficient hardware for their purposes--that is, so long as you don't have some huge OS forcing simple tasks to consume unheard of resources.

I'm not too concerned about privacy with Google, but I am a little uneasy. I'm also not sure how their "every app is like a web app" idea will pan out in the end, as that is somewhat forward-thinking but problematic in many ways as well. They still don't have a Mac version of Chrome, so I haven't really used it, but the early builds I saw on PCs were actually very resource heavy, so I don't know if I believe that Google can produce a radically lightweight system. On all these matters, I suppose we'll just wait and see.

I'm definitely going to be trying it out on my Eee when it comes out. From what I hear they're going to be developing a new windowing system from the ground up rather than use the X Window System.

@Adam: can you tell me why you think that an OS is not something that should have to be purchased? I'm not disagreeing with you or calling you out on it. I'm genuinely interested in your perspective - not interested in a debate. I've been in software sales and marketing for well over a decade, and am amazed at the metamorphosis and maturation of the consumer market. Feel free to be as terse or long-winded as you wish.

For years I too have been tempted by Linux, on one hand it sounded good but on the other it sounded like there would be serious software compatibility issues, and in all honesty it has never been marketed toward me, so I haven't got a clue what it is or how I would get started. I'm no noob, but I'm not a pro either, and hope Google can hand me some Linux goodness, but in a more accessible package.

Typical though, that Apple my end up holding the deciding vote with the clunky bloatware that is iTunes.

Big fan of Google - I think this has been Google's intention for quite a while, I can see the OS having some success in the netbook world, where things need to be simple, efficient and web focused.

I don't think it'll affect the desktop market for quite a long time. Google aren't the best UI designers and unless it has support from the big boys (Adobe and the likes) it won't make much of an impact on the traditional OS market.

Microsoft/Apple are plenty safe for now.

I sure like what they did with Gmail.

But they have since long betrayed the trust of the people as being a friendly little company with things such as allowing sensorship in China so they wouldn't lose their slice of the cake that is the no. 1 growing economy.

@ Vendetta
No problem. I don't really have an explanation anyway. Just how I feel about it. OSes originally were free (right?), and it seems odd that one day they suddenly weren't.

I don't really think lots of things should be paid for. Before Wii I was even mostly playing free PC games. Maybe I'm just really cheap. Or maybe I'm turning socialist.

No real logic behind it. Just a gut feeling. It may be stupid. I'm okay with that, haha. I still pay for them, anyway. I'm using Vista at the moment, which was paid for, though I refuse to buy Office and just use Word Pad.

@Adam: Thanks. Just to answer your question, OS's weren't originally free. They were either bundled with hardware and included in the cost (same like today, more or less - except your choices were MS-DOS, IBM-DOS or DR-DOS - pick your DOS!), or you went out and bought one off the shelf. Those were the days...

@Adam

OSes originally were free (right?)"

Hmm, in most cases they've just appeared to be free but have been subsidized with some deal between the computer manufacturer and the OS developer, or have been included as a hidden cost. I do, however, believe that Linux's success shows that the free and open source community can accomplish just about anything and not require its users to pay up, so I'm interested in a future where there are more free options. I've always suggested that anyone with a lower-end PC or laptop go ahead and install Linux--you'll end up with greatly improved performance for your limited hardware--and some laptop manufacturers, albeit not enough of them, will pre-install that for you and let you thereby get a cheaper price due to circumventing the hidden Windows licensing fees. So, there is a good argument to be made that the future may be a world where there are more free options for your OS, but one of the biggest barriers is that Linux-like systems, due to being developed by techie guys, isn't always all that user friendly--maybe Google could help change that a little.

I really want to get Linux installed on my PS3. Too bad I already have a ton of games downloaded that I wouldn't feel like redownloading. It'd probably run better than my laptop does.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8141964.stm

Looks like Google have already got a decent bit of support, including Adobe!

And yes Adam, it's free!

Ah, "free," my absolute favorite word.