Tech Law Prof Blog

Round Up of Analysis on the Google Chrome OS Announcement

This is a selected round up of views on the significance of what Google's entry into the web OS market means to consumers and to Microsoft.  I published my thoughts yesterday.  Here are more from others:

(CNET) What Chrome OS has on Windows that Linux doesn't, by Stephen Shankland.

(Ars Technica) Cloud computing promise still stormy with reliability issues, by Chris Foresman, Jon Stokes.

(Ars Technica) Google's Chrome OS: what it means, why it matters, by John Timmer.

(Wired, via CNN) Odds are stacked against Chrome OS's success, by Priya Ganapati

(PCMag) 10 Questions for Google's New Chrome OS, by Lance Ulanoff.

(PCWorld) Google: The World's Most Successful Failure?, by David Coursey.

(InfoWorld) Google OS may force Microsoft to reinvent Windows, by Elizabeth Montalbano

Some Thoughts on the Google Chrome OS Announcement

The announcement  by Google of the Chrome OS penetrated well beyond the tech press into the mainstream.  The news penetrated the stock market as well.  Google was up and Microsoft was down.  This is a development that catches the attention of a general public that considers Microsoft and Windows as synonymous.  Microsoft has a lot of products out there, but let's face it:  Windows and Office are the public face of Microsoft.  Maybe search will join that duo in a few years, but it will be a long hard crawl for Bing to get past also-ran respectability.  Google challenged Microsoft Office with Google Apps and made minor dents in the franchise, but only enough to annoy Microsoft in a way that Star Office and Open Office could not.  It didn't help Microsoft that Google's alternative was strictly online.  Microsoft talked a good line about software as service, but just try porting every feature of Word to web access.  Now try the same thing and maintain the same revenue stream.  As long as Google Apps are a minor annoyance, the franchise is safe.

Now Google is attacking Microsoft where it lives.  Will Google be successful?  The company has a better chance than the alternatives for no other reason than it is a known quantity among consumers.  Note that Apple's share of the OS market is small in comparison to Microsoft.  That's because Apple wants to control the entire computing experience by keeping the OS tied to Apple machines.  Not so with Google's OS.  Google is aiming it for x86 and ARM chips.  Netbooks in particular are the target.  These are small, not very powerful machines that can still run Internet access quite well.  Does processing power matter so much if applications are web based?  It may to Microsoft who is trying to leverage the netbook platform as if it were an embarrassing family member.  First was the the lame attempt to limit the number of applications Windows 7 could run at one time on a netbook to three.  Netbooks would only be licensed to run the Windows 7 Starter Edition requiring an upgrade by the consumer to the full, unencumbered, OS.  That fell by the wayside.  Now the limits are on appearances and other little things, with consumers not able to customize the desktop.

Google is a viable alternative in that market.  The Google desktop OS is based on Linux which is popular with the tech crowd but not with mainstream consumers.  Every tech article I've ever read on Linux praises Ubuntu, as an example, for stability, installation, ease of use and more.  There is a strong thread through these articles and comments attached thereto that Ubuntu could be a serious challenger to the Windows desktop.  I've always felt that this notion is wrong, if for no other reason than consumers like to be hand-held when it comes to tech problems.  Hardly anyone has to understand Windows to use and install it.  Give that one to Microsoft.  Windows is a standard whether tech support comes from Microsoft, Dell, HP, or someone else.

Google adds something to the Windows alternative that the Linux community never had (and likely never will), which is a mainstream customer support for non-tech customers.  I'm assuming that will be in place because the OS will never succeed without centralized control over features and a support structure.  Both are essential for mainstream acceptance.

Microsoft will fight back, of course.  Expect to see more advertising for Windows 7 and Office than ever before.  A more scary possibility is Microsoft asserting the alleged 200+ patent violations claimed in Linux.  It's one thing to try and sue a band of rebels scattered throughout the galaxy (if the Star Wars analogy fits).  It is quite another to sue a fierce competitor who is undercutting your main source of revenue.  This development has the potential to get very interesting very quickly.

Google Squared

Google Squared is live.  It is a grid representation of search results, particularly useful if building lists of comparable results.  The main page has some sample searches.  I used cat breeds as a sample and it brought up a list of 10 different breeds with links for additional results at the bottom of the page.  Signing into Google lets a user save Squared searches, though one does not need to have a Google ID to use Squared .  I thought I could fool it by typing in the name of the WB cartoon Pinky and the Brain.  I wasn't sure what I would get, but Google Squared came through with episode lists and DVD offerings.  Not bad at all.  

It doesn't work with legal materials much unless they can be categorized.  The generic term "contract of adhesion" stumped it.  Typing in Fourth Amendment as a search did build a list of amendments to the Constitution, though columns the search engine added to the results included Prior History, Dissent, and Majority.  Searching Civil Procedure brought up results with different additional columns, including ISBN, Format, and Publisher.  Additional information changes with the search results.  This may be a fun feature of Google with which to play.  You can find it here.

The Complete Guide to Google Wave

I wrote yesterday about Google Wave.  Business Week has put together the Complete Guide to Google Wave. This is going to have an impact when it finally gets to the public.

Microsoft Shows Off Bing, But Google Is Not Doing the Standing Still

The big news today is Microsoft's preview of Bing, the latest upgrade to the Microsoft search engine.  I have a long post about it at the Law Librarian blog, so feel free to check it out here.  Google has its own revolutionary product brewing, and it's starting to come on to the radar.  It's called Google Wave.  It combines email, chat, and other social contacts and sharing in real time.  Wave is not available yet to the general public.  Screen shots and descriptions are at the Google Wave site.  Here is one description from the site:

What is a wave?

• A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

• A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

• A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

As news and other information sources describe it, Google Wave seems to be a combination of mail, chat, video, games, pictures and more updated in real time.  It sounds like Facebook, Twitter, and Google (Orkut?) rolled up into one massive social communication site.  The Official Google Blog describes it even further here.  I'm not sure if Google Wave will become popular.  A lot of Google services are used heavily, but not universally.  Nonetheless, Google is upping the ante on keeping people involved at their site with this move.