After Google announced (or to be exact, announced the plan of) Chrome Operating System (OS), there are a lot of comments from a lot of people in the Internet, from the extreme supporters to extreme critics. From a few link collections that I have, several of them includes Randall C.Kennedy (InfoWorld) “An ice cube’s chance in Hell of succeeding”, Dave Winer (Scripting.com) – “The Java Wars, continued”, painContent.org – “Five Reasons Why Microsoft Does Not Need To Worry About Google Chrome OS”, The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs – “Let’s all take a deep breath and get some perspective”, Neil Mcallister (InfoWorld) – “Cloud computing made real”, and of course, the famous Robert X.Cringely (InfoWorld) – “Are we saved at last?”. In fact, it is much more than that, but to avoid critics saying that this blog only put links to other blogs, I stop just right there 
Well, it’s not that difficult to search anyway, just type “google chrome os” to your choice of search engine.
Like I mentioned in the beginning, there are extreme supporters in one side, and there are extreme critics in the other side. “Quasi-serious” blogs like The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs uses this momentum to put bad words on Google and Eric Schmidt. But the mainstream discussion on all the blogs is relatively the same: what is the actual impact of Chrome OS to Microsoft and open source community in general. These topics is unavoidable, because in any circumstances, an operating system will inevitably compete with Microsoft (Windows). And because Chrome OS is open source, the open source community is dragged into the discussion.
For quite some time now, the IT community has seen how Google is more and more becoming full competition with Microsoft. It is getting more obvious with the advent of Chrome browser, and now, Chrome OS. And it is interesting to see that fear didn’t come from Microsoft, but from the IT community itself, which has long been afraid with how Google collects their service’s user data. And the comment from open source community is not less negative: according to them, one more open source operating system will not help open source communit in general. Why don’t Google just use whatever available right now, like Ubuntu?
Looking at these conditions, Google still has a lot of homework to complete. First, of course, they have to launch Chrome OS in time, which looks like targeted for Christmas 2010. Second, they also have to explain to open source community, why they have to create a new open source operating system and not use whatever available. Third, they have to convince general IT community that they will respect the privacy of Chrome OS users. The negative experience with Chrome browser has created a negative sentiment among IT community on how Google handles privacy issues. Fourth, of course, they have to make Chrome OS so damn good, so it will be adopted not only by consumers, but also by corporations.
After they completed the four homework above, then they can become a serious threat to Microsoft (Windows). Personally, I love competition, and another operating system will make competition even better and will benefit consumers. But looking at the long path travelled by Linux, MacOSX and other operating system in competing with Windows, it is too early to say that Chrome OS (first version) will be a direct threat to Windows. We also need to consider that by that time, Windows 7 will have been launched by more than 9 months, and looking at the great pre-release reviews up until now, looks like Windows 7 will strengthen Microsoft’s position in the market.
Of course, I am still human and can be wrong Let’s just see the result together.
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