Google Chrome OS - A necessary evil?

Google Chrome is set to start a new era - not sure good or bad way.

YourSoftwareGuy today reported a rumor stating the long-(anxiously)-awaited Google Chrome OS can be at developer’s hands as early as next week. This is unlike Eric Schmidt’s earlier promise of giving the OS to the world towards this year’s end. The Chrome name was initially given to the light-weight browser that promises to make minimalistic approach to a faster and safer web surfing.

Now, the question arises – whether Google Chrome is going to be a worthwhile release? It is really hard to answer, as the product is successfully wrapped till now and not much information is available about the technology that goes behind it. One thing for sure – it’ll be primarily a web-dependent OS. It is part of Google long-term agenda of moving the information from local storages to online – called cloud. The phenomenon is widely termed as cloud computing. Now this was a good strategy to initiate this project, as Google has a host of web applications that threaten to replace MS Office and PDF reader in the future, as these applications, known as Google Docs, let you work online as well as offline. Your documents are saved online which makes them more secured, and you can access them even offline.

The good things about Chrome will be –

·         It is expected to be light-weight and hence easy to install and carry. It also enables it to be used in computers with less power, like the netbooks and tablets. Apart from being light-weight, it is also expected to be faster and secure. A minimalistic interface facilitates a fast starting-up.

·         It will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips – which provide an option of wide range of systems that can run Chrome ranging from usual PCs to the smartphones that run ARM processors. This could be a good thing that can provide a seamless synchronization between the notebook data and the smartphones and vice-versa.

·         It is built on Linux kernel – and will be open-sourced and free. Developers not associated with Google can now contribute to this project which will make the OS more customer-centric.

·         It can be ideal for user’s that have 24-hrs internet access. This way, you don’t need to store your data locally. This also eliminates the need to connect to each other when you’re working on other machines, because the data is universally available to you, and not PC-dependent. Also one great thing would be if it eliminates the need to have harddisks – maybe tiny silicon disks will do.

There are a few concerns though –

• We still don’t know the limitation of this OS – what it can do and what exactly it can’t, or should we say out of its scope.
• What with people without a constant 24-hr internet connection, which is a usual scene in the developing and under-developed nations?
• Are we going to have the third-party applications and installations on the machine or will they be hosted on the cloud? In that case, what about down-times or excessive traffic?
• Will Chrome support only Google hosts?

There is no doubt that the world is constantly moving online. But leaving all your data and activities online, is a bit far-fetched right now. One thing for sure, Chrome will accelerate the popularity of cloud computing, will reduce cost, offer more security and connect the world more closely. It is just a matter of changing people’s  habit – the most difficult thing to accomplice.