Skip the navigation
)
News Analysis

Google's Chrome OS poses long-term threat to Microsoft

But it will be 'years and years' until it competes with Windows, say analysts

July 8, 2009 12:28 PM ET

Computerworld - Google's entry into the operating system market poses a long-term threat to Microsoft, analysts who cover the maker of Windows said today.

"Will Microsoft be worried? Microsoft will always be worried, whether it should or not," said Michael Silver, Gartner's primary operating system analyst. "Microsoft, after all, is one of the more paranoid companies around."

Late Tuesday night, Google announced that it would launch its long-anticipated operating system, based on the Linux kernel and built around its Chrome browser, sometime in the second half of 2010, more than a year from now. The new operating system will be dubbed "Google Chrome OS."

From Silver's seat, the news will make Microsoft, already locked in competition with Google over search, take notice. But the horizon of a face-to-face OS battle is way out there, he said.

"It will take quite a long time for Google to become a competitor to Microsoft," he said. "In the enterprise, for example, over 70% of the applications used require Windows. And even at home, things like personal finance still require Windows. So, while I think this is a longer-term threat to Microsoft, it's definitely not in the short term."

Michael Cherry, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, agreed. "It's hard to see this as a threat to Microsoft," Cherry said. "Sure, it could take some sales of netbooks, and previously those netbooks might have had a version of Windows, but it seems like this is not really a platform for applications. The Web is the application."

Both Silver and Cherry, in fact, pointed out that, according to the few pieces of information Google's disclosed so far, applications written for the future Google OS would also run on Windows, or even on Apple's Mac OS X.

The Google executives who announced the company's push into OS waters made that clear. "These apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux," said Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management, and Linus Upson, engineering director, in their blog post last night.

"Applications written for Google will run on all standard browsers, so you don't even need to use Chrome OS," Cherry pointed out.

That's not to say either analyst was panning Google's move. Both gave the search giant kudos or were confident the company could make a play in the OS arena. "The momentum is on Google's side," said Silver, "because apps are moving away from being OS-specific. But it's taking years. And years."



What is Tech Briefcase?
TechBriefcase is a new, free service where IT Professionals can Search, Store and Share IT white papers and content like this. Learn more
Bookmark content
Speed up your research efforts with content across the web.
Search and Store
Find the white papers you need. Create folders for any topic.
View Anywhere
Open your briefcase on your iPhone, tablet or desktop. Share with colleagues.
Don't have an account yet?
Additional Resources
Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

Operating Systems White Papers
Ready Your Enterprise for the Next Generation of Client Computing
Data is now accessed via physical and virtual desktops, laptops and mobile devices. IT organizations struggle to control and manage the widening pool...
Consolidating Lotus Domino x86 Workloads on IBM Power Systems
Read the white paper to learn how moving up to Lotus Domino 8.5 and consolidating with IBM Power Servers can help you boost...
A Comparison of PowerVM and VMware vSphere (4.1 & 5.0) Virtualization Performance
This technical white paper presents benchmark results showing greater VM consolidation ratios than demonstrated in previous benchmarks and demonstrating the extent of the...
How Nimsoft Service Desk Speeds Deployment and Time to Value
For years, many support teams have been hamstrung by their traditional service desk platforms, which require complex, time-consuming coding for virtually every aspect...
Practice Management: Double Billing Rate and Improve Patient Services
Would you like to double your billing rate and achieve faster payment for services?

Download this customer success story to see how One Health...
All Operating Systems White Papers
Operating Systems Webcasts
Best Practices in Monitoring VMware
The benefits of virtualization are unassailable: increased agility, scale, and cost savings to name a few. However, so too are the monitoring challenges...
Distributed Database Security with Real-time Monitoring
View this demo and learn how IBM InfoSphere Guardium database activity monitoring can help protect your sensitive data in distributed DBMS environments with...
InfoSphere Warehouse Packs Demo
These flash modules make warehousing more tangible and relevant to business users through detailed explanations of the InfoSphere Warehouse Packs.
Delivery Management -- Extending Lifecycle Management
Date: Wednesday, June 20, 2012, 1:00 PM EDT

Siloed organizations continue doing the wrong things and doing things wrong, leading to increased costs,...
Leverage automation today to reduce IT complexity
Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2012, 2:00 PM EDT

Whether your B2B complexity is caused by multiple technologies due to M&A, business or application specific...
All Operating Systems Webcasts
Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs