Just finish reading this article from The Register UK regarding Chrome OS.  Since this news came out I have been hearing left and right about how Google is finally going to be able to loosen the grip that Microsoft has on the industry.  To that I say….O RLY?  Look, I’m happy as the next geek about Google releasing their OS.  I mean, its ANOTHER linux distro, who wouldn’t be happy?  However, I am very realistic about what this truly means for the industry.

People have said the reason why Apple isn’t a stronger competitor is because they don’ t offer their own office productivity suite and cost.  Google has their own cloud based productivity suite for free and Chrome OS I can only imagine will be free as well.  Also, you can import .doc/.xls documents into the various Google products.  While this puts them in a better place than Apple to compete with Microsoft in the office space its still not enough.

As of January, Linux held 1.1% of the global computer market share.  Most 3rd party vendors don’t even bother with making applications for Linux, and even if you run them through wine there is no support.  Most Linux products are open source applications that are community supported.  Even web based applications will still pose a problem because a truck load of them require Internet Explorer to run.  I mean I run across web apps frequently that won’t run on Windows unless your using IE6 (grrrrr…but that’s another post for another day).

The biggest problem for the office environment is user management.  Say what you want about MS, but Active Directory and Group Policy are ESSENTIAL!  Those components cut down on the work load of IT staff substantially.  They allow deployment of policy and programs to specific groups of users or individuals.  If these components didn’t exist any medium to large size company would need to double their IT staff.  Yes yes, you can use native LDAP for user authentication, however, LDAP is not nearly as robust as AD.

How about in a consumer market?  To be honest, I think it would hurt Apple more so than Microsoft.  Once again you have the issue of 3rd party support.  While there may be some developers that hop right in and start making some Linux versions of their apps, most developers will wait until its worth it to them.  And you need to be more than 1.1% of the market for that.  Apple has 8.9% and they don’t have a bunch of 3rd party support.  I will say this though, many applications are going web based so this may help Chrome OS.

The reason I wouldn’t be switching to Chrome OS is because of game support.  There are a few games that run on linux and a few more that run on wine.  However, that’s not enough for me.  I don’t want to have to switch back and forth between operating systems.  I don’t have that many problems with Windows to justify me only using it for games and then another OS for everything else.  I would say that I never have problems, but its just that its VERY VERY rare for me to come across an issue.  To be honest I have a hard time understanding how people catch so many viruses in a short amount of time.

I said earlier that I think it would hurt Apple more than Microsoft.  Reason I say that is because of the current Apple campaign.  Apple is trying to appeal to the normal user.  Not the musician, not the artist, not the designer.  They are saying they are simpler, work better, and have no viruses (LIES!!!!!).  Chrome OS can say the same thing…and actually be closer to the truth.  However the advantage of using Chrome OS over OSX is that it will be cheaper and you can interchange parts because its PC.  Also Google will release productivity apps that are competitive with Apple.  Probably not in the creative field, but in just about everything else.  I wouldn’t put it past Google to create video/audio editing software though.

If you think I’m just some Microsoft fan boy who doesn’t like anything else except windows you couldn’t be more wrong.  I like using Linux.  If more of my applications and games worked in Linux I would probably be using it as my primary OS.  Not that I have problems with Windows, but I like to support open source.  I just don’t believe Chrome OS will be the crushing blow that people think it will be.  It will do better than any other Linux distro, but it will be a long time before someone de-thrones the king.