"Google's Chrome operating system is poised to hit the Web. But can it beat out competing Linux distributions? You bet, especially on netbooks where Google will make a special push because it believe Chrome OS is ideal for lightweight PCs." http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise...Will-Outshine-Nokia-Linux-on-Netbooks-737183/
I think GOOG should have bought Red Hat (RHT) instead of producing their own Linux distro. This would show that GOOG is committed to Linux and the hardware and software vendors would be more inclined to support Linux. MSFT shares would take a huge hit if GOOG did buy RHT.
If Google develops word processing and spreadsheet capabilities like Office, it would be serious Microsoft competition but Google Docs is extremely weak, just pathetic really...
You can never really take out Linux. Especially since Red Hat is most commonly used on servers. It appears Googles OS is more geared towards desktop users. I really hope it takes a big chunk out of MS though. They bully around with patent infringements and put out a mediocre products with upgraded user interfaces and make boatloads of money. It's a scam really, but the government must just love them and their tracking abilities. I'm currently dual boot Windows and Linux, but I look forward to seeing what Google will bring to the table.
My impression is that Google Chrome is at least initially directed at netbooks. It is not the only Linux based player in this area. Intel is sponsoring Moblin: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=moblin_21_preview&num=1 Moblin is intended for both phones and netbooks based on Intel CPUs. It could well be a serious contender. If what I have seen is true then Chrome will not be using the X window system. All Linux software using a GUI depends on X. This implies Chrome will not run standard Linux software. Maybe Google expects Javascript based apps running in the browser to rule. I've got my doubts about that. On the other hand Moblin uses X, and providing it makes sense on the device (eg big enough screen etc) will support the vast existing range of applications for Linux. For example OpenOffice which is more or less equivalent to MS Office. If all this is true, It seems to me that Moblin (and it's derivatives) start with a huge advantage over Chrome, that even Google's muscle will find it hard to overcome.
OpenOffice is close enough to MS Office in capabilities to meet the requirements of the vast majority of users.
lots of coy pandering going on about whether its 'native' or 'virtual machine' have fun spending 20 hours downloading the shit and figuring it out then have more fun spending 200 more hours getting an application suite to work to your satisfaction BG aint a fucking billionaire for nothing
If you feel that way then just get a Mac. You can be braindead and still enjoy your experience. MacOS X is beautifully designed compared to Microsoft.
It doesn't meet the single most important requirement - seamless integration with the rest of the Office using world. Maybe one day...
Depends what you mean by "seamless integration". For many non-business users, read and write Word documents is quite good enough.