Microsoft’s next iteration of the Windows client will come in a world a tad different from today, in the sense that there will be a new rival to take into account beyond Linux and Mac OS X.
Google is putting the finishing touches on
Chrome OS, its Chrome browser-based open source operating system, designed with netbooks in mind.
Chrome OS changes the concept of what a computer platform is. Unlike Windows, which acts as the foundation for applications, Chrome OS is a platform for services.
What this means is that Chrome OS, anchored as it might be on an actual device, will put users into the Cloud from the get go.
In a recent article in
The NY Times, Linus Upson, the vice president for engineering in charge of Chrome recalls a funny moment in which he tried to swap the computer running an older version of Chrome OS that Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder was using, with a new machine featuring the latest release of the platform.
Brin’s first reaction was to keep the computer, as he was used to having all information, data, applications, stored locally.