The Internet is a buzz today with news of the Google’s new Chrome OS. Even the major news outlets have picked up the story, touting it as a “direct challenge” to Microsoft. First of all, nothing Google can do in the OS realm will come anywhere near challenging Microsoft. Google’s experience lies in maninpulating Linux to work for their backend operations. Even if they hire some developers with practical end user OS exeperience, it’s still just going to be another flavor of Linux. The general public doesn’t like Linux. Not because Linux is bad in any way, but because it is different. Chrome OS promises to be VERY different. People don’t want extreme change, they want gradual change so that they barely notice anything has happened.
Nice try Google. I’m sure it’ll be a hit in the enthusiast / Google fan boy crowd, but as for me, I’ll stick with Ubuntu.