Google's Schmidt initially opposed to Chrome, says Microsoft is welcome to port Internet Explorer on over
By Paul Miller 
posted July 10th 2009 9:48AM
posted July 10th 2009 9:48AM
Luckily, they also hinted at some native development possibility (hopefully) outside of the browser, stating that Microsoft is free to build a version of Internet Explorer for Chrome OS if they'd like, and that it's an open source project. According to Eric: "Even if we had an evil moment, we would be unsuccessful." He also mentioned there were plenty of "commonalities" between Chrome OS and Android, and that the two might grow even closer over time. Interesting. As for his role on Apple board, Eric will be working out with those folks as to when he needs to recuse himself from OS talk like he already does with iPhone talk. Most of the rest of the talk was spent making old person digs at Schmidt, Mr. BlackBerry himself.
And part and parcel to the whole suit was Microsoft's claim that the reason/need for IE was its move to integrating it into the OS:
"Microsoft stated that the merging of Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer was the result of innovation and competition, that the two were now the same product and were inextricably linked together and that consumers were now getting all the benefits of IE for free. Those who opposed Microsoft's position countered that the browser was still a distinct and separate product which did not need to be tied to the operating system, since a separate version of Internet Explorer was available for Mac OS."
So Microsoft got sued and lost because they included their own browser in their OS. The reasoning behind that lawsuit was that Microsoft had reached it's browser dominance unfairly and so throughly simply because their own browser was included in their OS.
Somehow I don't think anyone is going to do this to Google when Chrome OS is released with Chrome Browser included. And don't give me that "But IE's marketshare is huge, Chrome's is going to be so small" crap! Even IE started off with a small market share. It's the fact that the browser was included in a sucessful OS that gave IE the huge marketshare.
Now keep in mind you can't have things both ways. What happens 10 years from now if Chrome OS is dominant over Windows? Are you going to support Microsoft if they want to sue Google the way Microsoft was sued over IE?
Why is it that anyone (or company) who succeeds beyond others gets sued for doing so? I already know the answer. It's because people think they have the right to the "spoils of war" without having to fight for it.
BS. Microsoft wasn't sued for including the browser. It was sued because of what it did with that browser. Not maintaining it to standards, integrating their proprietary tech into it and locking competition out through OEM deals that disallowed OEMs from installing non-Microsoft software even if the customer asked for it.
The EU suit was underwritten by google (late in the game), so this is tongue-in-cheek sarcasm of google I would think.
Quote by Paul b. Chapel: "AnnoyingPoster,
you are a dumbass. possibly more so than me, and that is quite hard to do."
I lol'ed. He seems to be admitting he is a troll. And I agree with him on this one. AnoyingPoster's comment WAS stupid.
Has Google ever written a major program in anything other than java? A java based OS might work on the mobile platform... it's not going to work on the desktop.
Yes. Python. I read a while back that they do a large amount of stuff with Python.
is this a troll? google uses C, C++, linux scripting, they hired python's inventor to continue developing python and android is written in C... + they have lots of knowledge in multi processing, computer clusters, databases, javascript, browser compatibility and more and more.. where did you come from ??
Why wouldn't a Java-based OS work on the desktop? (Or to be more accurate - it would work fine, why do you think it wouldn't?)
Sure, somebody could make a crap Java-based OS - er, if I remember rightly, Sun actually tried their hand at this - but there is nothing to stop anyone making a good one.
In recent years, thanks to aggressively optimising runtimes, Java performance on Intel is hardly slower than native C code. There's nothing whatever wrong with the language underpinnings (there are things that could be better, but certainly nothing anywhere near as 'wrong' as C++, which is still widely used) and some of the security features are useful for maintaining 'sandbox' security. If you want a 'managed' language, then Java is the best one to choose - there's no need to reinvent the wheel when this particular wheel already has four million developers on board.
Most of the limitations in Java on the desktop are to do with the windowing/UI systems (which Google replaced in Android) and with its cross-platform nature causing a lack of certain platform-dependent features (ditto re Android).
So, a Java-based operating system (probably not 'pure Java') would work fine on desktop. But then, traditional C-based operating systems also work fine on desktop...
Is there any actual evidence that Chrome OS will be Java-based? (By which I mean, a Linux kernel but with a mutated version of Java on top running applications, like Android.)
I don't see any particular reason to assume it wouldn't be just another Linux distribution with a new UI etc. Certainly if it can run standard Linux apps that would be a big plus for it. Forget Internet Explorer, can it run Firefox? :)
The whole Chrome OS name sounds just so awkward. I guess fans of Google that like using its various apps may be interested, but I don't see making a big dent in Windows or OS X marketshare.
Of course, we all know that Chrome OS is not just an open source OS with some more Google ties, but it's also a way for Google to pump more people to use it's services and web apps, meaning more moolah. It's not just out of the goodness of Google's heart. It'll be interesting to see how far it goes. I on the other hand, don't really intend on using this. I only use Google for some web searches, and sometimes I'll go on YouTube (though I think it's still crappy compared to others video sharing sites), but that's all I want to bother going to Google with. I just don't like the idea of Google sharing my info. to advertisers, and Google OS doesn't make me feel any more confident about letting Google tap into my life.
Anyway, competition is good, and I can't wait to see how this might affect Microsoft's and Apple's decisions.
As far as the whole "support" question goes, it doesn't really matter which OS "grandma" is using.
It doesn't matter if it's Windows, MacOS, Linux or Chrome. She's coming to the local Linux guru to get her problems worked out.
The utter lack of understanding (or interest in understanding) even the UI of any OS pretty much undercuts the
usefulness of all of them. This "cult of stupidity" causes "support issues" in Windows even when it really shouldn't
be the case for the simple reason that people aren't expected (hell, actually actively discouraged) to THINK about
what they are doing.
Old school Mac user culture was much better about this sort of thing but even now it's degraded into
the same nonsense.
This is how a thoughtful 85 year old can run circles around a mindless 60 year old.
Great browser
you use
that randomly does
next lines.
When
writing comments.
Glad you are a
computer expert that is
in a
position to be critical.
sadly, google's definition of open source , as seen from their other OS, android, is not the general notion of open source. first they will build the thing without showing it to anyone, then they will release partial sdk and partial source code and eventually it will turn out that this whole thing is built for people who want/will *only* use the interfaces that google will supply "for the benefit of multi platform-ness".
In short, this is going to suck. the only good thing that may come out of it is more linux drivers and chrome for linux...
If google wants to succeed in this thing they need to:
1. put all of the source code, designs, etc. etc. on the net today. maybe on source forge or some other non-google repository.
2. build a community around it: people have different interests, some will want to do sound, some will want to do net, others UI, etc. etc.
3. engage the community on an *on going bases*, never looking back or trying to gain control
4. enable and encourage forks and merges, moblin is open? can we port anything from there?
5. make sure that current netbooks etc. can work with chrome OS, nothing better than having a real world platform to test on
6. lower the barrier for entry. With android the first 1.5 years (so far) are a mess, we don't have good enough coding support, we were (until very recently) confined to a VM which was not polished enough, the documentation was horrible
7. do not offer prizes, do not play games, stop with the uber geekiness. You already got all the uber geeks, we just don't get it.
and I can say much more but basically its just: make it simple, accessible and straight forward. and don't let us wait for it.
Hey, I have cut, copy & paste!
"Larry describes Chrome OS as the "anti-operating system" and indistinguishable from a browser"
And that's a good thing?
If all you ever do it read email and browse the web.. why do you even need an OS but to feed the web?
My personal thought is that I would not trust a google OS. They are in the business of tracking people and selling advertising. Right now, I block all google cookies and google advertising. I obviously couldn't do that If I were using their software.
Once any company gets huge people will start to call it evil, which is ridiculous. But i see Google being considered an evil soon. Thats just how it is...sad...
Chrome OS and Android might grow even closer over time?
I think this is where it clicks into place. Apple has shown people are happy to buy all sorts software on the iPhone and owns the shop that takes the micropayments. That is difficult on a desktop system.
If Google manages to create a similar marketplace on the basis of Android they will have springboard for selling application to the desktop. All the have to do is give Chrome OS a similar protection for paid apps as Android has.
I think PbC is just taking the mickey out of our good friend PaC. I don't think it actually is the original Paul
lol what a dumb fanboyish comment. Take a bite out of that Apple and hope ya choke on it.
Google is out of their mind and just going to waste tons of shareholder money. Who is going to want a web browser based OS with maybe a small file organizer for a netbook. I bet netbooks that carry this will be the cheapest of the bunch even cheaper than other Linux disteros because it's going to lack many features that people need or want. Google will have to learn being mad at Ballmer and trying to beat Microsoft at its own game is not going to get you anywhere, in fact Microsoft must be doing something right by luring competitors like Google into unknown waters. I hope Microsoft will make Google eat dirt because I'm tired of being asked to download their toolbar and seeing so many unrelated ads when I go to my favorite websites. Hey Google you should Bing dead companies that Microsoft ran to the ground, you're not going to be next but there is always a possibility rofl.
Sorry I trolled that up! I can't help it guys I have Microsoft in my blood.
:)