I read something more then 1 year agout google hiring OS engineers and maybe developing an OS, but it was dismissed as rumours.
Seems interesting but I don't think anything could be better than Mac OS X. :)
I'm just excited to see what they replaced X with !
xterm wroteI'm just excited to see what they replaced X with !
G and subsequently gterm? :)
Seems interesting but I don't think anything could be better than Mac OS X. smile
Don't be a fanatic! :P lets just see and wait and then we can judge :cool:
AymanFarhat wrote
Seems interesting but I don't think anything could be better than Mac OS X. smile
Don't be a fanatic! :P lets just see and wait and then we can judge :cool:
I can't help it. :lol: Mac users are mac fanatics for life.
Google sometimes come up with great ui improvements and fresh ideas.
In the field of OS, there is much, but i mean MUCH work to be done.
The interface philosophy has been virtually the same since windows 95, which itself is not very far from windows 3.1 (which already had the File, Edit, etc... menus, the x to close, etc...)
samer wrote
xterm wroteI'm just excited to see what they replaced X with !
G and subsequently gterm? :)
Haha!
2 months later
As people use more and more web applications, the operating system becomes less important and it makes no sense to pay for it. The desktop mail client could be replaced by Gmail, the calendaring application could be replaced by Google Calendar, the office suite has lightweight alternatives: Google Docs and Zoho, it makes more sense to use an online feed reader like Google Reader, your scientific calculator is less powerful than Wolfram Alpha and you'll rarely need a video player when you have YouTube, Hulu and other video sites.... Thanks for sharing the post...
Marty wrote
AymanFarhat wrote
Seems interesting but I don't think anything could be better than Mac OS X. smile
Don't be a fanatic! :P lets just see and wait and then we can judge :cool:
I can't help it. :lol: Mac users are mac fanatics for life.
Im not one of these, but overall the Mac feels and looks the best imho. Of course you can have flashy effects with Linux or windows, but its not the same, you get tired of them, as opposed to mac effects.
As for Chrome as an OS, please, people like to have widgets, docks, etc... besides Javascript performance is blech compared to C... so I dont know how they can pull this off except for some particular cases of people who want to get super cheap hardware and software just to browse.

THere might be a trend though towards the OS becoming more axed towards a purpose, for example windows is the gaming OS, linux the networking os, and osx the designers os. In the future, for example, adobe and all other graphic design giants might get together and release a designers OS, 3D max might decide to build its software upon its own os, where it has control over the branding and interface, and even the hardware and can force it to run on its own hardware. Since you can get 3dmax for LL2000 in a shop in burj hammoud, going this way might give them some solid priracy protection.

Since Windows is a general purpose os, it can probalby be run on any of the oses above in a virtual box, to take advantage of its wide choice of software, so can linux.
18 days later
Here's the whole idea of Google's Chrome OS. Let's take a look at Google's orientation. They're evolving more and more towards cloud computing. Briefly, cloud computing is the idea that your applications won't run on your machine, but on a distant server you can access remotely. This is somewhat what davidseer was talking about. Operating Systems in the traditional sense of the term are bound to disappear, turning more and more into more "sophisticated" evolved browsers (at least in the user space). This is Google's idea of Chrome OS. They're releasing an OS completely based around their web browser, entirely targeted at cloud computing. It'll run a Linux kernel, (making it just another Linux distribution), and therefore will be most probably free (as in free beer).

Apple won't directly be affected by it because after all Mac users buy the hardware in the first place (they'll be able to install Chrome OS as a dual-boot, especially since they switched to intel). So it's really Microsoft who is targeted by this "attack". I'm curious to see how they'll react to that (I hear Azure, their answer to cloud computing is almost ready).
I seriously doubt Microsoft will ever be affected by any attack.
cloud computing has its pros and cons. and its cons are quiet bad... if the service is down, you pretty much have nothing to do besides rolling your fingers... i don't think businesses can really rely on cloud computing. specially when gmail went down 2 times in 2 months? or was it less than 2 months?

and for windows, even if google os becomes a huge success (which it will probably wont, it's mainly targeted at netbooks only) they also still have gaming on their side...
battikh wrotethey also still have gaming on their side...
what about "eve online" and "wow"? i mean, this kind of online games is more and more played for many reasons i wont mention...
with internet becoming so fast ( not in lebanon thank God :D ) who knows, maybe betheshda, activision or ubisoft will give up their pc game and start making games like "Assassin Creed online", or "world of Oblivion" ( Cod4 being already played online :P ) the same way blizzard stop ( unfortunately ) developing pc games since warcraft frozen throne...

anyway, i personally prefer desktop apps. Oh and i hope that this os will be compatible with window progs. ( it makes cross platform work easier and especially migrating from windows to gOs easier for users like me )
Piotr wrote
battikh wrotethey also still have gaming on their side...
the same way blizzard stop ( unfortunately ) developing pc games since warcraft frozen throne...
You should go check blizzard's website from time to time :) Diablo III, starcraft 2, and more to come :)
rahmu wroteApple won't directly be affected by it because after all Mac users buy the hardware in the first place
Not true. I wouldnt buy a MacBook if it only ran Windows - not with the current price difference.
OSX is an extension of the hardware, it looks sleek and well-thought (and as opposed to the hardware, it is well-built :D - although I hear they have been doing progress on that lately). So I would say the OS is a big part of the purchase decision.
I dont know if I explaned myself well, or if I make much sense, but you make it sound like osx is just an extra that comes with the hardware, in fact, I think its the opposite. OSX is a great OS. The hardware is not that great, really, expensive and fragile, but i can live with that if it lets me run osx.
rolf wroteSo I would say the OS is a big part of the purchase decision.
Correct.
All the people I know who have a mac, have dual boot with windows. And until apple makes a breakthrough in gaming on its OS, people will always have a windows dual boot on their mac. :)
crazy wroteYou should go check blizzard's website from time to time :) Diablo III, starcraft 2, and more to come :)
yes indeed :P i meant that they stopped warcraft at frozen throne :P