Why Google ChromeOS is all Hype

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Earlier today there was a huge buzz about Google dropping a nuclear bomb on Microsoft with the announcement of ChromeOS. The second OS released by Google. The first OS is Android, which runs on the Google G1 phone. Android can run on netwbooks

We already know that Google’s intentions aren’t to limit the Android platform to mobile phones. With the right hardware and expectations that these devices can truly be portable thin clients, an Android netbook might not be so far-fetched after all.

The problem with Google making an OS isn’t the fact that they are notorious for announcing products that turn out to be nothing more then feeble attempt to gain media exposure when a competitor is about to release a product or service. Google buys a ton of start-ups and Mark Cuban has an explaination why. Case in point, Opensocial. Opensocial was announce way too early because of the release of the Facebook platform, AKA Facebook apps. I was really excited about Opensocial and followed for about a year, learning how to implement it because all the major communities were jumping on like Linkedin, Myspace, Orkut (for you Brazilians), but it turned out to be absolutely useless. The concept behind Opensocial was to run common function across many website enabling personal data to exchange between communities.

Why did they release so early? Simple to create buzz. how cares what happens 2 years down the road. How many people will remember the service when it fades away? They got the press they wanted in 2007, they did their job.  Google needs to take notes from Apple about how to squash a release. Apple owned the Palm Pre on the release date.

So, why did Google announce the ChromeOS now? it’s still 2 years from release date?

1. Both Microsoft and Apple have new OS’s this year. Windows 7 is basically a service patch for Vista, or Mojave, or Longhorn, whatever MS calls it now… Hell MS just wishes Vista would go away too…
2. The New smartphone OS’s will run on netbooks. – Imagine the iPhone OS on an 8 inch netbook… To me that sounds awesome. Other OS’s include the android OS and the Palm OS, which is HTML based… All these have app markets which fits in nicely to the lightweight netbook market.
3. There is another OS out their called Linux, you might have heard about it from your grandma. It’s open source which is great, but also allows for many, many distributions. Will this happen to ChromeOS? too many choices makes people choose Apple or MS.
4. If you really think about it, ChromeOS, runs on the Linux kernel? so doesn’t that just make it another distribution? I would assume that Google’s not going to hide the terminal?
5. Linux already has an app market called Synaptic. Of course everything is free on synaptic and it’s not really an app market, it’s a GUI to apt-get, but can easily accommodate a marketplace. I even think Steam can be a full blown app market.

We all now Google is gunning for MS, and we all now Google has the power to make an OS… I’m just wondering why they are talking about it now.