Unless you've been hiking in the Himalayas or hiding under
your bed this last week, you've heard about Google's Chrome OS. And you've also
heard about how it's the latest, greatest creation from Googleplex. But here's
3 reasons why Gates and Jobs shouldn't be shaking in their boots just yet.
1) The GFail syndrome: Between
July 2008 and Feb 2009, Gmail had six, count them six outages. The worst lasted
as long as 30 hours. That was just your email, can you imagine being locked out
of your own computer for 30 hours straight? Google say they have the server
capacity to deal with the increase in load, but that's what they said about
Gmail too.
2) No more Modern Warfare: Chrome OS is not built for
hardcore gaming. There's an argument that the casual gaming market is huge,
and this won't affect them, but try explaining that to the 1.23 million people
who bought Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on its first day of release. This is
sure to be one of the more interesting outcomes of the success, or lack
thereof, of Chrome OS. You can bet Nvidia and ATI (now AMD Graphics) won't go
down without a fight.
3) Are netbooks dead?: Over the last few months, more and
more people are speculating that the netbook might have just been a fad.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Dell CEO Michael Dell have both said they
expect CULV laptops to be the future, and some analysts are even questioning
whether the netbook moniker is even relevant anymore. Not good news for an OS
"that will initially be targeted at netbooks."
Only time will tell if Chrome OS will be a flash in the pan
or a genuine challenger to Microsoft's OS domination. But don't place your bets
just yet.
