Will Google write an OS?

StraightPipe

Golden Member
Feb 5, 2003
1,676
0
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Does anyone know if there are plans for google to create it's own OS to compete with microsoft?

(I only ask because currently explorer is pegged at 100% and 500MB of RAM, damn memory leaks)
 

BlueWeasel

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
15,944
475
126
Just switch to Linux. :)

If Google did make an OS, I guarantee it would have the best search algorithms.
 

AMDZen

Lifer
Apr 15, 2004
12,589
0
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I wish someone would create something to compete with windows.

It would be cool to have OS X on the PC. Everything you love about Apple, except it would actually have software for it, and would actually have games. OooooOO AHhhHHH. I want it.
 

yllus

Elite Member & Lifer
Aug 20, 2000
20,577
432
126
Total different area of development with a near insurmountable amount of momentum against them. If they didn't make it Windows-compatible, this would mean writing GoogleOS specific software ports, new hardware drivers for every peripheral in existence... What would they do differently to warrant a new OS?
 
Aug 23, 2000
15,509
1
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Originally posted by: yllus
Total different area of development with a near insurmountable amount of momentum against them. If they didn't make it Windows-compatible, this would mean writing GoogleOS specific software ports, new hardware drivers for every peripheral in existence... What would they do differently to warrant a new OS?

Make it work out of the box?
 

yllus

Elite Member & Lifer
Aug 20, 2000
20,577
432
126
Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
Originally posted by: yllus
Total different area of development with a near insurmountable amount of momentum against them. If they didn't make it Windows-compatible, this would mean writing GoogleOS specific software ports, new hardware drivers for every peripheral in existence... What would they do differently to warrant a new OS?
Make it work out of the box?
What, with the 5 pieces of hardware that's compatible with it on launch?
 

phisrow

Golden Member
Sep 6, 2004
1,399
0
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It probably wouldn't be worth it for them. MS wouldn't give ground easily, and it isn't clear what they could do that either the Linux guys or Apple havn't. What they might well try, though, is gradually expanding their collection of rather cute browser based apps. The Google people seem to have the scripting stuff down(e.g. Google maps, or that GoogleX thing that has been floating around, and Gmail, of course). This gives them most of the advantages of a Google OS, namely serious brand recognition and everyone, everywhere, depending on them all the time; without the hassle of writing device drivers for every last proprietary horror, Tiawanese cheapie, and broken-as-designed-winwidget out there. They might do something like slapping together an installer bundle with Google Desktop Search + custom version of Firefox with loads of Google web apps integrated into it(they've hired some important chap from Mozilla, if memory serves) + Thunderbird designed to jack right into your Gmail(directly, with the same interface, not POP3). Doing an actual OS, though, is a fairly thankless task. Much, much easier to just use web based stuff that will run on top of pretty much anything; then you're set no matter who wins the architecture wars, the OS wars, etc.
 

zugzoog

Senior member
Jun 29, 2004
447
0
0
IIRC Google runs on its own OS, which of course has good search capabilities. However the major strengths of the OS is fault tolerance (data is written in three different locations), distributed computing and very low labour overhead.

If Google does decide to leverage this, I would suspect that it would target the enterprise market first.
 

johnjbruin

Diamond Member
Jul 17, 2001
4,401
1
0
What if they build an OS that is compatible with windows software, and MORE.
Basically run everything that runs on windows, and just have their own OS run it. I think Google is capable of building something like this.

The questions is: Would something like this be legal? or would MS sue Google in this case?
 

AdamSnow

Diamond Member
Nov 21, 2002
5,736
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I wouldn't be surprised if in the next few years when internet connections are getting faster and faster that they will develop something that would have you using an OS that is based in a server farm somewhere... all online, no need for any installed OS on your end...

Call me crazy now, but let's talk in a few years... :)
 

Gibson486

Lifer
Aug 9, 2000
18,378
2
0
Originally posted by: johnjbruin
What if they build an OS that is compatible with windows software, and MORE.
Basically run everything that runs on windows, and just have their own OS run it. I think Google is capable of building something like this.

The questions is: Would something like this be legal? or would MS sue Google in this case?


That is an emulated OS. They never really turn out good due to the speed of the OS.
 

Gibson486

Lifer
Aug 9, 2000
18,378
2
0
Originally posted by: AdamSnow
I wouldn't be surprised if in the next few years when internet connections are getting faster and faster that they will develop something that would have you using an OS that is based in a server farm somewhere... all online, no need for any installed OS on your end...

Call me crazy now, but let's talk in a few years... :)


hmmm....writes down for possible graduate research;)

That is a good idea.
 

Malak

Lifer
Dec 4, 2004
14,696
2
0
Originally posted by: AdamSnow
I wouldn't be surprised if in the next few years when internet connections are getting faster and faster that they will develop something that would have you using an OS that is based in a server farm somewhere... all online, no need for any installed OS on your end...

Call me crazy now, but let's talk in a few years... :)

It's called The Grid, already developed and being tested. Don't expect to see it used at all anytime soon.
 

SagaLore

Elite Member
Dec 18, 2001
24,036
21
81
Originally posted by: AMDZen
I wish someone would create something to compete with windows.

It would be cool to have OS X on the PC. Everything you love about Apple, except it would actually have software for it, and would actually have games. OooooOO AHhhHHH. I want it.

BeOS had a good start, but I think they folded.

I personally would like to see an OS/3.
 

So

Lifer
Jul 2, 2001
25,923
17
81
Originally posted by: StraightPipe
I would hope that it would be compatable with windows and OS/x

a kind of bridge

While you could make it call-compatible with os-x, to make it binary compatible would require an emulator, which would be bulky and slow, besides, are there really any programs for the OS-X platform that you need that have NOT been ported? What people really want to come to the x-86 world from os-x is the GUI/security. Realistically, if google made a decent window manager for linux that everyone could standardize around and a sandbox envrionment to run windows programs in (this may be how wine works, I'm not a linux user) they would have a windows killer. IMO, the biggest two things that are holding linux back are the fractured window manager 'market' and the lack of a standard straightforward binary install method (i.e. windows installers).
 

AdamSnow

Diamond Member
Nov 21, 2002
5,736
0
76
Originally posted by: malak
Originally posted by: AdamSnow
I wouldn't be surprised if in the next few years when internet connections are getting faster and faster that they will develop something that would have you using an OS that is based in a server farm somewhere... all online, no need for any installed OS on your end...

Call me crazy now, but let's talk in a few years... :)

It's called The Grid, already developed and being tested. Don't expect to see it used at all anytime soon.

Hence me saying "In a few years" ... :) Still lots of research and technology to be developed before anything like this ever becomes mainstream.
 

Malak

Lifer
Dec 4, 2004
14,696
2
0
Originally posted by: AdamSnow
Originally posted by: malak
Originally posted by: AdamSnow
I wouldn't be surprised if in the next few years when internet connections are getting faster and faster that they will develop something that would have you using an OS that is based in a server farm somewhere... all online, no need for any installed OS on your end...

Call me crazy now, but let's talk in a few years... :)

It's called The Grid, already developed and being tested. Don't expect to see it used at all anytime soon.

Hence me saying "In a few years" ... :) Still lots of research and technology to be developed before anything like this ever becomes mainstream.

More or less it's Internet MKII. It completely redefines what the world wide web is. It has a larger backbone, and it's like putting the world into a distributed computing environment. Everyone shares hardware and software. Obviously for those that still think privacy is important, this will scare them. For those of us that have learned to chat naked will welcome it. But it'll be decades from now probably.