Will Google's Online Operating System Revolutionize the Computer

When ever I see people fawning over new technology I get wary. I try to think of the simple ole' clock. Yes that thing that tells you what time of day it is. Originally it was intended to help monks keep the prayer times. Now it dictates our lives in ways no one could have ever imagined.

Technology gives, but it takes in equal proportions.

My complaint is the complete lack of autonomy. You become completely dependent on someone else to do something as simple as type a resume or create a birthday card. How many company's want their employees putting all of their proprietary info out in the clouds?

What about people that live in rural areas? I know people that can only get satellite based broad band. They pay $75 a month for 1 meg service. They would actually experience slower computing when undertaking certain tasks.

I just don't see an upside to this.

reply to post by wisintel


I can't completely accept that the PC is a dying breed. Sure, things are changing, but the PC will always have a solid place with consumers.

Netbooks, smartphones, tablets and even a normal laptop all have their places, as net-centric, mobile devices that blend well with cloud computing.

But for many things, a PC can't be topped. Gamers, unless there is an incredible overhaul of network infrastructure, will not be able to play games solely on the cloud; even the most advanced mmo games require relatively large amounts of computing power and storage on the persons machine. And with the increasing usage of the aforementioned net-centric devices, the load placed on the networks is even higher, throwing mmo gaming into cloud based computing would be the most impractical move ever, at least at any point in the foreseeable future.

Some people just like control of their data, not having to store it and send it to servers that they have no control over, and have no direct/physical access to. Some people don't have internet access, or it is limited.

In short, I don't see the PC dying off any time soon, and I don't see ChromeOS taking a huge bite out of the PC market, but it will open people up to the idea that there is life outside of Windows.

If I want a cloud based system I will stick with linuxmce, does everything I need and more, plus I have access and control over my data on my main. I know it's a bit different than what is described but essentially the same in my little world where I can control everything....Evil laugh!!!!!!!

In addition to the obvious privacy issues with making every file on your computer available to Google, maybe someone can shed some light on two logistical problems I can foresee.

First, what happens if the internet goes out? Would your computer be a completely useless vessel until you regained access to Google's servers?

Second, wouldn't such an operating system be especially susceptible to malware, spyware, viruses, and malicious hacking?

reply to post by mindovermatter88


Under their theory viruses will be handled by google there would be no hard disk to damage on your local machine as it would be in their servers. Negating the need for anti-virus software. As far as internet going out yep defiantly see a hiccup with that if someone needs their file asap, like doctor, police. Could be a new excuse for work though, sorry boss couldn't turn in those reports internet been down all weekend!!!

reply to post by Vilkata


My vision on the future of personal computing is somewhat inspired by some predictions by Ray Kurzweil. I envision most of personal computing equipment being carried with us most of the time. Whether it be a smart phone, wearable computer or even circuits woven into our clothes. We will carry the ability to interface with information with us at all times. I made this comment in another post about augmented reality, I imagine people will be walking around half in the real world and half in cyberspace. So yes there will be some personal storage that you keep on your person, (figuring that they are currently developing terabyte storage systems that fit on a postage stamp. However, most of the applications and information that you access on a daily basis will be in the cloud.

Other signs that PC is dead in its current desktop/laptop configuration is the surging popularity of smart phones and Ipad like devices. I think the Ipad and current smartphones are a stepping stone to the wearable always on computer interface that I imagined above. I may be wrong, but I love speculating about these sort of things.

I might be more interested in this Google operating system (sounds a lot like good, ol' fashioned GEOS, to me), as soon as they can get Google Chrome to stop crashing my computer.

Originally posted by mindovermatter88
In addition to the obvious privacy issues with making every file on your computer available to Google, maybe someone can shed some light on two logistical problems I can foresee.

First, what happens if the internet goes out? Would your computer be a completely useless vessel until you regained access to Google's servers?

Second, wouldn't such an operating system be especially susceptible to malware, spyware, viruses, and malicious hacking?

sec point, would we get just guest access acounts only, wouldn't they do that. I doubt you would get admin rights in the cloud.

on first, cannot really see something as important as the net being out of comission. Can you guys remember the net so far being dead. I am sure there will be plenty of safe guards.

Personally i think cloud computing gaming would be good, and i think in america they are testing this service, if i remember. Surely it will be better than what we have at mo, with lagging. I would think online gaming should benefit, and may be one of the best ways to get people to accept it. Itf they get a suitable service.

You see first they will have to do online gaming as this seems innocent to you people, to get you into the idea of cloud computing being good and safe. I think they are testing in usa already in this area.

But to get people away from home pcs, they will have to sell as safe and the best way would first get people playing cloud gaming, or what ever they would call it. I would guess too that techs will come in future that will make us switch, and only take advantage of cloud computing, you know how they do this.

I think that I'll just stick with my old fashioned hard drive, thanks though. I'll also learn to deal with the whole 30 seconds or so that it takes my pc to boot up. I guess I don't fit their model, 90% of my time on a pc isn't spent in a browser.

It will be interesting to see what the OS looks like and how well it operates but like many, here at least, I don't feel too comfy about it.

I can definitely see the generations behind me totally embracing the tech and wondering how they ever lived without it. The target audience is not for folks that have been around for several decades, 40'ish + year olds.

reply to post by DelMar


I think what they will be aiming for too, is the facebook crowd, that are younger like just hitting 20 or so now, and younger. Anyone over 30 may want some privacy.

But the people who use facebook all the time, is probably going to go for cloud computing with no doubts, but being 35 i want to keep my home server, lol, and probably always will.

But i am sure if cloud gaming where to come out, and using a computer just for browsing, i am sure most will pick up.

But your right most people use computers just for browsing, and net, not much else. So they will not leave much behind. But our generation will know of a past with hard drives and floppy disks, lol.

Let me tell you what will happen:

-offices will continue running Windows, because that's what people are accustomed to, and because of privacy.

-hardcore gamers will continue buying PCs with extra huge video cards.

-casual gamers will continue buying console and iPhone games.

-Chrome O/S tablets will come out, but they will not gonna be very successful. The web is not a good platform for truly useful online applications.

reply to post by masterp


And that's just how its gonna be forever and ever? Nothing ever lasts. Someday, we won't have PC's anymore its inevitable. Someday we won't play PC games anymore. It's inevitable. Nothing in the technological age that we now live in stays the same or lasts forever. People always just assume the way things are is the way they will always be.

How much advertising and how much danger will we be in from hackers if all of our personal information is stored on google systems instead of our computers. and how easy will the feds or any police agency be able to subpoena your complete Internet history and files.

I have a complete OS on a pen-drive along with my choice of security systems that i can plug into any Internet connected computer and run fully secure without any history left on the computer i plug into.
all i have to do is plug it into a computer and hit "my computer" to bring up my pendrive a it will boot and then i type in my password to access the pendrive files.
This pen-drive is set up the same as my home computer and if i want to can connect right to my home computer and work through it and save files to my home computer. This allows me to use my home computer as a proxy server and to be able to surf the web in complete privacy and by pass most Internet monitoring software. i can also save any files to my home computer under AES 256-bit hardware encryption.

reply to post by wisintel


The PC does a lot more things than playing games. Even Office applications cannot run efficiently on the current web technologies (Google Docs are nothing but a toy).

The PC will go away when someone makes an operating system than can transparently handle distributed information. Until that gap is closed, we are stuck with the PC.

Originally posted by wisintel
reply to post by masterp

 

And that's just how its gonna be forever and ever? Nothing ever lasts. Someday, we won't have PC's anymore its inevitable. Someday we won't play PC games anymore. It's inevitable. Nothing in the technological age that we now live in stays the same or lasts forever. People always just assume the way things are is the way they will always be.

All the more reason to start another bailout, to save the crumbling pc market!!! LOL all in good humor, scary part is that will come true one day!!

I highly doubt this will kill off the PC market. Its not intended for that. Powerful PC's will still be widely used for multi-tasking, video and photo editing, gaming and task that are CPU intensive. This will more likely sell as a secondary personal computer. I already own a powerful desktop, laptop, and a smartphone. I run Linux and Windows depending on the task at hand. PC's are here to stay, I already store some of my information on the cloud, but I don't think many of us will ever give up our personal hard drives for locally storing our information vs the cloud. I really doubt people would use Chrome OS as their only PC.

Originally posted by kensho
Making your computer like a terminal... sounds like going back to the 80's with this. This is not something new, 30 years ago computers used to be a simple keyboard and a screen and all storage was in a vac. Now, it is called "cloud computing".

Computing is starting to look a lot like fashion, all with it's periodic trends.

edit on 28-10-2010 by kensho because: (no reason given)

Yep.. All tech goes through cycles like this....


This particular one is very similar to VDI or Virtualized Desktop Infrastructure.

But you are right its just like dumb terminals all over again...

So when your internet goes out, your completely out of luck.

Don't forget to pay your ISP!

How absurd.

No. That's as simple as I can put it.

The ability to access information directly from a HDD is not "archaic" or slow. It's, in fact, quite fast and far more reliable and secure than swaying in the wind against network problems and incompetent technicians. The future (for now) is SSD's; Solid-State Drives. They do not use mechanical parts to access data, like we do now with the noisy and easily broken mechanical "arm" that flicks back and forth across a disc.

SSD's have been on the market for a long time, but have also been overpriced far too long. They are lightning fast and twice as reliable.

reply to post by Vilkata


Exactly..

I have heard much over the past few years of "streaming games", "cloud computing" and what have you, but the reality is that there does not exist the network infrastructure to support this. For someone to play a graphically hungry game like, say, Battlefield Bad Company 2 over a network, streaming the video info into their thin client machine they would need massive amounts of bandwidth, even with compression technology. Then you have latency issues to contend with as well and they are just two reasons why gaming in a cloud is a fail, at least for the next 10 years.

I am a PC Gamer and will never willingly surrender my over-powered monster desktop (and the bragging rights to go with it) for some thin-client POS relying on some remote server to play my games. What if my internet goes down? What if their network fails? What if my ISP gets funny about the amouint of bandwidth I use and throttles me? So many things could go wrong and only morons will swallow it.

As for this OS, not on your nelly. Windows isn't great but it's the best of a bad bunch, at least for gaming. Linux just doesn't cut the mustard, many games just don't work. And you can bloody well gurantee I am not trusting Google with all my personal files, my pictures or anything else. Especially given they have shown already they cannot be trusted with personal data.