July 8, 2009
The idea that browsers might replace client-side operating systems is being reinforced by the announcement of the Google Chrome OS.
The idea that browsers might replace client-side operating systems is being reinforced by the announcement yesterday of the Google Chrome OS. You can find more info at the Official Google Blog at: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html.
The core idea is to add core file system, process management, and memory management features... to the browser... and let the browser be a full blown OS, running mostly browser applications (and possibly, in the future, browser extensions). Initially targeting netbooks, the OS might in the future apply to client side computers. Considering you can now run even access a virtual machine from the browser, this won't be a huge limitation... although I don't expect this approach to become mainstream for power users.
This announcement is not totally unexpected considering that rumors of a Google OS has been around for years and that the Chrome browser architecture embeds OS capabilities (like process management). Comments on the web and blog sphere have been countless, although it would have been nice to see an even unofficial reaction by Microsoft. Because, as Tim Anderson points out, it's war.
posted by
marcocantu @ 1:59PM | 11 Comments
[0 Pending]
11 Comments
Google The Browser as the Next OS?
MS tried to do this in Windows using IE <g,d&r>
Didn't go that far as security is concerned ;-)
Andrew
Comment by Andrea Raimondi on July 8, 13:41
Google The Browser as the Next OS?
Seems Google is bent on taking over the world!
Just as computer power value for money reaches a peak,
another layer of complexity is added.
I'm for online storage of documents and user profile,
it speeds up re-installation of a PC, but moving all
processing into the browser an onto a remote server?
What a waste.
Made sense when we all had green terminals, but my
netbook is perfectly good at running word or playing
games. Locally.
Besides, would you trust a single company to be in
charge of everybody's files and computing habits?
Comment by Hein du Plessis
[http://www.cde.co.za]
on July 8, 13:55
Google The Browser as the Next OS?
IMHO the road should be exactly the other way round -
"web applications" should be handled by operating
system like "native" ones, I mean when I click a icon
to launch an application I shouldn't care if it is a
local native application, or a remote "web"
application - I should just get an "application
window" to interact with. IMHO the "browser" as it is
now should die - but for reading hypertexts.
But that would require *standards*, and would not
permit to try to gain stupid advantages just adding
features the others haven't.
Well, we'll have just another virtual machine - the
silliest one - onewill need two or three "browser
VMs" to run her applications... add .NET, Java,
Python and Perl and the idea of getting back to
develop native applications become much more
appealing...
Comment by Luigi D. Sandon
[http://www.sandon.it]
on July 8, 16:31
Google The Browser as the Next OS?
@Luigi
And the cycle will close and the old becomes new again
- native applications become the "new" higherground....
Why this not surprise me at all?
Comment by Fabricio on July 8, 21:04
Google The Browser as the Next OS?
Yeah! Somebody should inform Intel & AMD about this!
Fire all that people doing research in their labs! We
don't need more cicles, megahertz and stuff, we only
need a browser!
Comment by Alexandre Machado
[http://alexandrecmachado.blogspot.com]
on July 9, 03:19
Google The Browser as the Next OS?
"IMHO the road should be exactly the other way
round -
"web applications" should be handled by operating
system like "native" ones, I mean when I click a icon
to launch an application I shouldn't care if it is a
local native application, or a remote "web"
application - I should just get an "application
window" to interact with."
+1
Comment by Rich on July 9, 18:16
Google The Browser as the Next OS?
Take a look ay EyeOS a "Web OS"
You can make your own "Web OS" in Delphi using
HtmlViewer, so you can have local file access, DB
access, mixed with native plugins, etc. ¿Security?
well it's out of scope but usefull for intranet, or
other kind of apps.
I tried myself several times but lack of time put me
away from the project
Comment by Daniel Luyo on July 9, 21:38
Perspective from a web developer?
Perhaps you guys might be interested in the
perspective from someone who's transitioned from
Delphi development to rich web app development?
The way I see it, the native vs web divide is
completely arbitrary. Modern web apps run primarily on
the client-side. Toolkits like ExtJS and Dojo put the
equivalent of Delphi forms entirely inside the
javascript environment. In my new apps, the server is
relegated to a collection of JSON-RPC services.
Google's apps also follow this sort of design. So, in
essence, you've got the same client/server paradigm as
we're used to in Delphi. ExtJS even has a concept of
datasets (they call them "stores").
Then there's the issue of performance. In modern
browsers (firefox and chrome) the javascript code gets
JIT-compiled into native code. This native code is
rapidly coming close to what statically compiled
environments offer performance wise due to the
development of techniques like hidden class extraction
to avoid costly type checks and conversions and modern
garbage collectors (whose overhead has become quite
small).
Finally, there's native functionality. Current efforts
are targetted towards exposing more native
functionality to the browser, bringing rich graphics
(2d, 3d, video), client-side storage (sql engines),
multi-threading (web worker threads in firefox 3.5 and
chrome), offline support, and more.
So, really, the gap is shrinking, and the two
environments are becoming pretty equal to each other.
The difference is that the statically-compiled
platforms can't match the distribution model of web
apps, which solves the issues of versioning and
deployment. This is why the web is making much
headway. The deployment is MUCH easier, and the
capabilities are quickly growing to match what native
apps can do.
Comment by Joeri Sebrechts on July 10, 11:33
Google The Browser as the Next OS?
Except not everyone has a fast internet connection...
...but remember Netscape? They predicted this too!
Comment by anon on July 14, 16:14
Google The Browser as the Next OS?
And what happens when you don't have an internet connection, like ,
say on a plane (that may be coming soon). However, if I'm at a hotel or
place where I have to pay for internet connection for the day or by the
hour, and I don't want to, then I guess I can't use my app.
Comment by Phillip Woon on July 30, 09:08
Google The Browser as the Next OS?
If Chrome is an indication, I don't think they will be
a big threat... I have Chrome on 3 machines and I
deal with lots of customers that are using it and
frankly lots of troubles.. It will in my opinion be
just like Google Doc's or any of the others, just
doesn't seem quite finished. Like they got the big
splash and then got bored.
Comment by dayrl on August 1, 03:36
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