In regards to Google's Chrome OS...
I think it’s fair to say there’s never been so much said by so many about something we know practically nothing about.
What we do know is this. Yesterday Google announced a new OS based on the design idioms of the Google Chrome browser. Initially it will only be targeting netbooks but it’s pretty clear Google has the world in it’s sights.
I have essentially nothing to say about this. They really don’t give many details. But one they did mention is that it will be built on Linux which is causing some blowback from the Linux community.
Such as in this post titled “No thanks Google, we've got Ubuntu.”
Google's revelation today that it will create its own operating system will bring just one reaction from operating system enthusiasts worldwide.
"Not another Linux distribution," they'll cry.
and…
Depending on what part of the world you live in, odds are that you (and sometimes the company you work for) have personally switched between different Linux distributions several times over the past decade, as one or the other gained prominence.
He turns this all into a pitch for Ubuntu saying…
The growing dominance of Ubuntu (at least on the desktop, the server room seems to have been won by Red Hat) has delivered the Linux community a serious advantage in its ongoing war against the incumbent Windows and Apple platforms because of its ability to give software developers a single platform to concentrate on, and polish to a degree not seen previously.
Wow, now THAT is how missing the point is done.
The problem with Mr. LeMay’s piece is that he’s focusing on the irrelevant. Namely the OS core. Yes a good OS kernel is important and Linux has a good OS kernel. But using it does not a Linux distribution make.
Mr. LeMay sees this as “another Linux distribution” only because he is obsessed with Linux. But one of the few things we do know about the Chrome OS is they’re aiming higher than that. They don’t want people programming for Linux or any other desktop OS. They’re saying “program for the web and have it act like a desktop App”
So Linux couldn’t be more irrelevant to the equation.
Whether the Chrome OS turns out great or not it already has one thing over other Linux variations and that is it realizes focusing on Linux is not the way to success. The fact that it’s Linux only matters to those obsessed with Linux. Everyone else just wants a working system. If you somehow magically replaced the Linux kernel with OS X’s Unix based kernel no one would even know. Or care!
But here’s the kicker: That’s what Open Source is supposed to be!
Google is using Linux in the way open source was meant to be used: As a means to not repeat work that’s already been done (and done well). The Linux core is solid, reliable and well tested. So why wouldn’t they use it?
Linux shouldn’t be a brand. The point of Open Source is to share knowledge gained through the creation of software by letting others use it. So those others can create great products (as well as sell them, support them, etc…)
But it’s the products built with Open Source that are important.
Products like the Chrome OS are far more important than the kernel they’re built on. Linux advocates can’t see this because their obsession with Linux has made them forget why it’s great in the first place. That’s why they continually try to sell Linux as a brand.
Making Linux into a brand is counter-productive.
It’s confusing to normal people and it lessens the individual distributions in people’s eyes. That’s what Google understands. They get that the Chrome OS will live or die by NOT being another Linux distribution. That’s why they choose not to brand it as such.
God love ‘em the Linux fans will never give up their focus on Linux. They’re devoted hobbyists and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. That is what being a hobbyist is all about. But in the real world Linux will never gain wide spread success as a brand (largely because of it’s association with hobbyists).
But it can still provide an infrastructure to something that might change the world.