IBM OpenDesktop is what they call it I think, few people have even seen it, most that have say it pretty much sucks. But Google, LOL, that reminds me, how many freaking threads did we see on here about Google, they had the next version of Linux, blah blah blah, but did they ever have it, or even actually anything close? Nah. Not about to, either.
I believe this desktop is a direct descendent of the Notes/Domino Java-based desktop that has been re-written in browser-brased scripting tools. I would imagine it's quite real.
Going forward, most applications are going to be platform independent, you'll only be required to have a standards-compliant browser, which by all account, Internet Explorer 7 may well be (unlike its predecessors.)
At that point, if you wish to pay US$200 for a Vista license and the cost to upgrade all of your hardware well...good for you.
Personally, I can't see Google getting into a Linux distro directly for the same reason IBM will not (n.b. they're using Red Hat) because of the cost to support it.
But it's going to get interesting. Considering as of the 6th generation of Windows you cannot directly plug in a standard peripheral without having to install drivers and reboot your machine, I am not optimistic about Windows future. Especially not when the Mac sitting next to it does everything I want, when I want, without having to shell out more $$$$ to say make a movie or burn a DVD. Curious concept, that.