And now, for Google's next trick ... Google PC??....GoogleOS???

Guardian UK ^ | Tuesday January 3, 2006 | Dominic Timms

[seppel]

Google OS? What for?

[Revolting cat!]

It'll be called GoOS!

[aculeus]

Explains today's jump.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

For their new web device....

[Tarpon]

Thin clients anyone? Be funny if it turns out to be a Sun Sunray on a diet. Thin clients are made for Internet terminals and on line storage.

[quantim]

Sounds like a 2nd generation WebTV for DUmmies.

[Salamander]

They're going to invent WebTV again?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Microsoft is vulnerable, and arrogant!!! :

WMF flaw can't wait for Microsoft fix, researchers say

[Babu]

Thread on this story already here

[Red Badger]

Yeah, they're gonna be dead ducks with a GOOSE..........

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Marketnews story :

Google at $600
Commentary: Today it's really cheap or really expensive

[M203M4]

Not sure about the hardware move (do they really want to tarnish their image by selling low end junk?). Something tells me that the parties responsible for the AOL talks (a certified disaster in waiting) are responsible for this as well...

The OS could be good though - especially if they could find a way for it to be able to run windows programs (perhaps in a way similar to how Unix-based emulators have had mixed results with. Yeah, it isn't likely, I know). Their applications (Google Earth, Google Desktop, Picasa, etc) have been fairly impressive so far (Picasa less so).

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

They have competition in the websearch business....don't know how good it is:

Next-Generation Search ... Today

[Tarpon]

Web TV was a flop because of how it worked and the quality and speed of response. A 'real' Thin Client is a much different animal, think PC without a disk drive, OS and software maintenance. Backup done on line and transparently. Need security, enable encryption. Sun Sunrays work great, having used them for years -- they are perfect for managed services, and software as a service applications. Cable modems would be an ideal delivery vehicle with google running the software side. This would really shake things up. I know Comcast, and likely other cable outfits, have been toying with the idea for some time.

Google already gives you a GB of space for gmail, flickr allows you to store photos on line.

Why is this appealing, I have a friend who spent months copying all their photos to a PC that failed, PS went poof taking the whole box with it. All his work, cost and cataloging gone in a flash. Yeah I know he should have backed it up, but who really does this. Much easier to let the on line provider do the grunt work. Same with viruses and other exploits.

[Revolting cat!]

Again, what does Google sell? Bread? Butter? Gasoline? Natural gas? Pencils on street corners? No, they sell your eyeballs. Just like the late great magazines LOOK, SATURDAY EVENING POST, LIFE (recently revived as a supplement to some Friday newspapers), and even they collected a few cents for their paper copies. Then, poof, they all went.

[Wolfstar]

Much easier to let the on line provider do the grunt work. Same with viruses and other exploits.

Yes, that's true. However, the online providers are going to have to vastly improve security and privacy before we reach the stage where most people will trust them with personal data.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Hardware is getting incredibily inexpensive....it's hard to see what can happen cause we are all blinded by our PC view of computing....but they may be on to something....putting up with the Malware that Windows has attracted....is getting to be a real pain....

[bpjam]

Gee, the thought of those two little wannabe socialists making another $Billion just makes me giddy. Watch for Larry and Sergey to become the next Soros for the DNC. If I were them, I would be thinking about how to prevent Microsoft from taking over their business by just creating an identical search engine like they did to Netscape, Wordperfect, Lotus, etc,etc,etc. Its not as though advertisers are getting a better bang for their buck paying Google instead of Yahoo or AOL.

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

Those el cheapo PC's suck.