So is ChromeOS a desktop winner?
When Google announced their ChromeOS there was a flurry of comment and opinion on what this could mean for the GNU/Linux user and the future of free software. Our esteemed editor, Tony Mobily made a bold statement (albeit framed as a question) at the time that Google’s ChromeOS could turn GNU/Linux into a “desktop winner”. I’m not sure that it’s true.
Whatever happens of course the fact is that when somebody of Google’s size and impact enters a market, there will be winners and losers, losses and gains. Now that the dust has well and truly settled let’s have another look at the potential impact of ChromeOS.
Even the most ardent web-centric user will struggle to argue that there will not be a continuing need for a ‘real’ desktop OS for some time yet. When it was suggested here that GNOME and KDE has shot each other out of the market, there was considerable response to the contrary. As others have pointed out, some applications of software require more than the current batch of web-tools can offer. As much as AJAX has added some real-time feedback to the web, it still pales in comparison to a proper desktop API and I say this as a long-term web (and AJAX) developer. As long as we have a large populace of disconnected users we will require an OS to suit their needs. There’s no reason why GNU/Linux (or any free OS for that matter — let’s not limit this to GNU/Linux) couldn’t fill that niche more adequately than it does now. Perhaps one of the unexpected side effects of Chrome OS will be to force other OS developers to make bolder and stronger moves into the web-based-OS market. This transition could find those users with occasional or unreliable net connections looking to free software for solutions. This makes sense as it is traditional for free software to pick up where proprietary has unceremoniously dumped their customers on the roadside of “progress”.
Having said all that, I don’t think any emergence of Chrome OS will result in the name or reputation of GNU or Linux becoming better known. Chrome OS users will be just that, Chrome OS users. I doubt they will know they are using “Linux” or that some part of their chosen OS is free software — or what that means. Don’t believe me, ask an Android user and ask yourself how often you heard the terms free software or open source during the launch of the Nexus One. As free software advocates this alone should ring some alarm bells for us.
I also can’t see that Chrome OS will present greater opportunities to get free software onto OEM PCs. The OEMs will possibly offer Chrome OS on their netbooks but if they don’t offer GNU/Linux or another free OS now, why would the emergence of Chrome OS change their minds? The OEM market is fraught with lock-in deals, “We recommend ..” statements and tight, tight margins. You’d think the latter would help them move to free software but if you ask me, OEMs are like frogs in a pot of slowly heated water and now they don’t know whether they should, let alone how they would, climb out. Maybe I am too cynical but whilst Chrome OS may give them an option, I can’t realistically see it opening their eyes to GNU/Linux in general.
