Google Chrome OS: Is it a Windows Killer?

As the computer world prepares for the Chromebook, the question in everyone's mind is if Chromebook will affect Mac OS X's share of the market. No one has the answer. We can only make predictions from available facts. What seems evident is that users of Microsoft Windows operating systems will not abandon Microsoft for Chromebook en masse. If anything, it will be an insignificant loss of Microsoft users. However, a Google Chromebook could take a large part of what little support Mac OS X has been enjoying, even if many designers and programmers have been dumping Windows for Mac OS X.

Right now, Mac OS X controls only 8% of the operating system market. This is not a very stable position and any craze for the Google Chromebook could affect the Mac OS X market share. This is a common believe among industry analysts. Apple is aware of this and the company is preparing accordingly with the introduction of Mac OS X Lion to act as a shock absorber from the mighty blow heading their way. However, is Google Chromebook that much of a spectacular operating system that it is capable of squeezing Mac OS X out of breath?

First, many users may not like to have their files in the cloud for many reasons. First, many things can go wrong. Imagine a programmer having his next big project in the cloud. Think of a top novelist working on a project, would he be willing to save his work in the cloud? Security and availability of an Internet connection are some of the factors users will consider before switching to Google Chromebook.

The plethora of attacks against Google is enough to make people think twice before saving a document online. Google itself does not have a ‘'white'' antitrust record. This may worry users who have very sensitive or important information to save.

Google Chromebook does have some good qualities though. Let's not forget, the aim is to come up with an operating system that is extremely lightweight and can quickly boot up and run fast. It also removes the issues of upgrading an operating system, fighting with viruses/spyware, and going through the process of making a backup. Another nice thing about the Chromebook is that it is very affordable. This could make Chromebook a great 2nd computer to have sitting around the house for web browsing and light computer use.

It will be interesting to see how Chromebook performs in the coming months, particularly against Mac OS X.

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-By Dominic

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