Google's Chrome and Go open source efforts ready to go
Analyst: Jay Lyman, Chris Hazelton
Date: 24 Nov 2009
Email This Report: to colleagues »»/ to yourself »»
451 Report Folder: File report »»View my folder »»
Event summary
Google has announced more information and resources for developers on its Chrome OS, a Linux-based, Web-
and browser-centric operating system intended for PCs, netbooks and other mobile devices.
Google also recently released a new system-programming language, Go, in an effort to spur developers to
improve and speed computing by better taking advantage of hardware and software innovation.
Exactly how Android, a Linux-based smartphone and embedded OS from Google, will fit with Chrome remains to
be seen, but we would expect to see seamless transition or integration, given similar technology and licensing.
The 451 take
Google's Chrome, Go and other efforts to leverage its presence and power in Web-based applications and services and
cloud computing come at a time when the company is enjoying tremendous popularity among developers. Its use of Linux
and other open source software technologies serve to reinforce this. However, not only does the company face the
formidable challenges of localized models and players such as Microsoft and Apple, it must also contend with the fact that
many users, particularly in the enterprise, remain more comfortable with applications and data held native to the device.
Still, based on what we are seeing in the smartphone space with Android, Google will undoubtedly have a significant
impact.
Details
Google signaled ongoing work and called for developers on its Chrome OS, essentially an operating system that runs
inside a browser. Along similar lines of Web-based computing and speed, Google also recently unveiled its open source
system-programming language: Go. Released under a BSD-style license, Go is used by Google internally and is intended to
account for and take advantage of faster multicore computers, dynamically-typed languages, parallel computation and
other advances.
There is some uncertainty as to how Google will advance Chrome as its smartphone OS, Android, continues to gain traction
in mobile devicesand embedded markets. Based on technologies, licensing and Google history, we believe we will see a
smooth coexistence or transition among the different technologies.
Google's overall strategy with its developer, device and cloud computing efforts via Chrome represent its continued push of
computing and data to the cloud – Google servers, Google Apps and services to be precise. Chrome is Google's attempt to
reinvent or repurpose the OS by leveraging the cloud in place of traditional or local computing resources such as
processors, memory and storage. Google wants to drive every aspect of a user's computing onto the Web – where its
strengths lie. It faces formidable challenges, particularly from incumbents content to see onboard applications and data
continue to dominate. However, Google touts speed – both in performance for users and time-to-market for vendors –
among the key advantages of its approach. The idea is that with cloud and Web services rather than native applications,
both user audience and developer support broaden beyond individual operating systems, languages, processors, devices
and applications. While this type of connectivity and cloud offering is criticized for connectivity requirements, Google
attempts to mitigate this with offline capabilities via its Gears information- and data-caching technology.
Competitive landscape
Microsoft represents competition for Google and its Chrome efforts on several levels: as an OS, as a developer ecosystem
and in applications. Microsoft's Windows 7, which may be the reason for uncharacteristically early announcements from
Google regarding Chrome, also competes across devices, from PCs and traditional notebooks to netbooks, tablets and
other mobile devices. Google is leveraging the ability to see the same data, applications and interfaces across all of these
devices, and may find the most traction for its strategy here.
Apple represents competition not only in its presence in PCs and smartphones, but also as a vendor that integrates and
ties together the hardware, software and store for applications. In terms of other Linux-based PC and netbook OS options,
among the more significant are Ubuntu and Ubuntu Netbook Remix from Canonical, which has won desktop, notebook
and netbook preinstallation from Dell. Novell's SUSE Linux, which is also preinstalled on some netbooks, and Fedora
from Red Hat are also options. Additionally, there is Moblin, an initiative originated with Intel and now part of the Linux
Foundation, which produces a netbook OS and also works with Canonical. There was also, reportedly, collaboration
between Canonical and Google on Chrome, but we still see a good degree of competition between Ubuntu and Chrome.
Search Criteria
This report falls under the following categories. Click on a link below to find similar documents.
Company: Google
Other Companies: Apple Inc, Canonical, Dell, Intel, Linux Foundation, Microsoft Corporation, Novell, Red Hat
, Software Innovation, SUSE Linux
Analyst: Jay Lyman, Chris Hazelton
Sector: Systems / System Software / Computer OS / Linux
Mobility / Operating systems / Linux
IT outsourcing / Software development