Google has been well known for its beta obsession as most of its apps were under the beta tag. But not anymore as google announced yesterday that starting today it would be removing the beta tag accross its Google apps like gmail, calendar, docs etc across consumer and enterprise versions.
Why Evolution from Beta is significant?
The very fact that google has let go of the beta tag means that its ready to claim that its products are ready to be considered stable and can be offered on a freemium model. This move is clearly targetted at the business community and to send a message out that Google apps can now be considered as a serious investment.
While Google has moved on from BETA Stage in terms of web apps it also made a significant announcement a few hours ago i.e. the announcement of the Web OS platform christened Google Chrome OS. In their own words “Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks.”
Here are some revelations on Google Chrome OS
- Its an open source, lightweight operating system targeted at netbooks
- Later this year its code will be open-source
- By the second half of 2010 it will be available bundled with netbooks
- Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS
- OS to be built in a way to protect it from viruses, malware and security updates
- Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips
- Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android
As its clear from the points above Google intends to hurt microsoft where it hurts the most i.e. Speed and security. They are making this browser for a web savvy early adopter who hates it when his or her machine get hung due to several OS processes which may not be required for his real requirement i.e. browsing the web.
Is this a huge threat to Microsoft Windows?
Well in the short term not that big a threat but in the longterm as cloud computing becomes a reality and speed and security is preferred over features then Microsoft would be very wary of this new competitor. What would serve Microsoft well would be if it can launch a Lite version of Microsoft Windows 7 targetted at the audience focussed on browsing and an option to switch to this Lite version from the main Windows 7 OS itself. Think of it like a web browsing mode just like safe mode on your current PC. All in all this is a BIG announcement by Google and the battle between Google and Microsoft just got even more interesting.
Download Google Chrome OS (Beta) Click Here
You Can Mail Me at : hidewhat@gmail.com
0 comments