tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2474460677052658843.post6713375421164250862..comments2023-04-14T10:09:18.856-05:00Comments on The Essence of Balance: Google's Chrome OS, Cloud-oriented Computing, and User Freedom; or The Emperor has No Clothes!Nathan M. Blackerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13324322162620137133noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2474460677052658843.post-16788478796050302272011-08-09T00:24:27.000-05:002011-08-09T00:24:27.000-05:00Great information! I enjoyed this one, and many of...Great information! I enjoyed this one, and many of the other posts you've been putting out lately.Cindyhttp://basketballnet.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2474460677052658843.post-47131684279857070352009-07-10T12:01:17.284-05:002009-07-10T12:01:17.284-05:00Thanks for the comment, Scott.
I agree with much ...Thanks for the comment, Scott.<br /><br />I agree with much of what you say regarding the challenge Google faces in making Chrome OS a successful product. Why would they fund two products that they will give away for free and essentially perform the same function, revenue-wise? It's a major overlap (but perhaps they will put an end to the less successful project). And they really are going to be fighting an uphill battle. Some people are already talking about Chrome OS being a "Windows Killer." But I doubt it. Microsoft and Apple are clearly well positioned enough in the market that they have the luxury to observe the kind of success Chrome OS might have and in what areas. They can then adopt their own software to consumer demand and essentially marginalize the impact of Chrome OS. Based on my non-rigorous observation, I believe that a major factor - perhaps <i>the</i> most major factor - in getting consumers to switch to a new operating system is providing them with a familiar desktop environment, regardless of whether the operating system comes at a cheaper cost, or even no cost at all. Linux already has troubles in this regard, and it's both low/no cost and, with certain distributions, offers a mostly familiar desktop environment. Who knows what kind of user experience Chrome OS will provide? Consumers might be familiar with a browser, but they most likely won't know what it would be for "the browser to be the operating system." And many of them will not know what cloud computing is. Google will have to present these things (or, possibly better, <i>not</i> present them, since it may cause confusion) in a manner that consumers are already familiar with. Of course, consumers are already familiar with Microsoft and Apple software, so they have a decided advantage in this regard; all they'll have to do is add cloud features to their already existing applications. <br /><br />I also think the security and ethical issues are tied to the success of Chrome OS. You might rank the issues I raised as follows, based on what I believe consumers will be worried about:<br /><br />1. Will the system be able to fully function without an internet connection?<br /><br />2. Will personal data be secure?<br /><br />3. Will non-web-based applications be able to be developed and run on the system. (and will web-based applications be able to be modified to be non-web-based)?<br /><br />I'm not counting out the possibility that Google has an answer to each of these questions. In fact, I think that (1) is the easiest to answer, then (2), and so on. Most consumers will probably be happy if Google can successfully answer (1) and (2). But (3) is the real crux of the issue for me. As I mentioned in the blog entry, Google has no real incentive to allow development of non-web-based applications, so my suspicion is that they won't, or they will restrict it in some way by closing parts of the code, or they will treat is as a fee-based privilege . If they do allow non-web-based-application development, then I guess the emperor will end up having clothes after all.Nathan M. Blackerbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13324322162620137133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2474460677052658843.post-54019590910900171382009-07-10T08:01:34.533-05:002009-07-10T08:01:34.533-05:00First, let me state I am playing devil's advoc...First, let me state I am playing devil's advocate to some extent because we do not have all of the details about ChromeOS. This ChromeOS press release has created such a buzz and it genuinely surprises me. I have read 50 some blog entries and seen tens of new articles, all over a single blog entry and FAQ on Google's site.<br /><br />Before I get to my thoughts on the ethics of Google and cloud, I would like to state my doubts about Google's success and the technical & business challenges this project poses. I have seen so many bad reviews of the ChromeOS idea. Most criticize the fact that Google is loosing it's focus and to some extent I must agree, though not completely. First, Android has had a slow start, some might say very slow. Other's might say, it has been basically a flop. Sales of Android have been minimal.<br /><br />At best, I think Google does seem a bit brash in throwing out the idea of another operating system, which mind you, competes in some of the same space as Android. Overlapping products, is strange to begin with. Perhaps Google feels attacked by Bing, so they came back with an attack on MS Windows. In the end, I am very skeptical that Google has a chance of even making a dent in the OS Market with ChromeOS. Firefox has done well, but Linux usage lags far behind. Google, may have more work cut out for them than they can handle and Microsoft is probably thinking to them selves, "Wonderful, spend some of your war chest on this, Hua, Hua, Hua."<br /><br />From the usability and ethical perspective, there are some challenges. From the network perspective, Google gears basically solves the problem of needing an Internet connection. It basically performs a hidden sync of your data, so you can work off line indefinitely. Besides, if you never had an Internet connection, then you never downloaded ChromeOS, and you definitely never had time to upload/sync all of your documents, so I think it is a fairly easily solved chicken/egg problem.<br /><br />I think the biggest challenge is with regard to where your data sits. There are safe (safety is subjective and relative) ways to store data in the cloud, but the lawyers have more to say about that than the tech guys like me. Obviously, asymmetric (one way) encryption could be used, but the entire suite of Google apps would have to adhere to a strict legal standard that restricts them from storing/using keys/data. That is unlikely at best.<br /><br />More likely all of your privacy protection will rely on some kind of EULA which can change daily or hourly. This would make many feel uncomfortable. On the other hand, there are already bot nets out there that have millions of users in them, and those people never signed a EULA. People who's computers have been compromised by bot nets are sharing their data to people who are probably much worse than Google and probably providing the framework for all kinds of identity theft scams.<br /><br />Personally, I think I still like the technical control called "My Computer" in place where my data is mostly on my hard drive, but I may just be getting old. Really, I am not sure if it is safer or free-er, I just feel better. In the end Google's physical/network security may be better than my computer, but the legal security in either case is much harder to put my finger on. Remember, these line have been getting blurrier and there are many cases of government/law enforcement snatching up computers and network traffic under suspicion.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12759116729579018689noreply@blogger.com