"Google's decision to create its own Linux distribution and splinter the Linux community decisively once again can only be seen as foolhardy and self-obsessive. Instead of treading its own path, Google should have sought to leverage the stellar work already carried out by Shuttleworth and his band of merry coders and tied its horse to the Ubuntu cart. If Google truly wants to design a new "windowing system on top of a Linux kernel," there should be nothing to stop the search giant from collaborating openly with the best in the business. I'm sure Linus Torvalds would have something strongly worded to say about Google's plans to "completely redesign" the underlying security architecture of Linux." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

I think there is some merit to completely redesign an architecture that has its roots some decades ago. Let's just see where it goes. - Oliver Bouchard

@Holden True, and that's one of the Catch 22s of Linux. For it to succeed against Windows and OS X as its zealots want it to, it must violate its own principles and enforce unformity - LANjackal from IM

LOL "architecture redesign" is a gross overstatement. It's Chrome running atop the Linux kernel, which means that whatever device is running the OS will be a browser appliance. That's nothing new - LANjackal from IM

lol tell that to them, not me - LANjackal from IM

I think Googles plans are bigger. They're downplaying it now - first they need to take on a realistic project that they can deliver any time soon and second they always try not to jump in Microsoft's or Apple's face. But once they have an all-Google platform going, then anything is possible. - Oliver Bouchard

They already have Android. I don't get where the new Chrome OS fits in, since anything that runs any of the above can probably run them both - LANjackal from IM

Google is doing the same thing as Apple. Building a great OS for mobile, notebook, netbook, desktop and server. Difference is that Google does it Open Source and does not sell hardware. They are playing on MS playground. - Berry Groenendijk

@Holden: "Chrome OS -> windows 7, Android -> windows mobile" but Chrome OS has been released as a netbook OS ... which is exactly the space Android was supposed to be covering. And again, your analogy omits the fact that there are other major OSes besides Windows. - LANjackal

Although the concept has much *future* promise, I think it's laughable *at this point* to call a browser a drop-in replacement for an OS. One-size-fits-all solutions are easy, but they're rarely efficient - LANjackal from IM

I agree in that there's not much Google has done *wrong*, but there are quite a few projects/releases of its making that have generally failed to gain much traction anywhere. Gears is one of them. FB chat killed GTalk overnight, not that GTalk ever threatened AIM or WLM in terms of user base anyway. I think Chrome OS will be a *technical* success, but not much more than an academic curiosity for at least the next few years. I'll put my money on Android in the mobile space and Wave when it drops - LANjackal from IM

Oh, and Chrome, for all its speed and hype, has absolutely slaughtered ... *Drumroll* Opera. As I said, there's a huge difference between technical success and market success. Google is very good at the former, but outside of search and email (Android may be hyped but it's nowhere near widely available nor has the G1/HTC Magic sold as well as the iPhone or RIM devices), the latter has been tough to come by for them - LANjackal from IM