Google’s Chrome OS: Windows killer or Internet conspiracy?

VS.
If you haven’t heard yet, Google is making the ultimate run at Microsoft’s power base: Windows. They’re attempting to put together an operating system that will run via the Web and the plot continues to thicken.
Will they put a crack in Windows? As a web guy, I’m intrigued by the possibilities. Do I think they’ll turn the MS tiger into paper?
Probably not. I do think it can lead to some great things.

So here are the facts I’ve been able to gather:

• Google has announced that it is putting together an open source operating system based on its free Chrome browser – which was an attempt to knock over Microsoft’s other big dog – Internet Explorer – which, I’m not that hot on – at least IE8 – but I do really love dashes, if you hadn’t noticed.
• Google claims that over 30 million people use it already not a bad number but nary a dent in the browsing population.
• Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips
• Google will partner with OEMs, many, they claim, are interested: Acer, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Toshiba.

So, if it’s not going to topple Windows and change the way you boot up your PC, why should you care?

Two words: cloud computing.

If you don’t know what it is, you’re likely to be left behind. It’s what everyone wants but doesn’t know what they want: Access to all of their apps, docs, pics and date from anywhere. It’s terrific and terrifying at the same time. It means you won’t ever need hard drive but it also means all of your stuff will be stored on some giant server somewhere.

Ultimately, Google wants to be your online Wal-mart. They’ll control everything and pretend to control nothing. Because, hey, it’s all open source, like Linux. Not that I think Google is the giant evil juggernaut (though I’m not ruling that out), but it creates a new paradigm for the rest of us.

The thing that’s a bit sneaky about this is that Google isn’t really interested in the OS. Or that’s what I think. My guess is they want is to control the data. If you use a web-based OS, you’ll use more web based apps, like Google’s office. Hard drives could become a thing of the past. And, you could be forced to store your stuff on a web server. Again, convenient, but scary.

Of course, people have talked about Internet-only computers for a long time. The back end just wasn’t there.

As the world goes WiMax, the line continues to blur between the web and your PC. Google’s impending OS is another step in that direction,