Microsoft, headquartered in Seattle in the US, has learnt big lessons from the mistakes it made with its last version of Windows, Vista, released in 2006. Vista was bloated and didn't play nicely with older hardware and netbooks, the small, low-cost laptops that have taken the world by storm.
It's not out yet, but Windows 7's reception so far couldn't be more different from Vista's. This time around, Microsoft has developed a lightweight, stable and responsive operating system. Many corporate clients and individual users who have clung on to the now eight-year-old Windows XP may finally make the leap and upgrade to a newer Windows.
The positive press Microsoft has been getting for Windows 7 must be jarring for the executives at Silicon Valley-headquartered Google That the search giant, which is increasingly competing with Microsoft in software applications (albeit on the Web only), preannounced Chrome OS days before Windows 7 is released to manufacturing suggests this may have been a PR stunt designed to deflect attention from its arch rival.
Microsoft's announcement on Monday that it will offer a free online version of its market-leading Office suite also probably played a role in Google's timing.
It wouldn't be the first time Google has tried this. Shortly before Microsoft unveiled its new search engine, Bing, Google pre announced a new social networking and communications tool called Wave.
If one reads last week's blog post on Chrome OS, which is based on its Chrome Web browser, it's clear Google wants to stick it publicly to Microsoft. The gloves are off.
“[Consumers] don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates.”
Eina! But can Google really compete with Microsoft in desktop operating systems? Linux tried but remains used only by a subset of geeks. Apple has had more success with Mac OS X, but its software is tied to its hardware, and Apple hardware isn't cheap.
Google may have more success with Chrome OS because of its brand recognition. And the company will probably make the software, which has a Linux core, much easier to use than most Linux variations.
But even that may not be enough. Because of the wide range of Windows applications they have to run, corporate customers are locked into Windows, whether they like it or not. It's going to be a long time before companies ditch Microsoft Office, for example.
Companies won't shift their word processing, spreadsheets and other productivity requirements to online tools like Google Docs — at least, not for the foreseeable future. Google's online office suite lacks many of the advanced features found in Office.
Don't get me wrong. It's great Google is developing its own operating system. Competition is good and it will keep Microsoft on its toes. But, as with the Chrome Web browser which has struggled to gain a toehold in the market, I don't expect Google to find millions of willing customers overnight. But it will chip away at Microsoft's dominance.
For now, though, Google knows it can muddy the waters with a bit of well-timed PR aimed at Seattle.
Source: Financial Mail
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