Google Chrome OS isn’t an OS, it’s a funnel cloud

by Jay on November 23, 2009

Above is the Chrome OS for Dummies video that Google released to go along with their Chrome media event last Thursday. There were lots of interesting takeaways from the press event, but here are the two main ones:

Chrome is for “secondary computers,” namely netbooks, and won’t replace conventional PCs.
Chrome stores EVERYTHING in the cloud

The Chrome OS isn’t an operating system in the traditional sense. It effectively turns a PC into a thin client for a cloud-based data store and hosted Web apps. It strips out almost everything you think of that comprises an OS and turns the computer into a Web-browsing appliance. Think of Chrome as a “funnel cloud” in that it sucks everything up into the cloud and leaves nothing behind.

So why would you want that? Well, for one, no local data means no data to be lost if the device is lost. If you lose a Chrome OS PC, you’ve lost no data and no apps, because the second you sign in to a new Chrome OS PC, all your apps and data are there. (This also means every Chrome OS PC is instantly tuned to your personalized settings, so all Chrome PCs are virtually interchangeable.)

Second, and perhaps most importantly, Chrome PCs boot in seven seconds. Chrome Applications load in about three seconds. That means about ten seconds from cold start to Web browsing. Part of that is because Google Chrome will only run on PCs with solid-state hard drives (which is code for “PCs made by and for Google Chrome”) but also because Chrome is a single-purpose OS that doesn’t have to worry about almost any of the data management other operating systems deal with.

The downsides? Well, for one, Chrome OS can only run web apps. And to date almost no Web apps offer the richness of features to be found on traditional apps. I like Google Docs, but they ain’t MS Office by a long shot. (Neither, quite frankly, are the new Office Web Apps.)

For another, a Chrome OS PC is useless — literally, completely useless — without an Internet connection. With Chrome, you’re not only trusting all your data to Google, but also to your broadband provider. I might have faith in the Don’t Be Evil corporation, but I certainly don’t have any in my local cable and phone companies, all of whom seem to enjoy throttling or severing my Internet service on an almost daily basis.

Google, of course, is using Chrome as a Trojan horse to get even more data into its servers so it can use that info to serve smarter, more profitable ads. Like everything besides search at Google, Chrome is a loss-leader for Adsense. Will it work?

Chrome OS will likely play very well in the netbook/tablet space, especially since Apple can’t seem to build anything for that market and Windows 7 had to be crippled (Windows 7 Starter has tons of features stripped or disabled, mostly the Aero interface and multitouch) to run on netbooks.

Some have said the netbook is dead, others have said the netbook is just beginning its era of domination. Google is clearly betting on the latter, and is parlaying that bet with its own desire to underwrite and encourage adoption of the cloud.