Google plans Chrome-based Web operating system

Google to launch operating system

By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

Google is developing an operating system (OS) for personal computers, in a direct challenge to market leader Microsoft and its Windows system.

Google Chrome OS will be aimed initially at small, low-cost netbooks, but will eventually be used on PCs as well.

Google said netbooks with Chrome OS could be on sale by the middle of 2010.

"Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS," the firm said in its official blog.

The operating system, which will run on an open source license, was a "natural extension" of its Chrome browser, the firm said.

For Microsoft the news comes just months before it launches the latest version of its operating system, called Windows 7.

'Back to basics'

"We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds," said the blog post written by Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management, and Google's engineering director Linus Upson.

Both men said that "the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web" and that this OS is "our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be".

To that end, the search giant said the new OS would go back to basics.

"We are completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates.

"It should just work," said Google.

Google already has an operating system for mobile phones called Android which can also be used to run on netbooks. Google Chrome OS will be aimed not just at laptops but also at desktops for those who spend a lot of time on the web.

"Truly competitive"

The announcement could dramatically change the market for operating systems, especially for Microsoft, the biggest player with around 90% share.

"This announcement is huge," said Rob Enderle, industry watcher and president of the Enderle Group.

"This is the first time we have had a truly competitive OS on the market in years. This is potentially disruptive and is the first real attempt by anyone to go after Microsoft.

"Google is coming at this fresh and, because it is based on a set of services that reside on the web, it is the first really post web operating system, designed from the ground up, and reconceived for a web world," Mr Enderle told the BBC.

Last year Google launched the Chrome browser, which it said was designed for "people who live on the web - searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends."

Stephen Shankland at CNET said the move had widespread implications.

"One is that it shows just how serious Google is about making the web into a foundation not just for static pages but for active applications, notably its own such as Google Docs and G-mail.

"Another: it opens new competition with Microsoft and, potentially, a new reason for anti-trust regulators to pay close attention to Google's moves."

Some commentators said Google's motivation in all this was pretty clear.

"One of Google's major goals is to take Microsoft out, to systematically destroy their hold on the market," said Mr Enderle.

"Google wants to eliminate Microsoft and it's a unique battle. The strategy is good. The big question is, will it work?"

At the popular blog, TechCrunch, MG Siegler said "Let's be clear on what this really is. This is Google dropping the mother of all bombs on its rival, Microsoft."

Microsoft releases Windows 7 later this year to replace Windows Vista and Windows XP which is eight years old.

The Redmond based company claims that 96% of netbooks run Windows to date.

Out of beta

In a separate announcement Google also revealed that many of its most popular applications had finally moved out of trial, or beta, phase.

Gmail, for example, has worn the beta tag for five years.

"We realise this situation puzzles some people, particularly those who subscribe to the traditional definition of beta software as being not yet ready for prime time," wrote Matthew Glotzbach, the director of product management in the official Google blog.

The decision to ditch the beta tag was taken because the apps had finally reached the "high bar" mark, he wrote.

More than 1.75 million companies use Google apps, according to the firm.

Authorize.net Is Down!

Fire brings down authorize.net services

The largest credit card and e-heck payment service on the web, Authorize.net, has been down for a while, which means that a lot of other services went down too, because they can’t accept payments anymore.

On July 2nd, 2009, 11pm, the entire web infrastructure for Authorize.net (main website, merchant gateway website, etc) went offline and stayed down all morning July 3, 2009. None of the over 200,000 merchants who use Authorize.net payment gateway were able to process credit cards. Authorize.net's toll free numbers were unavailable, as was much phone service in Seattle, and their toll numbers reported that they were "closed for the holiday" and voicemail was full. Other companies that have nearby offices have reported that there was a fire. Company used twitter to communicate on going updates, username authorizenet on twitter.

Authorize.net's Web site was down for hours. It was back up early Friday afternoon and appeared to be working. The company posted updates on Twitter Twitter throughout the day. At about 11 a.m. Friday it said its merchant interface was working again

"may be slow to access, but it is up."

Verizon Communications Inc. spokesman Jon Davies said the company's DSL service in the Seattle area was temporarily disrupted. The Web site for Adhost, a Seattle based Web-hosting company, was down as well and phone service to the company was out. Microsoft's new Bing Travel service was also knocked offline by the blaze. The company said it expected things to be working again by about 5 p.m. Friday. The small fire started in the basement of Fisher Plaza at an electrical vault - the section of the building where city power lines meet the building's transformers, said Seattle City Light spokesman Scott Thomsen. Thomsen said that it appears equipment failure on the part of the customer caused the fire.

Best in Blogs:

Measuring the MJ Aftershock; Franken Rising; Sanford Falling

Top Stories for the Week of June 29- July 3, 2009

There are plenty of ways to measure the impact of Michael Jackson. The extreme strain that news of his death put on the Internet is just the latest. "Web Collapses Under the Weight of Michael Jackson's Death," TechCrunch reported. WhatGoogle mistook for a Denial of Service attack amid an epic spike in searches related to Michael Jackson was "a different kind of DoS: the Death of Superstar," says Changing Way. Google's chart of MJ-related queries on the day of his hospitalization and death looks like a tidal wave; the search service even snubbed some MJ news seekers, saying their frenzy resembled the persistence of malicious bot-a-matons. Yahoo News set an all-time record with 16.4 million visitors, beating the old record of 15.1 million set last election day, says SearchEngineLand. The Yahoo report, "Michael Jackson rushed to hospital," was the highest clicking story in Yahoo's history with "a whopping 800,000 clicks within 10 minutes" says Business Insider. Twitter was besieged. Nine of the 10 trending topics on Twitter were MJ-related. SEOMozBlog has a tick-tock-timeline of the online deluge, which blew up last Thursday when TMZ.com went live with the breaking news. An email and Twitter link to TMZ hit a high of almost 42 clicks a second. MeanwhileCover Awards has been gathering as many MJ magazine covers as it can find.

Jezebel assembled breaking news links of immediate reactions from celebrities and early speculation about drugs, money and more. HuffPorounds up photos of fans in mourning and tribute. Facebook reported a tripling of status updates. Wikipedia froze (uh, "temporarily protected") its Michael Jackson page amid an "edit-and-delete-the-edits scrum" by citizen-editors, says Digital Media. SearchEngineLand says "the final word about this extraordinary day belongs to AOL, whose AIM messaging service was knocked offline for 40 minutes Thursday." Now the grim aftermath unwinds. "The DEA and LAPD are looking into MJ's doctors and their drug prescription habits," reports Popsquire: "This is starting to look more and more like a criminal investigation." Initial reports that Jackson may have bequeathed the Beatles catalog to Paul McCartney are in doubt. Young, Black & Fabulous says Michael's will from 2002 has been officially filed, and he expressly said his cash should go to provide for his three children, for whom he designated his mother Katherine as guardian—with Diana Ross as a backup.

In other news—yes, there's other news—the recount in Minnesota is official, and Al Franken has become the first former Saturday Night Live writer to join the U.S. Senate. Alternate headline: 'Blogger trapped in a nightmare from which he can't wake up,' quips the skeptical Hot Air. Rush Limbaugh compared Franken's win to Ahmadinejad's recount victory in Iran—"right on cue," says Crooks and Liars. TPM culls videos of the reactions on Fox News (another past target of Franken comedy) including the suggestion that Franken is "barely sane if you read his books." And TNR pulls together videos of memorable moments from Franken's life. Now what? "Is the Al Franken Decade on the horizon?" asks Rabble.ca. (Don't remember that classic SNL bit? TV Eye has the text here.) Twitter users in Minnesota have varying views on Franken, Breaking Tweets shows. Tapped notes that the so-called Democratic supermajority of 60 votes Senate votes "has cracks... Though no one wants to say it, it is not clear that Sen. Ted Kennedy will ever vote again in the Senate, given his medical condition," and 91-year-old Robert Byrd "remains in delicate health." At least Franken's ascendency to the Senate "will provide the GOPers with their central talking point for the 2010 and 2012 Congressional races," says Daily Kos.

And finally, the Mark Sanford Saga continues too, as the infidel South Carolina Governor dissembles and disintegrates following his admission of an extramarital affair. Says Politics Daily: "It's hard to believe that anybody could have so quickly toppled John Edwards as the modern politician with the highest "ick" factor. But Sanford did it with a single quote: ‘This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story,' Sanford told the AP. ‘A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day.'" Balloon Juice observes:"In the last 48 hours Sanford has shot himself in the foot with the ‘I'm trying to fall back in love with my wife' remark, and then reloaded and shot his other foot with the ‘I met my soul mate' nonsense, and he appears to be out of feet and aiming at his head next." "Tick, tick, tick," says Michelle Malkin, "Someone needs to stage an intervention, stat." Despite everything, and the nation's reigning Luv Guv might have a book deal – "outlining his policy beliefs...a manifesto about fiscal conservatism"—says HuffPo.

Phew. Happy Independence Day from the team at Blogs.com!

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