- Joined
- Jan 3, 2009
- Messages
- 2,605
- Points
- 0
Google to challenge Microsoft's OS hegemony
Leslie D'Monte & Kirtika Suneja July 1, 2010, 0:26
Google’s Chrome OS will soon challenge the software giant’s stranglehold in the operating system market.
The online search giant may be a Goliath in cyberspace but it will be a David when it launches its Chrome operating system (OS) in the fourth quarter of this year. Microsoft’s Windows OS(es) — XP, Vista and Windows 7 — control nearly 90 per cent of the desktop market worldwide, and almost 70 per cent of the enterprise market. Yet, analysts believe Google can crack this market with Chrome.
Google has always made Microsoft sit up and take notice. First with its search engine, which Microsoft is trying to catch up with using ‘Bing’. Then Gmail, which upset Microsoft’s well-entrenched Hotmail and Yahoo’s email services. Google’s web browser Chrome, too, has captured 8 per cent of the global web browser market. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), however, still has over 50 per cent market share with Mozilla Firefox coming second at a little over 30 per cent.
Six years ago, IE had nearly 90 per cent market share. In India, IE remains the leader, but Firefox and Chrome are gaining ground. IE9, believes Microsoft, may again change the tide in its favour. “The ‘IE9 Preview Program’ has been a big success — the IE9 Test Drive site has got more than 16 million visits, and the IE9 Platform Preview has been downloaded over two million times,” notes a Microsoft India spokesperson.
What is Chrome OS?
It is a browser-based operating system, based on Linux, which will be “fast and lightweight” to hook users on to the web “in a few seconds”. Analysts believe the potential users of the Chrome OS will mainly be netbook users (the fastest-growing segment of personal computers) who remain online for long periods of time and who want a web application-like experience. This category of users may be techies, or users in the age group of 30 years and below, initially, and executives who travel frequently.
Analysts like Kamal Vohra, lead analyst, Software & Services Research Practice at IDC India, believe “…since Chrome is a free OS, it is expected to result in reduced cost of hardware devices in the hands of end customers. So, attractively-priced PCs during the festive season should be a great crowd-puller for OEM brands”.
When it announced its plans for the OS last July, Google says it was working with vendors like Acer, Asustek Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Toshiba to have the OS bundled at the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) level. Dell has recently joined the bandwagon.
“A lot of backend work is going on and Google will not leave any stone unturned like it did with Anroid. It is a browser-based OS and the Indian market has not been exposed to such an OS before. So, it will lead to a paradigm shift in the way it communicates with netbooks,” says Diptarup Chakraborti, principal research analyst at Gartner.
Chief technology officers (CTOs) in the country have their own take. Subramanya C, Global CTO of Hinduja Global Solutions Limited, says: “For companies in the IT-ITeS space, interoperability and compatibility of the applications can make the OS successful or otherwise. However, the wave around the launch of the Google OS is not big and if the investments have good ROIs, we will invest in it.”
Leslie D'Monte & Kirtika Suneja July 1, 2010, 0:26
Google’s Chrome OS will soon challenge the software giant’s stranglehold in the operating system market.
The online search giant may be a Goliath in cyberspace but it will be a David when it launches its Chrome operating system (OS) in the fourth quarter of this year. Microsoft’s Windows OS(es) — XP, Vista and Windows 7 — control nearly 90 per cent of the desktop market worldwide, and almost 70 per cent of the enterprise market. Yet, analysts believe Google can crack this market with Chrome.
Google has always made Microsoft sit up and take notice. First with its search engine, which Microsoft is trying to catch up with using ‘Bing’. Then Gmail, which upset Microsoft’s well-entrenched Hotmail and Yahoo’s email services. Google’s web browser Chrome, too, has captured 8 per cent of the global web browser market. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE), however, still has over 50 per cent market share with Mozilla Firefox coming second at a little over 30 per cent.
Six years ago, IE had nearly 90 per cent market share. In India, IE remains the leader, but Firefox and Chrome are gaining ground. IE9, believes Microsoft, may again change the tide in its favour. “The ‘IE9 Preview Program’ has been a big success — the IE9 Test Drive site has got more than 16 million visits, and the IE9 Platform Preview has been downloaded over two million times,” notes a Microsoft India spokesperson.
What is Chrome OS?
It is a browser-based operating system, based on Linux, which will be “fast and lightweight” to hook users on to the web “in a few seconds”. Analysts believe the potential users of the Chrome OS will mainly be netbook users (the fastest-growing segment of personal computers) who remain online for long periods of time and who want a web application-like experience. This category of users may be techies, or users in the age group of 30 years and below, initially, and executives who travel frequently.
Analysts like Kamal Vohra, lead analyst, Software & Services Research Practice at IDC India, believe “…since Chrome is a free OS, it is expected to result in reduced cost of hardware devices in the hands of end customers. So, attractively-priced PCs during the festive season should be a great crowd-puller for OEM brands”.
When it announced its plans for the OS last July, Google says it was working with vendors like Acer, Asustek Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Toshiba to have the OS bundled at the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) level. Dell has recently joined the bandwagon.
“A lot of backend work is going on and Google will not leave any stone unturned like it did with Anroid. It is a browser-based OS and the Indian market has not been exposed to such an OS before. So, it will lead to a paradigm shift in the way it communicates with netbooks,” says Diptarup Chakraborti, principal research analyst at Gartner.
Chief technology officers (CTOs) in the country have their own take. Subramanya C, Global CTO of Hinduja Global Solutions Limited, says: “For companies in the IT-ITeS space, interoperability and compatibility of the applications can make the OS successful or otherwise. However, the wave around the launch of the Google OS is not big and if the investments have good ROIs, we will invest in it.”
