Hey, Is That a PC OS in Your Pocket?
Image credit: Geek Life Blog
Now that it's Sunday I am digesting the big news of the week - Google Chrome OS. Right now there's not a lot of there, there. We'll have to see how it all comes to market next year. The devil is in the details. Will it run Photoshop? Or, will Photoshoppers turn to web based alternatives. Unclear.Here's what I do know, though. There will be more machines in my future, not less. And portable PC operating systems will make this all possible.
Like my friend Om, after five years solely on the Mac I am now an multi-OS guy. I use a PC desktop at work. At home I use a Mac. On the road I use a netbook. And everywhere else an iPhone. Since all my data is in the cloud (mine or Edelman's) the majority of the time all I need is just a browser.
However, the cloud isn't ubiquitous yet, so secure cached data is important. That's why I carry an encrypted Sandisk U3 USB memory stick stuffed with portable apps like Evernote. But as these memory sticks get faster and bigger, I bet they will start to easily run a full operating system and apps - and that Chrome will be the first to go mainstream. Expect to see Google Chrome OS USB sticks in stores.
With PCs and desktops everywhere we'll be soon booting more off USB drives. Linux, Google Chrome OS, Mac OS X and Windows, etc. will all run off portable USB drives that we'll tote from PC to PC (or in Apple's case, Macs to Macs). The OS and its entire suite of applications will run off the devices which ensures your data stays yours.
Pocket operating systems won't be limited to USB drives either. Why can't an iPhone or a G1 phone store an entire copy of a PC OS and apps that you access when you plug into something else? Exactly, they will.
So as exciting as the Chrome announcement is, the biggest news is yet to come. PC operating systems will be always ready, in your pocket.
Comments 11 Comments
But cloud computing and thin client will evolve!
I seriously can't get anything done these days unless it's in my home office, where I don't need anything mobile.
I do believe that connectivity is king. As connectivity gets stronger, we will move more toward streaming operating systems (or parts thereof) and applications to just about any device. Today, this is not completely possible. I spent the day on the highway and streaming (or trying to) from Pandora. My iPhone at times could not even log in to Pandora due to being "on Edge" while at the same time my Sprint card in the laptop worked awesome on EVDO RevA. At other times, the opposite was true. Solid bandwidth everywhere will eventually have us laughing about the times we used portable devices like USB drives.
like sun said the network is the computer