Google’s Chrome OS to come for free, virtually

THE NEW OPERATING SYSTEM LIKELY TO MAKE PERSONAL

COMPUTERS MORE AFFORDABLE

Our Bureau NEW DELHI

    GOOGLE has launched a test version of the Chrome OS, its much-awaited and delayed
internet-centric operating system that analysts say could make the personal computer cheaper by
25% in India.
    “Chrome OS is essentially a free software,” says Sundar Pichai, vice-president for product
management at Google, and one of the two leaders of a team that developed the new software.
    An operating system makes up for roughly a fifth, and in many cases a fourth, of a PC’s cost.
For this reason, experts expect a fall in computer prices in 2011 because the Google OS is free.
For example, a 22,000-PC shipped from an original equipment maker costs as much because it
comes with an operating system priced at nearly 4,000. Likewise, a Microsoft Windows 7 Home
Basic version costing 5,690 and the Windows 7 Ultimate at 11,190 add to PC prices.
    “Google Chrome is bound to bring down PC costs, given that it will be open source and will
not have associated licensing fees,” said Pankaj Arora, managing director of Protiviti Consulting.

    The price factor apart, users of the Chrome OS computers can look forward to other benefits.
For starters, they do not have to install the software. Rather, the PCs rely on applications
delivered over the internet, making it easy for users to access files and applications from any
machine. Chrome PCs also start up quickly, taking users to a browser within 10 seconds after
booting.
    “The Chrome is ideal for people who need to access or record information in their daily work,
but are seldom at a desk with a PC and internet connection,” says tech consultancy Ovum.
    Though aimed at netbooks, the lightweight Chrome can support desktops and laptops too
because it runs on both X86 (Intel Pentium, Atom family) and the ARM chip systems. Besides
Google has other features such as Docs for spreadsheets, presentations, word processors and
Reader for PDF documents. Users can hook up with common accessories such as calculator and
tabs for Facebook, YouTube and built-in security features via a browser.
    Google first announced Chrome OS in July 2009 along with plans to sell netbooks running the
software from the second half of 2010. Tuesday’s news conference in San Francisco at which the
internet giant began distributing a limited number of PC models running the software does not
mean that users are about to lay their hands on the Chrome OS. Google’s inability to go beyond a
test version means that customers are staring at a further delay.
    “The Chrome OS will only be available to select users because the new devices running the
software are being shipped by Google’s partners such as Samsung and Acer for now,” says Mr
Pichai. Acer and Samsung devices are expected to hit the market in mid-2011. “We are (also)
working with multiple PC manufacturers to bring a number of netbooks to the market next year,”
he adds. In the meantime, “technical people can download and install it easily after a bit of
tweaking, though,” says Mr Pichai. The company will hand out a few thousand laptops with
Chrome OS for education and non-profit use.
For Google, the Chrome OS presents an opportunity to take aim at Microsoft and Apple by
offering an alternative to their operating systems, the Windows and Mac OS.
    “Provided there is huge demand for Chrome OS in 2011, PC prices may fall by a couple of
thousands, since the OS may come free,” says Vishal Tripathi, principal research analyst at
Gartner.
    Still, it will be interesting to see if Google convinces manufacturers to move away from
Microsoft and produce Chrome OS netbooks, he says. “Partnerships of Microsoft with PC
makers remain strong and demand for Chrome will depend upon its performance.”
    Microsoft India had no comment on the impact of Chrome OS on the operating system market.

    Dell, HP, HCL, Acer and Lenovo are the largest PC sellers in India. The partnership with
Acer, which has a 10% share in the Indian PC market, is the only one officially announced by
Google. Google’s other partner Samsung has less than 2% share in India. In comparison,
Microsoft’s share in the global operating system market is more than 90%. In India, that rises to
98%, thanks to the Windows OS. The Windows XP is the largest-used OS in India with a market
share of about 70%.

Google’s Chrome operating system or OS,afresh challenge to Microsoft’s dominant Windows

OS, was launched on Tuesday. The Chrome initiative, led by Indian American Sundar Pichai,
Google's vice-president for product management,was launched with a pilot programme featuring
a12-inch unbranded laptop running the new OS.
Pichai, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and the primary evangelist fo rChrome OS within
Google,said, “Weare delivering nothing but the Web.” In the newOSsystem, applications and
data will not be physicallystored on the computer but in a“cloud”, basically in an online
environment. In fact, the notebooks forthe pilot programme do not featurea
harddisk.Thedemonotebooks areWiFiand 3G-enabled.
“Manypeople already spend all their time inaweb browser, and by building an operating system
thatisessentially a browser,wecanmakecomputersfaster,much simpler and fundamentally
moresecure,” Pichai and Linus Upson, vicepresident, engineering,Google, wrote in an official
post.
Google’s Chrome browser, launched inSeptember 2008 as an alternativetoInternet
Explorer,hasalreadychallenged Microsoft’s dominanceinthe market. Pichai, whojoined Google
in2004,wasalsothepersonresponsible forthebrowser.
Google said thatatleast two companies,AcerandSamsung,
willmanufacturenotebooksrunningChrome,which willbeavailable forsaleduringthe “first half
ofnextyear”.However, it offered no pricing information.
“Wefinallyhaveaviable third choiceforanoperating system,” said EricSchmidt,CEO,Google.
AcomputerrunningChrome should boot up in 60 seconds and would not slowdownduring
operation, Google said.
Besides, sinceusers’ “apps, documents,andsettingsare stored safely in the cloud, evenifyou
loseyourcomputer,youcanjust log into another Chrome notebookandgetrightbacktowork.” Google
alsoopenedaChrome storeoffering apps in San FranciscoonTuesday.