Submitted by Terrence Brown04.15.2008
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Betting closes on Dec 24 2008
It seems every day Google is coming up with new ways to impact our daily lives.
Therefore, one could reason Google's Android cellphone OS was simply the beginning as Google looks towards home and business computing (and not purely running software inside a browser window).
One potential growth market could be a more fully developed OS.
This is a prediction that Google will announce plans before the end of the year to release an open source operating system - i.e., one that can be fully operational on a desktop computer and serve as a basis for that computer - not simply Android as it currently stands running on a PC, nor an emulator, but a real-deal OS. (Let us not mince words.)
If this comes true, this operating system will be viewed as a direct threat against Windows and OS X.
The intended goal need only be announced by Google publicly, that it also be open source based, and reported by the mainstream media in the US some time in 2008. Rumors do not count. It needs to be official.
This prediction will close bets on Dec. 24, 2008, and be judged on Dec. 31, 2008.
(Ed. note: Prediction has been modified by The Standard edit staff.)
Current Community Consensus 48%
Prediction Statistics
| Betting Closes: | Dec 24 2008 | Current Consensus: | 47.50% | Total Bets: | 9 |
| Today's Change: | 0% | ||||
| Life Time High: | 52.50% | ||||
| Life Time Low: | 47.50% |
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Comments
Google is great at bringing carefully planned, methodically disruptive technology into our lives, but I think they would fair better if they surprised us with a web OS, rather than a desktop based, open source solution. A direct threat to Microsoft's core product is not a conceivable victory (but then Google advertisers would be happy). However, if Google were to go full court on something like a web based OS, it just may raise some interest, and create a stir. I think I may bet on this one, since the odds are high. This is definitely something to watch for.
Isn't this what Linux is? I don't get it.
There has been a lot of rumors around other products from Google, like a Gbrowser (why not to buy Moziilla Firefox instead?) and GoS, but they seem noise to me. Google is not interested in anything than advertisement. In act, they did not succeed in creating another kind of disruptive apps: neither Gmail, nor GDocs and Spreadsheets are more than advertisement extensions.
In fact, if they were trying to compete in Operating System platforms with Microsoft, and bearing in mind most of Google new applicactions came out of buying other companies, I feel is most likely that Google try to acquire Red Hat or other Linux distribution provider than trying to create a new GoS from scratch or to develop their own Linux distribution.
Even if Google does have plans for an open source OS, they aren't going to be able to announce it this year - maybe mid-2009. Not enough street rumors have surfaced this year to make an '08 announcement feasible.
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