Google Inc. ), not satisfied owning the search engine market, yesterday (Wednesday) revealed it is going to assault Microsoft Corp. ) on the turf it has dominated for two decades: the operating system (OS).
In a blog posting, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company introduced the Google Chrome Operating System, which shares the same name as the web browser it introduced in September. Google expects the OS to be available in the second half of 2010, and it initially will run on netbooks, or low-cost laptops designed for Internet access. The company is working with multiple-yet unnamed-manufacturers to bring Chrome OS-backed netbooks to the market, Google said.
No. 1 computer seller Hewlett-Packard Co. ) told the Dow Jones Newswires thatit is "studying" the Chrome OS.
"We want to assess the capability it may have for the computer and communications industries," said H-P spokeswoman Marlene Somsak.
Dell Inc. ) is also giving consideration to Chrome OS.
Analysts were mixed on the news.
"There is a possibility that the new OS can break the paradigm Microsoft and Intel created over the past 20 years," aid Yukihiko Shimada, a computer analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co. told Bloomberg News.
