The next big thing from Google is Chrome OS, built "on top of" the Chrome browser. So how is it supposed to work?
Imagine having a very basic device with just a rudimentary browser on it - anything and everything you do goes through the browser. No other OS, no other applications. The browser is your window to the world through the Internet, and of course, also to everything else you want to run!
So, you open a Chrome OS "web page" which acts like your desktop - except that, this one is more like a set of webparts on your browser. You want to write a document, open a new document editor "tab", running the editor in your Chrome browser, with the document hosted on the cloud in Google Docs. Get the picture?
Why is this great? Well, for someone who needs to just browse the Internet and do basic documentation, spreadsheet and email, you don't need to pay for all the OS, the "Office" and so on. You don't need to worry about hard disk and RAM. You need a very cheap device, and you are done.
But will this really work for serious users? We are still far away from super fast all pervasive broadband networks. What kind of SLAs will Chrome OS provide? What about the hundreds of different devices I plug into my laptop today? Will there be drivers made available for all that? Without a USB or card reader, am I going to be OK? What about serious gaming, one of the key drivers for home PCs? What about reading and executing stuff from DVDs? Movies?
My verdict... Chrome OS has scope for low cost computing, or rather, network access devices, things that can be deployed in villages, self-help kiosks etc, but it's got an uphill battle for capturing the PC market.
ps: Chrome browser has been doing pretty bad with a miniscule market share
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