Widely reported in the IT press this month was the announcement by Google that it plans to launch its new Google Chrome operating system which will rival Microsoft's Windows operating system. Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Release is currently planned for the second half of 2010 and its aim is to make web applications easier to use.
Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS - designed to be fast, lightweight, with the ability for users to get onto the internet in just a few seconds without the need for lengthy boot-up times and security checks for viruses. The security architecture is being redesigned so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malicious software and security updates.
As part of its strategy to diversify away from internet search, Google has also launched a new open source operating system for mobile phones. The software, called Android, runs several new smartphones designed to challenge Apple's iPhone and Microsoft's mobile phones.
Microsoft's Windows operating system currently runs about 90 per cent of the world's computers and is set to release an updated version, called Windows 7, in October.
Google's announcement is just one of the many strategies launched to attack Microsoft's domination of the desktop applications market, whilst Microsoft are returning the favour by releasing Bing! - their new search engine (and now Microsoft has announced a partnership with Yahoo!, the deal will hope to bite into Google's 67% share of the search engine market).
Google's web-based applications, providing mail, document and spreadsheet services were already encroaching on the Microsoft Office suite of applications (Google claim they have 15 million users, with 3,000 businesses converting daily). Microsoft has reacted by announcing a "lightweight" version of Office which will be available, free, over the internet in 2010. Analysts believe that Microsoft is releasing this product (known as Office 14) to protect their customer base and avoid users defecting to Google Docs. Having said that, it is estimated that around 500 million desktops currently run Microsoft Office.
The feud is set to continue - as Tom Austin, an analyst for Gartner was quoted as saying in the Telegraph:
"Google can sustain this war for 100 years, and Microsoft has also got the cash to fight. They will be slugging this out for a decade and the victor will be the consumer who is getting rampant innovation without having to pay for it."
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