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Google PC to Hit Walmart?
Fahrvergnuugen writes "According to latimes.com Google is set to launch the Google PC which will run Google's own operating system. From the article: 'Sources say Google has been in negotiations with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., among other retailers, to sell a Google PC. The machine would run an operating system created by Google, not Microsoft's Windows, which is one reason it would be so cheap -- perhaps as little as a couple of hundred dollars.'"
This is a piece of speculation that's inside a piece of gossip that's inside a bloody "Predictions for 2006" article.
Which isn't to say that it can't be true. But it feels like someone heard the phrase "Google OS" and made up a rumor without knowing what the phrase meant.
The United States of America: We do what we must because we can.
Really, a Windows licence isn't the major part of the cost of a new PC. So just using their own OS (with all the development costs) isn't going to save a huge amount of money per unit sold.
This Slashdot summery makes it sound like this is a sure thing. It is only a rumor at this point. Here is a quote from the article
"Here are some predictions for the media industry for 2006, based on interviews with industry analysts, executives and investors, along with a little intuition."
In other news, the Google PC will replace all of Wal Mart's PC's that ship with Microsoft BOB...
Google just needs to tweak a common free OS to be friendly to all their little sub-projects, in a manner similar to but more extensive than how Opera (the browser) now defaults to Google search. Even that will panic the drones at Microsoft, who are paranoid about Google anyway.
A truly excellent pizza parlor is a delight unto the heavens. Treasure the sauce and the toppings!
It is a rumor on the LA Times site, which I think is less 'rumor' than most tech sites...
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I expect this Google OS and PC both will be released in permanent beta, like the rest of their products.
MoM++ - A Classic Expanded - [Master of Magic 1.5]
http://mompp.sourceforge.net/
I'm not so sure about the name 'GooOS' that people are chosing to use. The domain GOOOS.COM is registerd to whoisprivacyprotect.com (a subsidiary of Enom), but the CC domains like gooos.co.uk are not yet registered (which seems like a bit of a mistake if thats the name google intend (read:speculation) to use.)
Windows in 6 Bytes (IA-32) : 90 90 90 90 CD 19
Or so goes the "logic."
Maps integrated with yellow pages and craiglist, with pretty pictures and IM....ect..
I might pay a nice price for a google handheld.
Call up the telco's, "This is Google. We are going to start a blackberry startup.
Give our customers access where ever they are, and we will reward you with lots of cash."
What OS will it run? GNU of course! - Google's Not Unix.
Do no evil one day, in league with the devil the next.
Thank you, Edward Snowden.
"Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
Microsoft is so evil for branching into pretty much everything, yet Google appears to be following suit.
Can't help but feed the trolls this morning!
Microsoft are not considedered evil for branching into other areas of business. They're evil because they illegally utilized their dominance in one area to extend their business into other areas, stifling competition and therefore harming consumers.
Tell me how Google are illegally utilizing their dominance in search to extend into other areas? Tell me how Google have stifled competition.
Until them I don't see them 'following' MS at all.
My pics.
The machine would run an operating system created by Google, not Microsoft's Windows, which is one reason it would be so cheap -- perhaps as little as a couple of hundred dollars.'"
Um, has anybody else ever seen a PC? They already sell for as little as a couple of hundred dollars.
Slashdot: 24 hours behind every other site or your money back!
It would be nice if someone could give Microsoft a real run for the money and break up that unnecessary and damaging monopoly. However, I don't think this is the time, and Google isn't strong enough to do it, either. Therefore, they'd be foolish to attack without the ability to win.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
I thought their motto was "Do no evil"?
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There is inferior bacteria on the interior of your posterior.
You must be new. Here are the basic rules of Slashdot.
1. We hate Microsoft. Anything they do is wrong. Bill Gates is stupid. Anything they do is evil.
2. We like Apple. Steve Jobs walks on water. Even when they do the same thing as Microsoft, its okay because its Apple.
3. We like Google. We think they're cool. Even when they do the same thing as Microsoft, its okay because they run Linux on most of their machines.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
Steve Ballmer is going to be throwing chairs again...
There are so few companies out there that could even dream of competing with Microsoft in the OS area... but, in my mind, Google is one of them. Note how I have absolutely no evidence to back up this opinion... Google doesn't sell gadgets, and they don't really even sell software... but the one thing they do seem to do is succeed. I have a sort of blind faith in Google at this point.
Of course, trying their own OS might be Google's Russia... Napolean and Hitler both were doing pretty well until they went for Moscow... and going head to head with MS might just be the one thing Google can't do.
All rumors, agreed. But it makes me feel all funny, like when we used to climb the rope in gym class.
My script don't crash! She crashes, you crashed her!
Wal-Mart Bad, Google Good... oh dear, isn't it getting complicated!
Apart from that, I think Google would be mad to go the PC route. For a start, the money was never in the hardware. Also, I can't think of a better way to lose goodwill than to start selling budget PCs to the least technically literate segment of the PC-buying population and then failing to provide premium support.
Yes yes, there's Apple, but Apple don't generally do bargain basement prices. If you make an enormous margin on the hardware, you may be able to afford to keep your customers happy, even when they are clueless idiots. No-one, not even Google, will be able to do that on a $200 sale price.
Virtually serving coffee
I think the whole deal the made few months ago was just about this. Google will rebrand Solaris 10 as their OS and will bundle Staroffice with it!
Google is going after the only two Microsoft cash cows: Windows and MS Office...
The only problem I foresee is that Google does not have any capabilities on handling customer support...
well neither has Microsoft...I guess they are even!
Assuming this is true (keeping in mind the article is based on predictions and intuition) why would a tech savvy company partner with Walmart? I would have thought that if google decide to sell desktops they would follow the Dell model of selling their own customisable machines through their own website.
Imagine the sales they could generate if the first paid text link that appeared whenever you googled something like "new pc" or "pc prices" was for google's own offering? I accept that Walmart have an incredible distribution system, but since Google's business model is already so profitable, why hand margin over to old fashioned bricks and mortar retailers.
My two cents.
I, personally doubt it.
Would they buy a GoogleBox, that allows them to access their web mail, google office (assuming its not a myth) and various web sites "without a computer", and all they have to do is hook it up to a DSL/Cable line and a power line? I think they would.
My sister is terrified of computers. Her husband finally bought one and within a day they were swamped with the usual microsoft web experience (malware and viruses). All they want their computer for is email, online banking, storing digital photos and getting cheap flights. They don't word process, because neither of them do any work at home (nurse/buyer). Now they have a 64bit Athalon gathering dust in the corner of their office (i didn't recommend it... i know its a waste).
A GoogleBox could really solve their problems, and $200 is a good price point. To really take off it needs to:
Basically, think PDA but without PIM, and make it abundantly clear that this thing lives on the coffee table/kitchen sideboard, not in the brief case, on the train/plane or in the office so that the dim witts at PC World don't start comparing it PDAs/Laptops. If its going to be compared to anything it should be web service built into some cable set-top boxes and look terrible at NTSC resolutions. There could really be a market.
Scared of flying, pointy things snce 1979!
If it WAS true (and not a rumor) it would have also been the "first ever" software package ever to be put to market without ANY of the development staff OR beta testers leaking a copy.
Has much as I love my geek brethren... I was in disbelief before I even clicked the article.
They won't make a clippy. We've already got slashdot members providing questions nobody wants answered, then answering them incorrectly.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
Well, so much for "Don't be evil".
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
What happened to the old mantra of 'Legality doesn't equal moralily' that's always wheeled out during the piracy articles?
Let's see.. Google already runs tens of thousands of servers. They have stated they need more bandwidth and more power.
Wouldn't it be great if they have a computing box in *every* home, just to extend their computing power? No power bills, no need to buy more hardware?
Give the owners some of the benefits (cached searches, gmail, maybe use it as a PC in some ways, and otherwise use the box for your own purposes.). Interesting thought.
I believe what we will see are computers which just have a bootloader and rom chip with a very simple custom OS on it for fetching GUI components from google's web servers. The interface the user will see will be completely virtual, meaning their machine is just a dumb client running google OS remotely. There is no need for a hard drive, as all user data will be stored on google servers. No need to upgrade any software, as the software is kept up-to-date on the google servers. Virtual dumb terminals or thin-clients or whatever you want to call it, is what Google is planning... and I think they may be able to pull it off.
Meh.
I mean, we are in serious need of a NEW OS, something not derived from 20+ year old technology.
.jpg to know its a jpeg file! META DATA PEOPLE!
Both NT and Linux and OSX streams are all based on last century technology using ancient file systems and trying to do modern techniquies like Database driven file systems and online Internet access.
For a Modern OS, I propose that Google start fresh, from the ground up, using these concepts:
1) TRUE meta driven DB file system. Append to the front or back of every file meta data and index meta data in a true DB file system. Tiger isn't there yet, Tiger simply endlessly indexes files in a half assed attempt to seem like a modern OS. WinFS might be closer, whenever MS figures out how to do it.
2) Flat file system, throw out folders and directories structures. There is no need to atrificailly distribute files across archaic tree structures if your using a true DB file system. All files could be accessed using database views (i.e. show me all pictures taken in 2005, or show me all letters written to Jane, or all music by Ween). You can actually imitate folder trees by putting a path meta tag in the file header, but there is no need to physically address files in tree structures. Instead, worry about putting frequently accessed files in faster parts of the hard drive.
3) Make a distinction between USER data and SYSTEM data. Who needs to be aware of 100,000+ files on your OS? 99% of all the files on your Windows or *nix OS are completely meaningless to you. A Modern OS should make a distinction between System data and User data. System data is ALL files that YOU didn't create, save to, or distribute from your computer, and these system files should not be indexed or maintained by a DB file system. System files can remain in a protected bubble on your hard drive and accessed by developer tools. Instead, index only those image, video, music and document files the user actually cares about and hide the rest. I don't want to see 100,000+ files on my computer anymore. Kind of like what Google Destop does, but being more aware of the difference between System and User files.
4) END FILE EXTENSIONS. REAL OSES don't need a
5) Wrap Applications in ONE OBJECT. Apple had it, but lost it moving to OSX. The idea that ALL files associated with an Application remain in ONE OBJECT. Do not allow Applications to spread themselves across a hard drive, installing parts to a variety of locations and modifying other files (sorry, OSX does this, putting files and configuration settings in multiple locations, and then FORGETTING about them). A Modern OS will figure out how to protect an Application as an Object without allowing it to be distributed illegally, something Apple never figured out how to do. To install an Application, drag it to the partition, to uninstall it, delete it, period. Once an Application is uninstalled, the OS and computer should look like the Application never existed, period. NO ORPHANED APPLICATION DATA.
6) Make internet connectivity a requirement. A modern OS shouldn't operate without internet connectivity. By constantly keeping up-to-date on security issues, and also allowing for proper online authentification of applications and media, a modern OS would allow for a new generation of online media distribution that isn't prone to piracy (i.e. the music and movie industries actually embracing online distribution). Building an OS around the internet should also make is the most secure and safe environment. Rather then the constant forcing of old, pre-internet operating systems to modern day online needs and introducing security flaws, start fresh.
If anyone has the resources to actually make a successful new OS, it would be Google. By taking their web indexing techniques and creating a new File system with these concepts in mind, a Google OS will make accessing data effortless and fast.
Just, please don't get into that trend and habit of using Linux as a base. NO LINUX
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
That's all well and good except for one small problem. The keyboard. There is no interface that can come close to the functionality of a keyboard. Most consoles are used from the sofa or arm chair. Where do you put the keyboard?
Without a replacement for the keyboard it will forever be a nitch item. Any sort of desktop they provide will simply be a novelty.
I find being offended by me offensive.
Gee, where have you been? "Win$hit" is perfectly acceptable - google says so. 48,100,000 hits for "Win$hit".
Or you can http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&wo rd1=win%24hit&word2=winblows googlefight
That's several hundred to 1 in favour of Win$hit.
It's not a bug - its a feature :-)
You might want to learn how Google works. Punctuation and most non-text characters are discarded. That means your "win$hit" query is actually two words, "win" + "hit". Nothing to do with windows at all.