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Google Working on Desktop Linux

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the what-you-guys-are-surprised dept.

paulmac84 writes "The Register reports that Google is working on a version of Ubuntu, known internally as Goobuntu. Google has confirmed it is working on a desktop linux project, but declined to supply further details, including what the project is for. Is Google about to release this as an alternative to Windows?" Update: 02/01 00:11 GMT by SM: chrisd is the first among many to point out that this is just more fodder from the Google rumor mill and isn't something they are currently planning to release.

28 of 785 comments (clear)

  1. And in Redmond by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ballmer throws a chair.

    1. Re:And in Redmond by jb.hl.com · · Score: 4, Funny

      You joking? This is sofa throwing material, dude.

      --
      By summer it was all gone...now shesmovedon. --
    2. Re:And in Redmond by digitaldc · · Score: 4, Funny

      And Gates just fired off an email about their upcoming Open Source version of Windows that will pack in twice the features and speed as Goobuntu.

      --
      He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
  2. Hold your horses everyone!! by gasmonso · · Score: 1, Funny

    First, the Google PC at Walmart and now this. I heard that Google is going to buy Windows and release it free to everyone including Office!

    http://religiousfreaks.com/
  3. invite to goobuntu by GillBates0 · · Score: 5, Funny
    plz reply with invites.

    kthx

    --
    An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
  4. Shouldn't that be... by zenmojodaddy · · Score: 5, Funny

    GNoo/Linux?

  5. welcome by moochfish · · Score: 2, Funny

    i, for one, welcome our new Goobuntu overlords

    1. Re:welcome by Kiaser+Zohsay · · Score: 1, Funny

      In Soviet Russia, distro googles YOU!

      No, wait...

      In Soviet Russia, google distros YOU!

      No, that's not quite it either ...

      In Soviet Russia, Goobuntu googles YOUR DISTRO!

      Okay, maybe there's not one here after all.

      --
      I am not your blowing wind, I am the lightning.
  6. Name of Distro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Gnoogle.

  7. Re:Another Google lets-see-if-it-sticks project by lpangelrob · · Score: 5, Funny
    If it works they'll hail it as a true MS rival, if it doesn't it'll quietly get put down in a back room a year from now and forgotten about.

    If it doesn't work, there's always Beta! :-D

    --
    -Rob

    Biblical fiscal responsibility

  8. Re:Another Google lets-see-if-it-sticks project by OctoberSky · · Score: 4, Funny
    presumably trying the chuck-it-and-see-if-it-sticks approach.

    Microsoft uses a similar approach, but thier apporach involves chairs and Steve Ballmer.

  9. Poll idea by Caspian · · Score: 4, Funny

    The name "Goobuntu" sounds most like:

    (1) A sinful dessert.
    (2) A Final Fantasy monster.
    (3) A Swahili word meaning "booger".
    (4) Baby babble.
    (5) A natural companion to "sed", "awk" and "grep".

    --
    With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
    1. Re:Poll idea by Xeth · · Score: 4, Funny

      (6) The sound CowboyNeal makes when punched in the gut

      --
      If your theory is different from practice, then your theory is wrong.
  10. One question by Billosaur · · Score: 3, Funny

    Will it be available in China?

    --
    GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
  11. make sense for internal use by hey · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why would Google (and any company competing with Microsoft) want to run Windows internally?!

  12. Re:If it were BSD-based... by zenmojodaddy · · Score: 2, Funny

    That sounds too much like Goo Sex to me, which means that one of us is a pervert. Unfortunately I'm not sure which.

  13. Re:hmmm by tdemark · · Score: 5, Funny

    Google hasn't seemed to have a problem with releasing products that have no discernable source of revenue.

    They plan on making it up in volume.

    - Tony

  14. Goobuntu? by PhoenixPath · · Score: 2, Funny
    The origin of the word 'Goobuntu' is not clear, though it does not appear in online Zulu dictionaries.

    Um...duh? Cuz it's a combo-word "Google" and "Ubuntu"?

    Idiots. The rest of the article is probably based on the same deep fact-checking.

  15. Sky Parths, Truth Shines Through by smittyoneeach · · Score: 2, Funny
    TFA:
    The Goobuntu.com domain has been registered in the past couple of days, though presumably not by Google. It now redirects to a Cuban portal. Perhaps Google will have to think of a new name for the system before they launch it to the wider public.
    Open Source Software and Google both stand revealed for the Communist plots they are!
    Let every real God-fearing American instantly reject this nefarious Marxist subterfuge!
    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  16. Re:hmmm by harrkev · · Score: 5, Funny
    Google tend to produce high quality products. This would put them in direct competition with Windows.
    Huh? If Google makes "high quality products" that would put them in an entirely different market than Microsoft.

    Now, if Google starts making bloated, insecure, and consumer-hostile products, then they could take Microsoft on head-to-head.
    --
    "-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
  17. Re:What can Google do by jZnat · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just wanted to mention that your "mod parent up" post turned into something far more insightful than the parent, so congrats on breaking /. tradition! :P

    --
    'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
  18. "In Beta" jest. by oscartheduck · · Score: 4, Funny

    Who would have thought it would take Google of all companies to finally take Linux out of Beta?

    --
    How to use coral cache: http://slashdot.org.nyud.net:8090/~oscartheduck
  19. Re:Calm down dear, it's just an internal distro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    I'll eat my dog
    Wow. Most of us aren't flexible enough to pull that one off.
  20. Re:Not to sound cynical by BaseSequence · · Score: 1, Funny

    does google ever go down?



    I don't know. How long has Google been married?



  21. Google's New Project by 1+(smarterThanYou) · · Score: 2, Funny

    Apparently they're working on a GooI.

  22. Users will be known as.... Goobers. by simetra · · Score: 2, Funny

    Thanks, I'll be here all week... be sure to tip your waitress.

    --

    "Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
  23. Re:What can Google do by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Tech support: "What browser are you using?"
    User: "IE"
    Tech support: "You don't have to scream, I was just asking a question"

    --
    Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
  24. Re:What can Google do by phlamingo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hobbyist.

    If "hobbiest" were a word, it would mean something like "the most hobby". Or, maybe, "having the most hobbs."

    --
    I had forgotten how much cooler teenagers look when they are smoking. Oh, wait ...