Google's Android To Challenge Windows?

PL/SQL Guy writes "Search giant Google is set to offer its free Android mobile-phone operating system for computers, opening a new front in its rivalry with Microsoft by challenging the dominance of the company's Windows software. Acer Inc., the world's second-largest laptop maker, will release a low-cost notebook powered by Android next quarter, said Jim Wong, head of information-technology products at the Taipei-based company. Calvin Huang, an analyst at Daiwa Securities Group Inc, says that adoption of Android-based netbooks will likely eat into Windows' share of PC operating systems." Meanwhile, notes reader Barence, Asus is continuing to distance itself from Android, saying it "isn't a priority."

Comments

Symbian?

[drolli]

Right now, Android is more a rival for symbian than for Windows.

Re:Open vs Closed

[FranTaylor]

"Anyone can take the Android platform and add code or download it to create a mobile device without restrictions," Google said in an e-mail. "We look forward to seeing what contributions are made and how an open platform spurs innovation."

Re:Open vs Closed

[smittyoneeach]

How could the Bad Analogy Guy overlook the 'droid vs. Borg comparison?
You're slipping badly there.

Pointless Link

[CompMD]

"Asus is continuing to distance itself from Android, saying it "isn't a priority.""

If you follow the link from that quote in the summary, the word "Asus" isn't anywhere on the page.

Yawn

[Anonymous Coward]

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Why not just stick with Windows and save yourself the hassle?

Re:2010...

[nxtw]

Seriously. With Ubuntu now in a "just works" state on most hardware, and Android tested by commercial entities to work out-of-the-box fro specific hardware, there is real choice. The lower cost of slick Linux devices and PCs compared to OS X premium hardware from Apple will start to take hold this year.

Ubuntu 9.04 had a serious regression on Intel integrated graphics, as did Fedora 10. The sad part is this used to "just work" - Intel's drivers are fully open source.

Intel holds nearly 50% of the PC graphics market share. It's tough to say that it "just works" when nearly half of the latest hardware has broken graphics support - including the nearly all of the netbooks that Linux is supposed to be so great for. I find it troubling that they shipped an OS that broke graphics performance on so many systems - why did this happen now, and what prevents it from happening again?

Re:Open vs Closed

[Spaseboy]

you can't use Google Docs on Android. I have a G1 and I'm pretty irked about that. All Google says is that they plan on it working on Android but give no timeline or whether it will be a native app or through Chrome Lite. They say the same vague statement about PDF.