Google’s recent announcement that their Chrome Operating System (OS), would be available by mid of 2010 didn’t come as a surprise for many. This would be a direct attack on Microsoft’s Windows OS, which currently commands more than 90% of market share.
This is not the first time the two Giants have crossed sword. They came head on while competing for the Internet search engine market and then clashed again for market share in the Internet browser segment.
The objective was pretty clear on both the occasions, it was to manage, control and serve the humongous amount of content/information available on the internet. But how would this help these companies??
Catering to the content/information in an effective way would bring in more knowledge hungry web surfers to the website. Higher the number of visitors on the website better would be the platform for generating revenue through advertisements and promotions. The result is more business and higher revenues for the company. Google emerged a clear winner by outplaying Microsoft’s MSN. It now commands almost 80% of the internet search market.
Therefore by dominating the search Google was able to get a grip over the online ad market. Google currently has almost 98% of market share through online advertisements. This would not have been possible without Google’s dominance in the search market. The growth Google witnessed is pretty evident from the fact that a company setup in 1996 is now almost a $20billion.
(Through its dominance on the Internet search Google understood the browsing preferences of end users and used it well to its advantage. Don’t be surprised in case you don’t know this, when you are browsing through Google you might has noticed “Ads by Google” on one side of your browser. These are ads which keep changing according to the pages you visit. These ads are all based on the site(s) you have searched/visited for example if you search or open any site related to “JOBS” then Google will give you all ads related to Jobs on one side of the browser. Thus Google uses your browsing habits to display their ads. Google makes money by charging the companies placing their ads @Rs. 3 per click)
Another front on which these Giants crossed swords was by competing for the Internet browser market. When Microsoft announced the release of its latest browser IE8 (which had an option to disable the end users browsing habits/information being passed onto companies) Google came out strongly with its Chrome web browser, which it claimed to be faster and lighter compared to its nearest competitors in the market.
The other reason for the web browser war to heat up was the emergence new business models like “cloud computing”, “pay as you go” etc. These models are based on the premise that the client end processing abilities are underutilized (for example notice that your home PC’s average CPU utilization does not cross more than 8% to 30% unless once in a blue moon when your PC hangs due to high CPU utilization). This is a very strong and emerging business model which would lower processing requirements & computing costs.
Service providers working on these models will host the hardware and software at one location and customers can access it through the web. Thus web browsers like Chrome, IE, Safari, Mozilla, Opera etc. would be the medium through which users will be accessing these hosted services. Thereby increasing the importance of Internet browser and also answering the reason behind companies fighting for this segment.
Google’s recent announcement regarding the release of its Chrome OS, should not come as a surprise especially keeping in mind the release of Windows 7 also being in the pipeline. Both these operating systems are designed keeping in mind the changing technological trends especially business models like “cloud computing” and “pay as you go”.
Lighter operating systems and thin client models will replace the way technology has been sold till now. Going forward technology will increasingly be delivered as a service. Companies too have accepted this truth and are tweaking their business; products and services to suit the changing landscape of technology.
Microsoft and Google have again geared up for the next level of competition with claims of their respective Operating systems to be lighter, faster and better suited for the future. Only time will tell whether Chrome OS can snatch the OS market share from Windows OS or not!
The war for controlling the future of Internet is now ON....!!!
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