A LOT of press over the last week has been produced regarding Googles announcement to go head-to-head with Microsoft with is Open Source (LINUX) based OS. They dominate the search market and are now going to go after the 9000 lb. gorilla on the desktop. It’s about time we had another player in the sector.

Google calls time on the Age of Windows

Google announced on Wednesday that it was developing its own computer operating system. It will be secure, fast, lightweight and – most of all – free. And it presents the biggest challenge yet to the long-standing dominance of Windows.

The idea behind Google ChromeOS is nothing new – it’s built on a Linux foundation and will no doubt share many of the features of other open-source operating systems. But Google is the only computing brand with more might than Microsoft: it’s trusted, and has a proven track record of building brilliant, free services, from search to instant messaging.

Trust is the key here.  I don’t know many that trust Microsoft to either do it right, nor do it ethically.  The funny thing is, I don’t know anyone that belives Google will either.   They are the kings of data warehousing, and data reselling.   The big concern in the technical community is,  what will Google do with the data it can aquire, once it ‘owns’ your desktop too?

I know people who simply won’t use Google for searches (I use it exclusivly).  They fear that Google is profiling them (and it is) and will resell their searching patterns (and it dose) to other parties.  Valid concerns, to an extent, but really, anyone that think they are using the web annonymously, unless they are making heavy use of fully annonymizing proxies, is dillusional.    Even those bent on covering their tracks have to be careful what cookies they except, how long they  remain on the system, what they are caching, what proxies they are using (what are those proxies doing with their traffic, are they considering that?).

The internet is a dangerous place for you data.  Either you have to be OK with people warehousing your activities, or you’re going to have to go to some extreme measures to thwart the data transfer.

Now, if you ever want to look at what YOU might be sending to 3rd parties from your own computer, I suggest running a tool like  WireShark.   Now here is a neat little site benefit od doing something like that.  A lot of the most sophisticated malware out there, looks for such tools runing on systems and will modify it’s behavior from malicious, to begnin, to conceal itself.   So, running network profiling tools, perhaps even if you don’t ever LOOK at them, can help prevent some of the worst expoits out there.  It’s like taking a vaccine of sorts.  It’s not going to prevent everything, but some of the worst of the web will simply move onto easier marks.

I for one will be getting ahold of Chrome OS as soon as I can to istall on a laptop for examination.  I have some internet neophytes in the house, and they are a good test of how easy an OS is to use.   Right now I’ve given them a new Acer laptop running Ubuntu.   My house is a Windoze Free Zone.  I look foward to hearing the feedback on Chrome OS when I give them the option to use either.

OTHER RELATED:

SlashDot:   Google Announces Chrome OS, For Release Mid-2010

“After years of speculation, Google has announced Google Chrome OS, which should be available mid-2010. Initially targeting netbooks, its main selling points are speed, simplicity and security — which kind of implies that the current No.1 OS doesn’t deliver in these areas”

CNET: What will Google’s Chrome OS watch you do?

Google has a long history of tracking user activity, and the introduction of its Chrome operating system later this year is sure to follow suit. While we know that it’s being built off of Linux, one big thing we don’t know is how its terms of service will differ from those found in other Google products, and what kinds of user data it will be collecting. Based on the company’s track record of watching and monetizing user data, it could be anything from which applications you’re using, to all the information that’s coming in and out of your computer.