Lay Techs: Tech for Laypeople

At first glance it seems rather confusing that Google is building on Chrome OS when they have Android. What on Earth is going on behind those doors? What are they thinking? 

Android is such a powerful mobile OS with a diverse ecosystem of apps and a huge user and fan base across the world. Some would even go to the extend to admitting they're becoming fanboys (or girls, no discrimination here). 

Then on the other end is this quiet and subtle Chrome OS creeping into cheap-as-hell notebooks with specs from the 80s. Having looked at the OS initially it just seemed to be a repackaged Chrome browser you can get from any computer in the world. So why come out with a bloody expensive Google Pixel, then? This machine is priced like a Macbook Pro, by the way.  

It's answers and speculations you want, and it's answers and speculations I've got. 

You see before you an OS built initially for cameras. Google then bought over the company and transformed it into the alter ego of Apple's iOS. Someone's got to do it, else Apple would have gone Panzer on the world and succeeded. 

Android is a Java-based OS, which means everything that wants to work with it would need to be built according using the language it recognizes. This is the common practice for many companies to create an exclusivity and control over everything that goes into their OS. That's why app developers would need to rebuild their apps for every OS platform they want to be a part of. 

What is Chrome OS

You're reading this blog with a Chrome browser? If not, kindly open Chrome and revisit this site. Then you should also login with your Google account. I'm assuming you have one, because everyone else has one. 

The black line just below your Search Tab of your browser lists the items you would most likely visit. We have Google+, Search, Images, Maps, and so on. Imagine the same but as icons below the browser windows. Voila! You have the Chrome OS. Well at least that's how it appears to naked eyes. Then you have video and music players, file managers, all the other additional things that make up a fully functional OS. 

Chrome OS is essentially html 5. Every single app you get from the Chrome Web Store is built using html 5. Maybe still some Java and Flash here and there, but nothing html 5 cannot handle. For it to work with optimized experience the user would need to be constantly connected to the Internet. Well, duh how would a browser work without it right? 

Why Android

It's pretty clear that Android is the most powerful mobile OS in the world today, thanks mostly to its openness. Hardware makers can change and modify anything they want to give users the experience desired. The entire architecture's limits can be stretched over and over again because it is open for everyone to tweak. 

It has the app ecosystem second only to the iOS, and miles ahead of the third-place competitor. This is very important because apps enhance the experience of users. It already has more than 50% user base worldwide, many are die hard fans who would kill to defend it's honor. 

Then one asks 'Is this not enough?!' Why come up with Chrome OS when you have such a successful OS with so much more potential for growth? 

Why Not Android

Through the direction of completely opening Android for the world to see and use and change, Google lost control of it entirely. At first it would've been a good move to NOS up next to the iOS, but now it seems the negative effects are starting to surface. 

Android is no longer what it used to be. And the more companies become creative with it, the more it will lose it's identity. Every company smacks a layer of UI onto it, hoping to give a different user experience. And every other turn the vanilla experience gets diluted further. It's all cool, except Google can no longer control user experience and satisfaction of using Android anymore. They would launch the Key Lime Pie and no other devices besides the Nexuses (Nexi?) will get it immediately. Some will never even get this update. This gap worries Google. 

Java is cool and all, but it's the architecture of today. Create an OS, create a user base, get people to build apps, grow, celebrate with a bottle of Moet. The mobile OS circle is already getting a little crowded. As we speak Ubuntu, Mozilla, Samsung and Jolla are developing their very own OSes. This future fragmentation will reduce the awesomeness of being a mobile OS brand. 

Why Chrome OS

Simple. Google looked back to their history, to what they were in the first place. They were a search engine company. They were the middlemen of the Internet, that connected end users to everything else in the wide expanse of the web. The Chrome OS makes more sense now. 

It is an html 5 browser architecture made to look and feel like a desktop and mobile OS. It is light, efficient and direct. It doesn't come with multiple fancy layers of chunky. Html 5 can run on every single device in the world able to access the Internet, which means app developers can build on one language for every device out there. 

This OS runs primarily over the cloud and everything a user owns in one device can be transported to another one through his/her account. Google can maintain complete control over the user experience. The Chrome OS is the very architecture Microsoft has been trying very hard to prevent for the longest time. 

Then Why Android?

This speculation is completely unfounded, but I think Android was created for two reasons. One: To stop the worldwide domination of iOS. Two: To give the world the impression that Google is clearly in the direction of mobile OS, then quietly build on an architecture that could possibly be the next evolution of OS. 

How not? Google is not in the position to flow with the tide of trends, they have the bloody remote device to stop and flow it however they want.


Then Why Not Chrome OS Already?
Because a complete operating system needs to do the few crucial things, which are content consumption and content creation.

Let's see. The Chrome OS can now create and consume work documents like Lotus 123. They really need to pump up Google Docs if they hope to take users away from Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Start with formatting.

Then there's music and video. Sure it can now play music and video through their media players, Netflix and Google Play, but can it create? And although it's unprofessional to mention this here but OS makers have to also consider the fact that their users are torrent consumers. Torrents are essentially crowd-sourced file transfer platforms with stop and resume capabilities. They work very well with huge files like... well pirated games and movies, but also legit games and software. How will this OS deal with torrents?

Also there's photo editing. I don't think potential users of Chrome OS will be using massively professional photo editor, but it would be nice to have a Photoshop/Lightroom or GIMP equivalent tucked around for those minor tweaking. No I'm not talking about those fancy border and filter shit that children use, I'm talking layers and opacity and curves and other more adult stuff.

Adobe Creative Cloud is a just an expensive cloud storage service, it doesn't come close to giving virtual Photoshop from any device. So unless someone comes up with a way to build a html-based Photoshop equivalent, Chrome OS will always have that big hole it cannot fill. 

The Verdict

Google told that they have no plans to choose between or merge the two Oses, but rather to see which one becomes the more apparent future for them when the time comes. 

I think, as much as the Chrome OS is stark and boring compared to Android, that it will be the next step in the OS evolution. Android has awesome UI and all that, but it's clunky and slow, and with very limited space for growth. The iOS has almost completely stopped innovating altogether and is now trying so hard to keep up with Android.

Every single tech company is building their own smart phone with their very own mobile OS. We have Apple, Google, Blackberry, Microsoft, Mozilla, Jolla, Ubuntu and HP. I'm pretty sure I missed out a few. At this rate mobile OS will become extremely cluttered and saturated, and it will become impossible to compete and stay ahead. 

So that's why Google is on Project Loon!