Sean's Technological Journeys

The source code for the current state of Chromium OS was released today, to much fanfare and a press conference at Google's Mountain View headquarters.

I downloaded and built the operating system per Google's own instructions, and was pretty underwhelmed at the result. Now, of course, this is probably how most technology enthusiasts feel after realizing what Chrome OS really is under the hood:

• The core is a stripped down Linux 2.6.30 kernel -- with non-essential bits simply not compiled to save size and decrease loading times. I have to admit that it loaded appreciably fast even inside VMware, but Ubuntu 9.10 is only about 4 seconds longer. I'm not that impatient.
• A few new and interesting security features that, at the same time, are completely useless for anyone who wishes to actually store persistent data on their disk. Let's see a show of hands of who wants to actually use all that disk space? Music, movies, anyone? *raises hand*
• Browser-centric doesn't really sum it up. It's Browser-only. If you want to run some native binaries you have laying around that are perfectly compatible with the native software stack of Chrome OS (Linux, X11, glibc, etc) -- tough cookies.
• Since Google really, really, really doesn't want Chrome OS users to have to leave their browser, they made it so that you literally can't leave your browser. Any necessary hardware configuration features (as deemed "necessary" by each IHV) are exposed as tacked on widgets in the Chrome web browser, which is the one and only window available in the OS.
• People who thought Google might come up with a new and innovative windowing system that might be faster or better-architected than Xorg are going to be sorely disappointed: Google went with Xorg after all. This really cheapened the deal from a technology enthusiast's perspective; with Xorg having a direct and major competitor, we might be able to someday rid ourselves of that unfortunate part of the free desktop. Not today, though.
• If there's no way to do it through a web app (Javascript, Flash, and maybe Java), there's no way to do it on Chrome OS. So various things that people expect on "thick client" OSes are non-existent on Chrome OS: medium or high-end 3d games, programming IDEs (integrated development environments), extensive customizability (options make the UI too cluttery for Google's high standards of simplicity), and even basic things like being able to pop in a DVD and watch it on the computer. Unless of course there is a web app out there somewhere that does all of these things -- so far I have yet to see one, especially not from Google.

I am essentially underwhelmed at the lack of originality that went into Chrome OS so far. Its existence might prompt app developers to create more interesting web apps that may come to replace traditional desktop apps, but this has yet to be proven. Especially with programs that carry a very large data payload, such as games or media players, you really can't expect users to wait for files to download over increasingly-restrictive Internet downlinks (5GB EvDO cap, anyone?) Chrome OS might do all that a casual user needs, but as more and more people become informed about the capabilities of a real operating system and its many desktop applications, they will realize that Chrome OS is too limiting.

The Free / Open Source movements both emphasize and encourage the freedom of choice. Although we are certainly welcome not to choose Chrome OS as our operating system, it is pretty clear that, within Chrome OS, the designers have deliberately limited your choice of applications to a subset of those the hardware is capable of running. If I (the user, not the IHV) want to download a .deb containing a cool new game for which my hardware meets or exceeds the requirements, I should be able to install it. Why does Chrome OS impose limitations where they needn't exist? Because Google wants to control its users' computing activities. That is the only conclusion at which I can arrive.

Of course, just like every web appliance in the past, the theory is that "someday" there will be so many dynamic, high-performance, rich web apps out there that the web appliance really will be all you need. Maybe user adoption of Chrome OS will help this someday become reality by creating demand for things like browser-based IDEs and high end games. Or maybe people will just stick to Linux, Mac, and Windows.