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Google and Chrome - A Plausible Future
Google and Chrome - A Plausible Future
Google wants to change the world. Knowing what they know and not doing anything with it is anathema. Being able to see what people want, how they think, all this is part of their intention to build something different. That isn't a bad thing, they're not out for control in a cravenly sense, and they aren't positioning themselves as a kind of benevolent dictatorship. And Chrome, in its simplicity, telegraphs their plan. Firefox replacement? Hardly. Microsoft replacement? Nothing like that. What Google is working on is an Internet replacement. Or rather, an alternative. And Chrome fits into it like this: Google is creating some mental real estate with their own browser. They're never going to stop backing Firefox, they'll need their Mozilla compatriot down the road; I'd be surprised if they ever pull funding. But they want to get people used to the idea that they can browse with Chrome. Because while Microsoft starts small and works to big, starting with a Windows computer, then bringing in hardware people, software people, developers, artists, musicians, and whoever else they can populate their ecosystem with, Google is working from the other direction: collect and study every bit of data, develop a brand, build an infrastructure, create the idea of a platform, and then make something new. Let There Be Light 
Taking a step back, what has Google got already? They gots the datas; all of them, don't make any assumptions to the contrary. They'll always have that. This is the heart of their business and their product. Without Google, the Internet wouldn't be nearly as important or even valuable: think about it, it'd be a whole lot of crap pages tied together using banner ads and webrings. You remember 1998? You remember Netscape? It was worthless. So they fixed it, and now Google is a brand - even your mom knows the Google. It costs GOOG dollars. It's real.The way back machine tells us that they own a great deal of dark fiber. Then this year, they pulled a crazy stunt in front of the FCC, God, and everybody. They now have infrastructure. I mean, sort of. It's theirs if they need it; it's a hold-out that they may someday use if forced to, by other organizations or even monetary need. Who knows, advertising might stop working all of the sudden. In case Hell gets drafty or something, Verizon and Comcast and the other ISPs get brain-sick and attempt to unhook Google's tubes, Google will still be able to connect to people. And right now, they've got three really important ideas: Gmail, Google Products (I still call it Froogle) and the Google Apps... I'm just going to collectively call them the Google Apps. It's the sum of their solutions. Android, their would-be micro-OS, optimized for smart phones and mobile Internet devices alike, and Chrome. See how these fit together? If you get people used to using a Google browser, provide them with a means to get it connected, and run all their applications in the Cloud, you have just built an entirely new platform, an alternative to the Internet and its computers. Not that the Internet will change or go away, nor computers or the way we think of them. Since the cornerstone of this model is a browser, you still need some way to run one, and that means hardware, but not a computer. And people do think of computers when they think of the Internet, even if they're not aware of it. All you have to do is look at, say, the iPhone. "You're checking your email without a computer? Cool." Hence, an alternative. Right now, the concept of the Internet is still very rooted in having a machine that costs a lot of money, never strays far away from outlets, and especially not far from wireless' ethereal tubes. Google's goal here is an uberbrowser--a Platform free of a workstation, like the dumb terminal of yore, something that handles the everyman needs of the world, where all your intellectual property is safely stored in their servers, free from the threat of personal computers and their wielders. Chrome is the thin edge of the wedge, a way to create awareness of their browser, which they will channel into their real Platform. Of this, I am certain. And there's a little bit of history that bolsters this. You know gOS? Now short for "Good OS," it was originally made out as Google OS. It's not a Google operating system, it's a lightweight Linux distribution that has big icons that open up Firefox and take you to Google's Apps. Google didn't bring down any hammers, the name was always "Good", and more importantly, Google liked the idea of a Google platform, and here someone else is investing in the idea. I mean, it's not like it hurt them.
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Page 2: Google and Chrome - A Plausible Future (Page 2) 
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