Google working on a new mystery OS?
After dropping a pretty big bomb recently with news that Microsoft’s OS market share has dropped below 90% for the first time in 15 years, Net Applications is at it again. The well known market research firm is now causing a wave of speculation with regards to a possible new OS that Google may be working on behind a big curtain at HQ. Net Applications obtains much of its data by way of software sensors placed on over 40,000 websites, constantly returning (non-sensitive) information about each and every computer that visits the site. Recently, Net Applications has been seeing a great deal of strange traffic coming from Google employees that can’t be explained by proxy servers or any other standard means of masking. Approximately one third of traffic coming from our friends at Google has had OS information deliberately concealed so that Net Applications’ software cannot identify it, while the rest of the data remains visible (IP, browser, etc).
We have never seen an OS stripped off the user agent string before. I believe you have to arrange to have that happen, it’s not something we’ve seen before with a proxy server. All I can tell you is there’s a good percentage of the people at Google showing up [at Web pages] with their OS hidden.
Ree-hee-healy? We won’t delve too far into speculation as to what we might be dealing with here but there are plenty of theories out there that make sense. The most likely candidate might be an expanded version of the Android OS as Google has been quite clear about having no intentions of confining the little green gizmo to mobile phones. Another possibility is an SaaS OS a la g.ho.st. Google has so many ways of pulling information from its users, why not just own it all? Whatever the case may be, it looks like we can expect some big news from Google in the near future and the smart money says it’s going to be sexy.
Google just doesn’t know any bounds huh
Is Google the next Microsoft? Hm…
A Google OS would probably be Linux-based, I would think…
Though it seems odd that Google would want to go through creating their own distro when they could just promote one that already exists like Ubuntu or something, they did create their own browser, so who knows?
a google os would be awesome, but i’m just worried that they are going to turn into microsoft. we don’t need another one of those around.
I would love a google OS that is fully capable of running windows apps/programs that doesent crash all the times like the actual windows does.
but that’s just me.
“I believe you have to arrange to have that happen, it’s not something we’ve seen before with a proxy server.”
So, a bunch of Google employees are using a web browser with a custom user-agent string that doesn’t contain information on the operating system. That’s remarkably easy to “arrange to have happen” by setting hidden preferences in the web browser and is remarkably flimsy evidence to base such a prediction on. Does this company understand what they’re talking about?
So Google already has their own OS. They created Goobuntu a few years ago for the developers to use. It is basically a modified version of Ubuntu that includes some additional security, runs big table instances, etc. The OS masking is probably just Goobuntu.
when they launched chrome they said they wanted other people to use it hinting they wanted mozilla to take the bait… maybe they are coming up with something like that for an os? or maybe it’s their way of scaring ms and apple…………. i wouldn’t put it past google… i use them for everything except flickr so i’m all in!!! bring on the os goog.
google is like santa claus — “he knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you’re awake…” … Except when Santa says he isn’t evil, he really, actually isn’t.
If it was released for commercial use it will be probably the costliest and most prominent failure of Google.
So far Google has failed to deliver any successful products beyond, well, Google (GMail and Google Earth can be viewed as part of its core offering). Chrome make a huge splash just to fade away quickly, Google Apps – hm, any serious users there? Android – we will see, but for far it is nothing special, trailing behind Symbian, WM, Apple and BlackBerry in features.
OS is a huge undertaking. Apple has decades of experience, yet only after an incredible and expensive marketing campaign (of which no one seems to be capable but Apple itself) it gained some market share. Apple played on coolness and visual appeal. Google has one of the most bland, unappealing and overall primitive looking products on the market, so it wouldn’t be able to pull the same. Sun is losing its market, Linux is somewhere down there. What new can Google possibly offer? Just another Chrome – big splash, lots of talk, adoption by a fan base only and a market share way below 1%.
Geez…how many different versions of Unix do we need…
philip
I actually think chrome is huge for porn (incognito mode and all). And isn’t that what the internet is all about?
And the google search bar in the adresse field is great. I still use firefox for BGR and stuff though.
@MiniMe I have to agree with you…plus I don’t think another OS is neeeded since there really isn’t anything it can offer that mac,linux and Windows doesn’t provide already.
Tough to conceal Snow Leopard tracks.
i would just love to have a high profile alternative to crappy vista other than crappy osx
and 70 million linux distros
I would think it’s either from a netbook OS they’re working on or they’re developing an OS to use internally.
I would not be surprised if Goobuntu is in their ‘to-do’ list, but would be surprised if they have plans releasing it anytime soon.
Android is the most adaptable mobile OS out there right now. So it would seem logical to adapt it to PC hardware as well.
An other OS would create more competition if it would come from Google. Competition is good for us consumers, so I say go Google, make Android for PC!
Perhaps they just don’t want people to see that they are using Windows or Mac. I mean in some ways google is competing with these companies, and they don’t want to provide free advertising buy letting people know that google employees use macs or whatever.
Uh, yeah. About Windoze crashing “all the times.” It doesn’t, unless you are a dumbass who acts like a crApple zoid and randomly clicks on every-damned thing that pops up in your browser. I’ve owned computers since my first Timex-Sinclair back in ‘82 and I’ve never had a problem with the BSoD…but I’m not a fookin’ noob who tries to connect the doggie door to the bus without the proper interrupts masked, etc. Dumbass. You M$ bashers need to try harder.
Thanks skh.pcola
“when they launched chrome they said they wanted other people to use it hinting they wanted mozilla to take the bait… maybe they are coming up with something like that for an os?”
Now There’s an idea I like. Imagine if Google put their weight behind a nice neat, fast, free version of Linux. That would really be something.
“Uh, yeah. About Windoze crashing “all the times.” It doesn’t, unless you are a dumbass who acts like a crApple zoid and randomly clicks on every-damned thing that pops up in your browser.”
Yeah, I’ve been running the same windows session (w/hibernate) for about 2 months now without a crash or a restart. The people who complain about windows crashing all the time are the same stupid people who install every piece of crap that advertises itself in IE and then go buy a dumbed down mac and tell everyone how much better the are. To quote Eddie Izzard, they’re probably the people on the plane who watch when the air hostess does the belt bit.
@skh.pcola NO idea who you refer in your post. Face it, windows does have significant flaws that are easily exploited – even one failure a month is a failure and upon switching to linux I reboot ONLY when a kernel update is needed. Crashes still happen, but do not bring the kernel down.
As for google and masks – MANY companies mask outbound traffic for many reasons. One can speculate in a thousand different ways, but the fact remains that a smart business will conceal it’s proprietary work from competition. That is akin to a NFL coach hiding his mouth with a play card when communicating strategy.
JP, I was referring to PHug’s ridiculous comment earlier in the thread. And I’ll stipulate to Window’s “significant flaws,” but only if you allow that Linux/Ubuntu/etc. would have the same flaws if those OSs held a ~90% of the market. It’s the same old story that allows the crApple fanboi brigades to squeal with pleasure about…”OUR OS is sooooooo secure!!!” No it’s not, it’s not worth the script kiddles’ time to exploit such a small user base. Idjits.
@Likeabite: No problems. People who continually kvetch about M$ in general and Windoze in particular are morons who would scratch their bags in befuddlement if they ever faced a command line without a GUI.
i hate to break it to you but it’s not as simple as you make it seem. u can’t just set the preferences in a browser
no google doesn’t know any bound nor should they there amazing and FREE!!