While the format is fun and timely, the premise is interesting. Could Google possibly be working on its own internal OS? Android is doing well in the mobile phone arena via the T-Mobile G1 and now the unlocked developer version. And it’s now being targeted at the netbook market. But can it be extended to become a true Windows killer, on the desktop and beyond? Others, like Google Watch’s Clint Boulton, say they see this mystery Google OS being more on the level of a Web-only iteration. But if this Google OS speculation turns out to be true, it could just pose enough serious competition to Windows–just at a time when the economy is forcing organizations to cut back on their IT spend.
And Wilcox sees all this as a “perfect storm” that swamps over Microsoft in the end:
Steve learns that Google had accomplished what Netscape couldn’t. Chrome and Gears were but foundation for a Google operating system. Windows Vista’s market failure, Windows Mobile’s self-destruction and the 2008-10 recession’s impact on server software sales created the perfect storm of opportunity for Apple and, particularly, Google.
But can it really be that simple to unseat Microsoft? Maybe if this new OS were coupled together with Google’s trouncing of Microsoft in search, Google could really end up being–to really stir up the literary commentary–Microsoft’s white whale.
