There has been a lot hub-bub today about Google’s announcement that it is going to be launching an operating system next year. Initially the OS is targeted at netbooks, but there are plans for it to be available for all types of desktops and laptops. One of the most interesting sections in Google’s announcement is:
“For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies.”
Simply put traditional desktop application will not run on the operating system. Most every GIS application I can think of – both open source and proprietary – is based on a desktop application. The most prevalent model has been using your desktop GIS to create data, analysis and maps then publish those to the Web. In the February 2009 edition of GEOinformatics there is an article entitled “Do we still need a Desktop GIS?” and posits the answer as yes because we need GIS professionals to “create, manage, and analyze content” and a powerful GIS desktop is the basis for working with spatial data.
Obviously desktop operating systems are not going to disappear over night or maybe ever, but Web based operating systems are emerging and it is interesting to think about what this could mean for GIS. We’ve seen more geospatial applications moving to the Web/Cloud and running purely in a browser – with WeoGeo being a leader in the space and applications like Arc2Earth leveraging cloud services like Google’s App Engine. Large GIS players like ESRI have been touting their work on cloud architectures and recently launched ArcGIS Online as an example.
Will we see an eventual migration to purely Web based GIS or will the desktop always remain in the mix? Which of the big players is going lead GIS into a Web OS? What parts of current desktop GIS systems would not be possible in a browser?
7 Responses to What does the Google Chrome OS mean for GIS?
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What does Chrome OS mean for Photoshop?
We were having a lunch conversation discussing this exact issue. It is hard to know where this all leads. For a shop like ours trying to make it on the edge of the technology envelope, it is nice to see greater capital investments in the OS stack that should lead to more demand for web-based services.
Cropping pictures on really small netbook screens
I don’t think Microsoft has to worry about Chrome OS, just like Google doesn’t have to worry about Bing!. Ubuntu has to worry about Chrome OS and Yahoo! has to worry about Bing!
When XBox came out, MS just wanted to be #2. It knew it was up against the PlayStation and set its sights on Nintendo which was fighting on two fronts – against Sony and Sega.
Similarly, the Zune is there just to make sure that MS has something in that arena. MS isn’t trying to take down Apple because it knows that’s a losing fight.
It’s not about the fight to be #1; it’s about the fight to be #2. It’s smaller players that are threatened when the giants venture into new waters. When MS made the Zune, it didn’t threaten Apple – it threatened Creative.
Besides, MS has experience competing with Google. Last time I checked, Microsoft Office was still the industry standard.
Love to hear your views at http://www.ChromeOSchat.com Take care.
> Simply put traditional desktop application will not run on the operating system.
And where did you get this valuable piece of inside information? It is an assumption only.
Simply put, nothing Google has said to date suggests that it will be impossible, difficult or undesirable to install applications to the local system. If you have not used the Chrome OS, why jump to conclusions?
For me, the best operating system is Linux because it rarely hangs.:’`
Awesome stuff. I have got to express though that for operating systems, I’m still hard core and usually go with ones that have had the bugs ironed out for a year or so, how about you?