Google PC : OS, RSS, VOIP Distribution
Google has recently been the driving force behind some new applications and computing initiatives which point to the release of a low cost Google PC which is rumored to be hitting the markets this year. The LATimes reports that Google has been in talks with Wal-Mart and other retailers about a national launch of a new low priced Google PC which would not run on the Microsoft Windows operating system.
Instead of Windows, the Google PC would probably run off of a version of the Linux operating system, which seems to be a more realistic plan than the rumors of a Google OS, given Google’s embracement of the Open Source community and its mission to helping with the spread and marketing of such open source applications. In addition to an operating system (whether it be Google or Linux), also expect the Google PC to have a default Firefox or Opera browser (two Google partners) and the entire OpenOffice.org suite, which is the open source alternative to Microsoft Word.
Under the Google brand, such a PC may work well on the market, even if it does offer an OS, browser and suite applications that most computer and Internet users are not accustomed to using. Google is a major sponsor of MIT’s One Laptop per Child Movement, which has developed a practical $100 PC for distribution and marketing to impoverished nations. Perhaps the partially Google funded program was a springboard to reaching the reality of an affordable US PC, with Google reaping the rewards of long term users of the Google PC’s, thinking more long term than short.
Additionally, Google has also recently launched what could be seen as an advanced desktop and communications suite with Google Talk, Google Desktop Search, Google Sidebar and Google GMail. With middle America hooked up to the Internet with their Google PC’s (possibly even the Wi-Fi Google Net in a year or so), Sidebar and Google Talk may help to further spread the usage of RSS and VOIP into the everyday household.
Along with default Google Blogger blogging app, default Google Search, more contextual ad opportunities and the spread of the Always On generation, the Google PC could be a successful plan to lock up the future Web 2.0 late adoptors. Besides, nowadays having a PC in every room of the house is just as chic as a household of TV’s.
