Why Business IT Shouldn't Shrug Off Chrome OS

The Long View
Still, CIOs should expect to see Chrome OS show up in their companies one way or another. As we've learned from smartphones, flash drives, and Facebook, employees will bring consumer technology into the enterprise, with or without an expectation of support, and they'll use such tools for business purposes.

In fact, look for your own Linux hackers in the IT department to be the first to walk Chromed-up netbooks through the door. Netbooks will account for one in five notebooks shipped worldwide in the coming year, market researcher DisplaySearch predicts, while shipments of conventional laptops will be flat.

Given the growing market, Google has a shot at gaining respectable consumer market share if it produces a slick, fast, secure OS that delivers a great Web experience. And if Google succeeds with consumers, it's logical to expect it to steer that momentum toward the enterprise.

We already know what Microsoft's response would be to such a scenario--embrace and extend the best features of its competitor. The Chrome OS may turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to Windows--and its enterprise users--because real competition will spur Microsoft to make Windows even more optimized for the Web. Think how Firefox lit a fire under Microsoft to improve Internet Explorer.

Web-centric computing, with or without Chrome OS, already is spurring changes among enterprise software makers, as evidenced by Microsoft making key applications available in a browser and the likes of SAP and Oracle ramping up their software services.

CIOs should take the Chrome OS announcement as a similar warning shot. They can take a wait-and-see approach to the Google operating system, given its consumer focus and netbook emphasis, and the fact that it won't be delivered for more than a year. But it's clear that Web computing is accelerating and that CIOs must factor that into their next generation of applications, mobile devices, and desktops--with or without Google.

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The Basics About Chrome OS
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Chrome OS Faces Integration Challenges Ahead
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Practical Analysis: Google Hits Microsoft Where It's Weakest
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