Google Chrome OS: Worlds Won't Collide

So everybody is talking now about Google's announcement of the Chrome OS. How it will collide with Microsoft and Apple etc... Thinking of the Google's move from a perspective of a few days now, I do not see it as a major thing... at least for a few years from now...

There are number of reasons, and many of them sit on our very own PCs running Windows. Generally speaking is the client software compatibility. There is ever increasing base of electronic gadgets that come with PC applications to configure and run them. Start with a wireless modem - a USB dongle provided by a mobile network operator. It gives us the connectivity on the go. But there is no generic interface to configure these things. Every single one comes with a piece of software (aka connection manager) that runs on Windows. Most of them are Windows only. Then there are printers. Be it HP or Canon, each requires a driver talking to the printer. Drivers are for Windows and Macs, with very few supporting Linux and none ready for the Chrome. Then there are mobile phones or smartphones - be it a BlackBerry or an iPhone or a Windows Mobile machine. Each comes with a sort of a desktop manager or iTunes in the case of the iPhone. Mac and PC only. Digital cameras - each manufacturer comes with own Photo Suite. Most of them are PC only. Some support Macs. I could go on and on, but I think you are getting the point.

Is there a remedy? Yes, there is. All these gadgets should finally support standard management and configuration interfaces over standard protocols - such as http and ftp. Only this way we will be able to free ourselves from the requirement of installing a "client" software on our PCs. Google may have a plan of slowly introducing such kind of thinking among gadget manufacturers. But this will take time... many years will pass until every device will be a web server, exposing it's proprties and functions in a browser - friendly way. And before that happens, we will be mostly tied to Microsoft, leaving one or two niches, such as Web Tablets, for the Google Chrome OS.