News broke all over the web.

It’s amazing to me how quickly people hype up a technology. We haven’t even seen the operating system yet. However, there seems to be strong consensus that it will hit Microsoft where it hurts.

I’m dubious. Somehow failures are forgotten. I recall Google Knol and the attempt to take out Wikipedia. And the countless other projects coming out of Google Labs that don’t make prime time. Google still is Google because of search – (ad revenue).

Has Android taken over the mobile space? Well, they’ve done well, but could not nearly compare to the sheer amount of applications developed on the iPhone platform.

Perhaps this will be a great operating system – but the argument that you don’t need Desktop Apps is still premature. I would like for someone to give me Photoshop in a browser, for example. In my view, this still requires a lot of time – only when Applications really get good in the browser will there be steam for this to take off. The argument that the OS should get out of the way is sweet and cute – but not yet realistic.

If, however, Google is successful in making a platform, similar to what Apple has done with the iPhone – that will allow software companies to release their Desktop Apps in a browser; I believe that would be the sauce to provide momentum for this idea. Until then, the Chrome OS will apply to a select audience and Microsoft is not going anywhere.