SuperSite Blog : Google, Cloud computing

Google to Reveal More Chrome OS Details Thursday Night

pthurrott — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:27:14 GMT

Stung by a recent leak, Google will now host a special event tomorrow (Thursday) night at which they will reveal more details about their mysterious Chrome OS:

Join us for an evening at Google featuring presentations by Paul Rademacher on Google Maps and Ben Goodger on Chrome OS. Presentations will be followed by a short Q&A. Once the formalities have finished there will be further opportunity to meet and mingle with other attendees as well as Googlers from Chrome/ChromeOS, Maps, GMail and Search. Oh, and of course there will be plenty of food and beverages for everyone. We hope to see you there!

Note that the person doing the Chrome OS presentation is Ben Goodger, formerly of Netscape and Mozilla. You know, maybe Microsoft's angst about Netscape wasn't so misplaced after all. :)

An Operating System for the Cloud

pthurrott — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:38:32 GMT

You have to be a paid subscriber to read the full article (or just purchase the print version, or pay online per article) but MIT's Technology Review has published a fascinating article about Google's Chrome OS efforts by none other than "Showstoppers" author G. Pascal Zachary. Here's a peek.

Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said no for six years. Google's main source of revenue, which reached $5.5 billion in its most recent quarter, is advertising. How would the project they envisioned support the company's advertising business? The question wasn't whether Google could afford it. The company is wonderfully profitable and is on track to net more than $5 billion in its current fiscal year. But Schmidt, a 20-year veteran of the IT industry, wasn't keen on shouldering the considerable costs of creating and maintaining an OS and browser for no obvious return.

Finally, two years ago, Schmidt said yes to the browser. The rationale was that quicker and more frequent Web access would mean more searches, which would translate into more revenue from ads. Then, in July of this year, Schmidt announced Google's intention to launch an operating system as well. The idea is that an OS developed with the Internet in mind will also increase the volume of Web activity, and support the browser.

Google's browser and OS both bear the name Chrome. At a year old, the browser holds a mere 2 to 3 percent share of a contested global market, in which Microsoft's Internet Explorer has a majority share and Firefox comes in second. The Chrome operating system will be released next year. Today, Windows enjoys around 90 percent of the global market for operating systems, followed by Apple's Mac OS and the freeware Linux. Does Google know what it's doing?

Going after Microsoft's operating system used to be hopeless. When I covered the company for the Wall Street Journal in the 1990s, I chronicled one failed attempt after another by software innovators to wrest control of the field from Bill Gates ...

So for Schmidt to finally agree to develop an OS suggests less a technological shift than a business revolution. Google's new ventures "are game changers," he now says.

What has changed? Google has challenged the Microsoft franchise, further diminishing a declining force. The latest quarter gave Microsoft the worst year in its history. Revenue from its various Windows PC programs, including operating systems, fell 29 percent in the fiscal quarter that ended in June. Some of the decline stems from the global economic slowdown. But broad shifts in information technology are also reducing the importance of the personal computer and its central piece of software, the OS. In many parts of the world, including the two most populous countries, China and India, mobile phones are increasingly the most common means of reaching the Web. And in the rich world, netbooks, which are ideal for Web surfing, e-mailing, and Twittering, account for one in every 10 computers sold.

Good stuff. If you're in a bookstore, grab the October issue and check it out.

Google Sync: Now with push Gmail support

pthurrott — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:57:27 GMT

This is big stuff, and if there's anyone actually paying for MobileMe a year from now, well, you already looked like a fool, so what's the difference?

The Google Mobile Blog reports today that Google has added push email support to Google Sync, which previously provided that support for Google-based contacts and calendar on the iPhone (and iPod touch), Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Nokia S60 devices. Here's the word:

Earlier this year, we launched Google Sync which allows you to synchronize your Gmail Contacts and Google Calendar with your iPhone, Windows Mobile, and S60 devices. Today, we're adding Gmail support to Google Sync for iPhone, iPod Touch and Windows Mobile devices.

Using Google Sync, you can now get your Gmail messages pushed directly to your phone. Having an over-the-air, always-on connection means that your inbox is up to date, no matter where you are or what you're doing. Sync works with your phone's native email application so there's no additional software needed. Only interested in syncing your Gmail, but not your Calendar? Google Sync allows you to sync just your Contacts, Calendar, or Gmail, or any combination of the three.

To try Google Sync, visit m.google.com/sync from your computer. If you're already using Google Sync, learn how to enable Gmail sync.

Good stuff. Enjoy!

Google: Apple DID reject Google Voice. Thus, Apple DID lie to the FCC

pthurrott — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:04:05 GMT

Google's response (here it is in PDF format) to the FCC firmly states that Apple lied, pure and simple:

Apple's representatives informed Google that the Google Voice application was rejected because Apple believed the application duplicated the core dialer functionality of the iPhone. The Apple representative indicated that the company did not want applications that could potentially replace such functionality.

[Apple senior vice president Phil] Schiller informed [Google] that Apple was rejecting the Google Voice application.

Google Latitude was also rejected, and Google noted that there was no contact at all from AT&T about these issues. Meanwhile, Google continues to "work with" Apple. You know, as much as you can.

Game, set, match. And if there is anyone out there that still believes Apple, seriously, get a life.

Google Chrome 3.0

pthurrott — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:08:31 GMT

Just one year into its life and 2.8 percent market share later, Google Chrome hits the big 3.0...

Thanks to a full year of great feedback from our users, we're kicking off our second year of Google Chrome with a brand new stable release. This stable release incorporates many of the improvements and features that we tested out in our most recent beta release, including a 150% increase in Javascript performance since our very first beta, a freshly redesigned New Tab page, an improved Omnibox, Themes capability, as well as HTML5 features.

If you haven't tried Google Chrome recently, we invite you to give it a whirl. Many of the improvements in this release were inspired by the responses from users, so we're all ears if you have any feedback. If you're already using Google Chrome, you'll be automatically updated to this new version soon, but if you're itching to try this right away, download the latest version at google.com/chrome.

More info at the Official Google Blog ...

This new release of Google Chrome is faster than ever, as we continue to provide a modern browser that starts up quickly from your desktop, and is fast to load web pages and web applications.

Notably, we've improved by more than 150% in Javascript performance since our very first beta, and by more than 25% since the most recent stable release.

When you download and fire up this latest release of Google Chrome, you'll notice that the New Tab page sports a new look. We've redesigned the New Tab page so that it's easy to use and easily customizable, following some rigorous testing.

We've also improved one of the most used and loved features of Google Chrome, the Omnibox. Because it's a search bar as well as the web address bar, the multi-talented Omnibox helps you get to the sites you're looking for with just a few keystrokes. With this release, we've optimized the presentation of the drop-down menu and added little icons to help you distinguish between suggested sites, searches, bookmarks, and sites from your browsing history.

We're very excited about HTML5 becoming standard in modern browsers, and continued to add HTML5 capabilities to this stable release. We're particularly excited about the <video> tag in HTML5, which makes embedding videos in a page as simple as embedding regular images. The <video> tag also allows video playback without a plug-in.

After testing out Themes for Google Chrome in the beta channel, we're finally releasing it in this stable release. Themes allow you to deck out your browser with colors, patterns and images. We'll be bringing more Themes for the browser soon, but in the meantime, you can change the theme of your browser by visiting the Themes Gallery.

Going Google: It's not a slam dunk yet, sorry

pthurrott — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:22:00 GMT

Google has started up an interesting ad campaign in four major US cities (including Boston) in which it touts the benefits and simplicity of moving to Google Apps. Here's some info about this from the Official Google Blog:

Every morning, millions of people wake up to a very refreshing experience at work. They don't see "mailbox is full" errors in their email. They don't worry about backing up their data. They can get to any file they need from any computer, anywhere with Internet access and a browser. They can all access and edit the same documents and spreadsheets at the same time as their colleagues. They use Gmail and Google Calendar at work as fluidly and easily as they use their personal Gmail accounts. They video, voice and text chat with their peers globally as naturally as they send email.

The IT people at these companies and organizations don't waste time or money buying, installing or managing email servers. They focus on the smart, innovative stuff they want to work on, because they never have to bother with expensive and painful software upgrades, hardware compatibility issues or managing data centers. They have left many IT frustrations and costs behind and moved on to something better.

Here at Google, we have a term for the moment a company realizes there's a better way and goes for it: "going Google." Over 1.75 million businesses, schools and organizations have gone Google — including Motorola, University of Notre Dame, the Mercy Corps and many more — and each day, 3,000 more organizations join them. We want every organization to understand the benefits of going Google, so today we're telling the story in a new way. We're kicking off a series of outdoor billboards in four cities — Boston, Chicago, New York and San Francisco — that will change every weekday for the next four weeks. The billboards tell the story of an anonymous IT manager who gets so fed up with the typical IT status quo that his company eventually — you guessed it — goes Google.

Visit www.google.com/appsatwork to get more information about the benefits of going Google. Already gone Google? Tweet your story and check out our tools to help spread the word.

In keeping with my recent talk and Microsoft Gets FAMiliar with Cloud Strategy article, I should point out the following observations. Gmail and Google Calendar work primarily because they are simple and efficient. (Though they can be made less so with various "labs" add-ons now.) This is exactly why I use these solutions myself. They're just superior. Microsoft's web-based version of Outlook, Outlook Web Access (OWA) does not work because it is big, busy, and slow. It is in fact, too much like the desktop version of Outlook, which also does not work (for me at least). But at least OWA does get away from that "tied to one machine" issue that dogs desktop Outlook. So for online activities--email and calendar--I feel that Google has already won. Gmail and Google Calendar are better.

For productivity applications, there is Microsoft Office and then there are older versions of Microsoft Office. Nothing else compares, and that includes OpenOffice.org (and its many derivatives), iWork, and, yes, Google Docs. Microsoft, of course, is busy porting four Office 2010 apps to the web as part of Office Web Applications (also, awkwardly, OWA). Office Web Apps will be free. This solution is vastly superior to Google Apps. It's not even close.

So. Where does this lead us? Ultimately, the conclusion is the same as almost any debate about cloud computing. While some Luddites believe that desktop-only solutions (Outlook, Office) are all they'll ever need, and starry-eyed idealists (myself, certainly sometimes) believe that the future is all-cloud, the reality is that, today certainly, hybrids solutions are best. So for all those guys supposedly "going Google", I bet a huge percentage are using Gmail/Google Calendar in the cloud, but also using Microsoft Office locally. (Go figure, but that's what I'm doing.) It's not about idealism, it's about using the best solution. And right now, neither company--Google or Microsoft--has one across the board. Office Web Apps will keep people in the Microsoft ecosystem, at least partially. But it won't help the email/PIM picture at all. Nor will stem the flood of people who are, in fact, moving to the cloud.

Chrome OS to be free, Google says

pthurrott — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:03:34 GMT

The Google Chrome Blog comes to life again with the following tidbits...

Google Chrome OS is an open source project and will be available to use at no cost.

The Google Chrome OS team is currently working with a number of technology companies to design and build devices that deliver an extraordinary end user experience. Among others, these companies include Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba.

There are even some job openings if you're so inclined.

Worst blog post ever? Or worst blog ever?

pthurrott — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:46:28 GMT

I used to think of lazy bloggers as being the bottom feeders of the web. (You know, people who blog about absolutely nothing and then end the post with, "Thoughts?" or "Discuss!" in some weird bid to get an actual conversation going.) But this one takes the cake.

In a post to the new Chrome OS Leak blog, this guy posts supposed pics of the Chrome OS and then says...

I am putting my career and notability on the line in this!

He then proceeds to sign the post anonymously. LOL. Way to put yourself out on a limb there!

BTW, the pictures are lame too. :) But the post is worth reading, assuming it's real.

UPDATE: It's not real. What a loser!

Gmail out of beta

pthurrott — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:28:45 GMT

... as is Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Talk. Turns out businesses looking at Google Apps (which combines these and other products) balked when confronted with the Beta tag (which had been on Gmail for a silly 5 years). In typical Google fashion, they don't actually mention this salient fact, but instead make a joke out of it. I'll skip that and get to the meat of the matter...

Today, beta is a thing of the past. Not just for Gmail, but for all of Google Apps — Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and Talk.

And that's it. The rest of this post is utter inanity. Seriously, Google. We get it. You're frivolous. But come on.

Which is dumb, because Gmail is awesome. Start treating it as an adult would, and maybe businesses will be more interested. Just a thought.

Introducing the Google Chrome OS

pthurrott — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:38:01 GMT

Well, it's official. Google will take on Windows, not with some based on Android (which is dumb, and curious, in my opinion), but with yet another OS based on the Chrome browser. Here's the full announcement. The bolded bits are my work, as I think those are the core bits.

It's been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we're already talking to partners about the project, and we'll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. 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. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.

Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.

We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear — computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates. And any time our users have a better computing experience, Google benefits as well by having happier users who are more likely to spend time on the Internet.

We have a lot of work to do, and we're definitely going to need a lot of help from the open source community to accomplish this vision. We're excited for what's to come and we hope you are too. Stay tuned for more updates in the fall and have a great summer.

Posted by Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management and Linus Upson, Engineering Director

I'll have a news story up about this shortly...

Microsoft warns of Google Apps Sync for Outlook issue

pthurrott — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:27:10 GMT

Microsoft has responded, sort of, to Google's delivery of a free Exchange migration tool for Outlook users by trying to poke holes in the end result. More specifically, the company claims that the tool has a "bug/flaw" that causes Outlook search to stop working. Obviously, the solution is to stop using Outlook, but I'll let Google communicate that. Here's the post:

The Outlook team has recently been made aware of a serious bug / flaw with the recently announced Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook, and as a result we wanted to provide the Outlook user community with additional details around this problem as well as information on how to address it.

The installation of the Google Apps Sync plugin disables Outlook’s ability to search any and all of your Outlook data. When a Google Apps user installs the sync plugin for Outlook, the plugin modifies a registry key which disables Windows Desktop Search from indexing and providing search functionality for all Outlook data, not just the Outlook data being synchronized from GMail. Because Outlook search relies upon the indexing performed by Windows Desktop Search, Outlook search functions are broken as a result. It is also important to note that uninstalling the plugin may not fix the issue.

The presentation of this information is eerily reminiscent of the "Windows Secrets" newsletter (not to be confused with the "Windows Vista Secrets" books). At least Microsoft provides a solution.

Google Chrome gets even faster ... On Google sites ... According to Google

pthurrott — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:21:51 GMT

Google Blog:

We introduced Google Chrome back in September, and it's received a great response so far. Since launching, we've been working hard on adding the top requested features and making Google Chrome even faster.

Today, we are updating to a new version of Google Chrome that is faster than ever. JavaScript-heavy web pages will now run about 30% faster. See the chart below or compare scores yourself.

Additionally, we've added some useful features like form autofill, full screen mode, and the ability to remove thumbnails from the New Tab page.

If you're already using Google Chrome, you'll be automatically updated with these new features soon. If you haven't downloaded Google Chrome, get the latest version at google.com/chrome.

Interesting. Will have to check this out. :)

Google Sync

pthurrott — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:50:43 GMT

Oh my.

Microsoft emailed me today to explain that they have licensed intellectual property to Google:

Earlier today Google announced Google Sync, which is made possible by a patent license they obtained from Microsoft covering Google’s implementation of the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol on Google servers. Of note, Microsoft recently announced an expansion of its Exchange Active Sync Licensing Program, and licensees currently include partners and competitors Apple, Nokia, Palm, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

In addition, Microsoft has released the following statement, from Horacio Gutierrez, Deputy General Counsel and VP, Intellectual Property & Licensing at Microsoft:

"Google's licensing of these Microsoft patents relating to the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol is a clear acknowledgement of the innovation taking place at Microsoft. This agreement is also a great example of Microsoft's openness to generally license our patents under fair and reasonable terms so long as licensees respect Microsoft intellectual property. This open approach has been part of Microsoft's IP licensing policy since 2003 and has resulted in over 500 licensing agreements of the last five years."

Hm. So. What is Google Sync? According to Google...

Google SyncBeta for your mobile phone

Synchronize the contacts and calendar on your phone with your Google account.

Synchronize your Contacts with Google

Depending on your phone, get Google Calendar events to your phone

Make changes either on your phone or on the Web

Features

Synchronize your contacts. Get your Google contacts quickly and easily to your phone. With Sync, you can have access to your address book at anytime and place that you need it.

Get calendar alerts. Using your phone's native calendar, you can now access your Google calendar, and be alerted for upcoming appointments with sound or vibration.

Always in sync. Your contacts stay synchronized whether you access them from your phone or from your computer. Add or edit contact information right on your device or on your Google account on the web.

Nice!

Gmail gets offline support

pthurrott — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:23:19 GMT

Google has finally added Google Gears support to its Gmail Webmail service, allowing the service to be used offline. It’s still a Google Labs feature, meaning that it’s basically in perpetual beta, but still. Here it is.

So what can you do the next time you're bracing yourself for that long flight? Well, we've been cooking up a feature in Gmail Labs, our testing ground for Gmail features, that should help: offline Gmail. If you enable offline access, Gmail will load in your browser even when you don't have an Internet connection. You can read messages, star, label and archive them, compose new mail and more. Messages ready to be sent will wait in your Outbox until you're online again.

Remember, we're still working out kinks, which means you might see some issues that aren't completely ironed out. But this is a major step along the way. It's built on the Gears platform, which has already been used to offline-enable Google Docs, Google Reader, and a number of other third-party web applications.

So if you're feeling lucky, here's how to get started with offline Gmail:

Sign in to Gmail and click 'Settings'.

Click the 'Labs' tab and select 'Enable' next to 'Offline Gmail'.

Click 'Save Changes.'

In the upper righthand corner of your account, next to your username, there will be a new 'Offline' link. Click this link to start the offline synchronization process.

I don’t see this option yet, but I’ll keep looking.

The Plot to Kill Google

pthurrott — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:34:35 GMT

Wired posts an appropriately controversial story about Google's enemies and their (separate, as it turns out) efforts to slow down the Internet goliath. Chief among these enemies, of course, is Microsoft.

Tom Barnett, assistant attorney general for antitrust at the US Department of Justice was signaling not just that the Google-Yahoo deal was dead but that the government saw Google as a potential monopolist. It was a stunning blow. Now the company, whose brand is defined by its "Don't be evil" slogan, faced the prospect of being hauled into court on an antitrust charge.

It was cause for celebration in Redmond, where Microsoft spent six months on a massive effort, costing millions of dollars, to block the Yahoo/Google deal.

High-profile legal battles aren't fought only in the courtroom. Public perceptions matter. Momentum matters. Relationships matter.

For years, Microsoft had quietly seethed as Google waltzed into a position of immense power while charming regulators and politicians with an aura of gee-whiz innocence. Even when Google hired a small team of lobbyists and took the occasional swing at Redmond, the company's feel-good reputation remained intact.

"Google has badly misjudged how it is perceived," Microsoft advisor Michael Kassan reassured John Kelly, Microsoft's head of strategic relations. "We have a clear and easy story to tell."

It went like this: Google had 70 percent of the search advertising business, and Yahoo had 20 percent. Now those two companies were proposing a business deal. That would give advertisers less leverage to negotiate ad rates, and they would end up paying more.

Google's staff learned of a 94-page document titled "Google Data Collection and Retention," that had been circulating around Washington. The treatise listed all the ways that Google hoards user information. Google Checkout remembers credit card numbers. Gmail reads private email. Blogger saves draft posts. As one annotation on the document helpfully notes, Google's privacy policy "gives Google the right to retain personal information over the wishes of a user." Overall, Google is painted as a Big Brother with an insatiable desire for private data.

Traditionally, Google has fought off powerful rivals with masterful code. It took on the established search behemoths by creating more effective software. It bested Microsoft's and Yahoo's advertising efforts by inventing an entirely new ad platform. But the war today is being fought in Washington, in the press, and perhaps even in the Justice Department again. And these aren't battles you can win with engineers and algorithms.

So. What are we to make of this? Using the EU's ongoing (and increasingly insane) attempts at curbing Microsoft's behavior as a guide, it's hard not to see Google as a monopolist now or, at the very least, as a company on the cusp of monopoly. Our digital future is too important for these issues to be ignored. And it's pretty clear that Google's cheery public face has little to do with the realities of its business practices. I use and recommend several Google services. But I certainly do have my reservations about the company. They should at least be closely examined, early and often.