So, let’s imagine that your company name has become a verb. Lucky dog! You’ve just reported revenues of $5.52 billion for the quarter ending June 30, 2009 – despite the global economic downturn. You’re a key player in the search engine market. You operate a Web browser. Your Gmail service gives users more than 7,300 MB of free storage and you’ve found a clever and popular way to map the Earth. How do you top that? Well, if you’re Google, you extend your reach just a little bit farther to see if you can shake things up in the operating system (OS) realm.
In early July, Google revealed that it is developing a free, open-source, Linux-based operating system that is using the Web as its primary development platform. The fast, lightweight OS will carry the same “Chrome” moniker as the company’s Web browser and when it debuts some time in 2010, it will join OS giants like Linux, Apple Leopard, and Microsoft Windows. Chrome will run on standard x86 chips and ARM chips, and Google is working with companies like Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba to bring Chrome OS-compatible devices to market.
Chrome is not Google’s first foray into the OS arena. Android, the company’s mobile OS, runs on the G1 phone from T-Mobile. Though there will be some overlap, Google intends to keep both systems with an eye toward market segmentation. Android, as the company explained in a recent blog post, is designed “to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks.” Chrome OS is “being created for people who spend most of their time on the Web, and [it] is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems.” The company also reports that it is “going back to 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.”
But will it?
Critics of Chrome say Google has brand power, but lacks driver ecosystem knowledge and the type of customer support staff that an OS requires. There are also privacy concerns. Undoubtedly, Google has given these and other criticisms a great deal of thought, so Chrome OS is not likely to end up as just another heap of code on the R&D scrap pile. Google knows that Chrome has promise, and the idea of using the Web as the primary development platform seems to build on the master plan of cloud computing. This, of course, raises an interesting question: Given the way people have embraced cloud-centric e-mail and social networking, is the Internet the future of the operating system? Stay tuned. Google may very well have the answer.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
States Compete for Efficiency and Opportunity – via Technology
This fall, all 50 states will have the opportunity to find help (in the form of cash grants) from the federal government to assist in developing their own authorities to map broadband availability. These federal grants are also available to assist in addressing broadband supply, demand and uptake rates in households, businesses and major community institutions in each state. Known as the Broadband Data and Improvement Act of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), between $1.3 and $3.8 million is available to each state depending on the competitiveness of their grant applications.
Why is this so important to citizens? Broadband deployment enables better access to health care and educational opportunities, while also enhancing economic competitiveness – among countless other benefits. For the first time, governments in all 50 states will be able to take a good look at how they interact with citizens as they contemplate greater broadband availability.
Here are some examples of how greater access to government services could help citizens:
Better, Faster, Cheaper is a new Web site of the Harvard University Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation, and aims to provide a forum for government officials to post best practices. There is currently a very robust ongoing column about technology and government, well worth perusing.
On his way out of office, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack worked with legislative leaders to develop an “Office of Lean” in the Department of Management. The goal of this initiative is to identify and eliminate wasteful or overlapping spending – saving money for the citizens of Iowa while simultaneously improving services. The bonus? Participating government departments are given the option to retain up to 50 percent of the identified savings.
Last year, Utah’s state government transitioned to a four-day work week and opted to close public buildings on Fridays. They realized an immediate annual savings of $4 million in energy costs alone. Utah has now moved more than 850 services to the Internet. According to state CIO Steve Fletcher, it has been very successful with citizens.
So again – how can technology help? ARRA grants across America will jump-start broadband and enable states to deploy this infrastructure faster; it will be a sight to behold when more private, government and nonprofit initiatives are funded to deploy broadband. This will also assist community anchor institutions (schools, libraries, hospitals, etc.) to become part of statewide broadband networks – whether these networks are run by government, nonprofit or private sectors.
We are witnessing a paramount shift in how governments deliver services – driven wholly by technology. But when you really boil it down, the citizens will also have a tremendous impact on the new and fresh ideas of how this will actually come to fruition. How can technology make your state government greener? How can technology reduce the cost of government? How can citizens find government more transparent with broadband access? These are your questions – but are they being directed to your government?
Why is this so important to citizens? Broadband deployment enables better access to health care and educational opportunities, while also enhancing economic competitiveness – among countless other benefits. For the first time, governments in all 50 states will be able to take a good look at how they interact with citizens as they contemplate greater broadband availability.
Here are some examples of how greater access to government services could help citizens:
Better, Faster, Cheaper is a new Web site of the Harvard University Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation, and aims to provide a forum for government officials to post best practices. There is currently a very robust ongoing column about technology and government, well worth perusing.
On his way out of office, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack worked with legislative leaders to develop an “Office of Lean” in the Department of Management. The goal of this initiative is to identify and eliminate wasteful or overlapping spending – saving money for the citizens of Iowa while simultaneously improving services. The bonus? Participating government departments are given the option to retain up to 50 percent of the identified savings.
Last year, Utah’s state government transitioned to a four-day work week and opted to close public buildings on Fridays. They realized an immediate annual savings of $4 million in energy costs alone. Utah has now moved more than 850 services to the Internet. According to state CIO Steve Fletcher, it has been very successful with citizens.
So again – how can technology help? ARRA grants across America will jump-start broadband and enable states to deploy this infrastructure faster; it will be a sight to behold when more private, government and nonprofit initiatives are funded to deploy broadband. This will also assist community anchor institutions (schools, libraries, hospitals, etc.) to become part of statewide broadband networks – whether these networks are run by government, nonprofit or private sectors.
We are witnessing a paramount shift in how governments deliver services – driven wholly by technology. But when you really boil it down, the citizens will also have a tremendous impact on the new and fresh ideas of how this will actually come to fruition. How can technology make your state government greener? How can technology reduce the cost of government? How can citizens find government more transparent with broadband access? These are your questions – but are they being directed to your government?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
