The Race For A Web-Based OS

So as must of us now know, the future seems to be this little thingy called the internet. You might have heard of it. But what many people (the average computer user for example) don't think about is the future of the operating system. Whether you wear the Linux cap, Microsoft pants or Apple shoes doesn't matter. This isn't about which one is best. This is about which one will truly embrace the internet as the future.

When most of us turn on our computers we wait for the OS to load. Again, regardless of the OS you use we follow the same basic few steps. Power on, wait, launch web browser. So why not power on and then surf? It seems simple enough, but yet no one has grasped it yet. Several companies are working on such a thing, but all of us reading and writing our blogs are still using a browser to do so.

In the browser wars we have many options. Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera, FireFox and now even Chrome. So when will the broswer replace the desktop? Google is undoubtedly the software king now, but even they remain tight lipped on the OS world. Chrome is a brand new broswer and they are set to launch Android for mobile phones, but the PC OS is still rumor and speculation. Apple has as much momentum as everyone, but they still favor the OS as a desktop, not a web based application first. FireFox might be the darling browser of the tech savvy, but it is also simply a browser. Internet Explorer, like Windows, is still king but many quesiton how long that can last. Windows 7 is already known/beleived to be a better version of Vista, so we know they aren't changing anything either.

If you are at all like me, the concept of a web browser being the OS is scary. The internet for all its awesomeness can still be a scary place. The idea of having all of my things on the internet all the time doesn't exactly appeal to me. I like the current generation of browsing, where I can choose to share, but by default my things are offline. I understand the move to blur the lines and make things easily uploadable, but I don't need to be primarily on the internet to type a paper or story. I similiarly don't need to be online to download my pictures from my camera, or to copy my CD to my computer. I don't want my hard drive online, I want my online online.

So the consensus remains that eventually computers will be primarily internet boxes and secondarily everything else. People view the current situation as a dying breed. Well I don't want it to die, I like things the way they are. I'm all for innovation, but I'm also for privacy and security. I have my doubts anyone can make a safe and effective web based OS. Because no matter how hard you try, people will mess things up.