• TechCrunch/Silicon Alley Insider, Wednesday, July 8, 2009 1:46 PM

Google has dropped "the mother of bombs" on Microsoft in announcing the new Chrome OS, says TechCrunch's MG Siegler. The search giant even says as much in the first paragraph of its post: "the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no Web." Says Siegler, "Yeah, who do you think they mean by that?"

Launching the Chrome OS is "a genius play," he adds, because netbooks-the market that the Google OS will initially target-are built to run on Microsoft's Windows XP, which by now is an 8-year-old product.

Nevertheless, Google faces significant challenges with Chrome, says Silicon Alley Insider's Henry Blodget. For starters, he says, Google needs help from partners for this endeavor to be successful. You cannot enter this market expecting users to download your OS-it needs to come loaded on the machine. "This has been the big problem with Chrome so far, and Google needs to address it," Blodget says. Indeed, like most of Google's non-search related products, Chrome has been a flop thus far. "If Google wants to have a chance at success in this business, it needs to focus on it with the same intensity it once put into search," Blodget says.

He notes that disruptive technologies don't immediately replace existing technologies; in fact, they are usually far inferior to the incumbent in the beginning, appealing to the low-end of the market first. However, Microsoft will need to keep a watchful eye if Chrome starts to gain traction. Blodget says the software giant needs to "forget about competing with Google on search and start figuring out how to defend its crown jewels against this assault."

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