About Google's highly anticipated Chrome OS operating system? Right, it's destined to be a total failure. So says InfoWorld, which, along with a gaggle of other press, were given a sneak peek of Chrome OS at Google HQ on Thursday.
Wait, no, it actually appears as though Chrome OS will do just fine, or at least according to Jared Newman at PC World. "Google's Chrome OS doesn't signal the apocalypse for Apple and Microsoft, but that doesn't mean the operating system won't succeed when it arrives next year," he writes. "Just like the Chrome Web browser, Google's carving out a small slice of the market for people who want the company's buzzwords of speed, security and simplicity."
Sorry, no, back up, Newman's colleague at PC World, Tony Bradley, is absolutely convinced that Chrome OS is dead in the water largely because Google's "web-centric, cloud-computing perspective on the world" doesn't jibe with reality, as evidenced by the fact that Flickr will never be Adobe Photoshop. "If it didn't have the word 'Google' at the front, nobody would care and most people would simply dismiss the effort," he insists. "Chrome OS will be little more than a niche product and it begs the question 'why bother?'"