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Google Ogles Two Of Microsoft's Major Markets

Google says it is developing a personal computer operating system that will be an extension of its Chrome Web browser. It will be targeted at the rapidly growing netbook market. Google is also starting an effort to expand sales of its productivity applications like Gmail. Both efforts are aimed squarely at Microsoft, Elise Ackerman reports.

But just how worried should Microsoft be about the new OS? Not that much, writes Fast Company's Kit Eaton.  "Breaking into that market is going to be hard, as the average consumer tends to think of Windows first, and sometimes Macs second -- a Google PC will sound somewhat alien," he says.

The open-source software, called Chrome OS, will be available in the second half of next year and is designed "to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the Web in a few seconds," according to a Google blog post.

Google also dropped the "beta" label from applications like Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs yesterday as it aims to expand its competition with Microsoft Office by selling more aggressively to corporations. "We've come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn't fit for large enterprises that aren't keen to run their business on software that sounds like it's still in the trial phase," says Matthew Glotzbach, director of product management for Google Enterprise

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Read the whole story at San Jose Mercury News, Fast Company »

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