Breaking Windows

“Google takes its rivalry with Microsoft a step further”

(1) … announcement came as (2) … humble blog post on Google’s corporate website. By promising to launch a free operating system for personal computers (PCs) later this year, (3) … online giant is mounting a direct attack on Microsoft and its dominant Windows operating system. TechCrunch, a technology blog, reported the news as “Google Drops A Nuclear Bomb On Microsoft”.

The bomb has a very long fuse, however. (4) … first machines running Chrome OS, as the new software is to be called, will not be available until late next year. (5) … initial version will only be suitable for netbooks, small, cheap laptops that have proved popular of late. The idea is to provide (6) … compact and simple-to-use operating system that boots up in a few seconds and works securely and easily with (7) … web-based applications, such as social networks and online e-mail. (8) … software will combine Linux, the open-source operating system, with Chrome, Google’s browser.

Microsoft has not yet officially responded. Windows Vista, (9) … most recent version of its operating system, has not been a success. Its forays into Google’s main territory, (10) … web search and (11) … online advertising, have not brought (12) … big gains.

Yet it is much too early to count Microsoft out. It recently launched Bing, (13) … new search service, which has been well received. In October, around (14) … time when Google will make Chrome OS available, Microsoft will release Windows 7, (15) … much-improved next iteration of its operating system. (16) … firm is also spending

billions of dollars on a “cloud”—(17) … global network of (18) … huge data centers—which will rival Google’s infrastructure for web-based applications.

Will there be (19) … clear winner? Probably not in (20) … foreseeable future. That is (21) … good thing: the epic fight between the two giants promises to speed up innovation, which is what the recession-bound IT industry most needs.