Tidbit of the day: Analyst firm Frost & Sullivan predicts that there will be six billion wireless applications downloaded to smartphones by 2014. (BusinessWeek)
Headlines
-WSJ: Google Targets Microsoft’s Turf
-WSJ: Venture Capital Dispatch
-NY Times: In Chrome, Hints of a Real Rival to Windows
-NY Times: Bing, the Imitator, Often Goes Google One Better
-NY Times: The Incredible Shrinking Operating System
-BusinessWeek: Google’s OS: Will PC Makers Bite?
-Forbes: IBM’s Data-Crunching Cloud Plan
-Fortune: Google Chrome OS: Beyond the hype
-SF Chronicle: Top media execs wonder how Twitter will make money
-SJ Mercury: Google’s Chrome OS a direct shot across Microsoft’s bow
-TechFlash: LOLcats, Michael Arrington and the iPhone in a crazy summer day
-InformationWeek: Details Emerge In U.S. Cyber Attacks
-InformationWeek: Wyse Software Speeds Delivery Of Virtualized Desktops
-InfoWorld: Chrome OS: Cloud computing made real
-c/net: Analyzing Google’s Chrome OS strategy
Google Targets Microsoft’s Turf
Wall Street Journal
By Jessica A. Vascellaro, Don Clark
July 9, 2009
Google Inc.’s plan to build a computer operating system confirms what Chief Executive Eric Schmidt has downplayed for years: The Internet giant is challenging Microsoft Corp. in virtually all its businesses. The operating system, dubbed Google Chrome OS and announced late Tuesday, is designed to ouflank a giant: Microsoft’s Windows, which already runs the vast majority of the world’s personal computers. Google now offers rival products in many of Microsoft’s major businesses, except for videogame machines and heavy-duty commercial software.
Venture Capital Dispatch
Wall Street Journal
Blog by Scott Austin
July 9, 2009
Venture capitalists appear to be regaining some of the confidence they lost last year. According to the quarterly Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index, which polled 42 Silicon Valley VCs in June, these investors believe the entrepreneurial environment is improving and the worst of the financial crisis is behind them. The survey’s “confidence” index rose for the second consecutive quarter since hitting a five-year low in the fourth quarter. The survey’s author, Mark Cannice, associate professor at the University of San Francisco, said he expects a rising sentiment among VCs to lead to more investment in new companies….
In Chrome, Hints of a Real Rival to Windows
New York Times
By Ashlee Vance, Miguel Helft
July 8, 2009
If at times you’re frustrated with your PC — and who isn’t? — Google says it is working on a solution. Many people easily lose patience with PCs that are slow to start up and prone to crashing, vulnerable to virus attacks and constantly in need of fiddly updates. Hoping to turn that irritation to its advantage, Google is developing an operating system — the underlying software that handles the most basic functions of a computer.
Bing, the Imitator, Often Goes Google One Better
New York Times
By David Pogue
July 8, 2009
For the last 15 years, Microsoft’s master business plan seems to have been, “Wait until somebody else has a hit. Then copy it.” I know that sounds mean, but come on — the list of commercial hits/Microsoft knockoffs is as long as your arm. PalmPilot/PocketPC. Netscape Navigator/Internet Explorer. Mac OS X/Windows Vista. Apple iPod/Microsoft Zune.
The Incredible Shrinking Operating System
New York Times
Blog by Saul Hansell
July 9, 2009
Google’s new Chrome operating system is a challenge to Microsoft in several ways. It will offer a free rival to Windows, which can add $25 to $100 to the price of a computer. But it also represents a conceptual slap at the elaborate array of features that make up the soon-to-be-unveiled Windows 7.
Google’s OS: Will PC Makers Bite?
BusinessWeek
By Douglas MacMillan
July 8, 2009
Google came to master Web search and online advertising largely on its own. But now that it plans to create an operating system to compete with Microsoft’s widely used Windows, Google will have to play nicely with computer makers.
IBM’s Data-Crunching Cloud Plan
Forbes
By Andy Greenberg
July 9, 2009
For IBM, as for other IT vendors hyping the trend toward “cloud computing,” most real-world products have yet to match promises. Even as the company announced a lofty cloud computing road map last month, that plan–to centralize companies’ information technology resources in hyper-efficient data centers either on-site or on IBM’s premises–has only taken shape in tame Web software offerings and a testing platform for software developers.
Google Chrome OS: Beyond the hype
Fortune
By Jessi Hempel
July 8, 2009
It’s highly unlikely that the operating system Google announced yesterday — dubbed Google Chrome OS — will rocket to the heights of its chief competitor, Microsoft, right away. But it doesn’t really matter. In a world obsessed with all things Google, the new OS will certainly get its fair share of attention, and the frontal assault on Microsoft that it represents will serve at least as a great distraction to the tech behemoth.
Top media execs wonder how Twitter will make money
San Francisco Chronicle
By Michael Liedtke, AP Technology Writer
July 9, 2009
It turns out the media elite aren’t so different from a lot of less affluent folks: They think Twitter is a great communications tool, but can’t figure out how the online messaging service is going to make money. The recurring doubts about Twitter’s moneymaking potential cropped up again Wednesday as an exclusive media summit hosted by investment banker Allen & Co. got under way at the posh Sun Valley resort.
Google’s Chrome OS a direct shot across Microsoft’s bow
San Jose Mercury
By Elise Ackerman
July 8, 2009
Google’s dramatic announcement Wednesday morning that it is developing its own operating system seems designed to target Microsoft squarely in its Achilles’ heel: the shift to Web-based computing that threatens the very core of the software giant’s business.
LOLcats, Michael Arrington and the iPhone in a crazy summer day
TechFlash
Blog by John Cook
July 8, 2009
Thursday is shaping up to be a big — a very big — night for Seattle tech events. So big in fact, that we’re still not sure how were going to cover all of the activity. We’ll have to choose between Michael Arrington, LOLcats and the iPhone.
Details Emerge In U.S. Cyber Attacks
InformationWeek
By J. Nicholas Hoover
July 8, 2009
The distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack that has hit more than two dozen United States and South Korean government agencies and companies since the weekend does not make use of some of the latest developments in malware and was likely developed for this specific attack, according to researchers in possession of the malware source code.
Wyse Software Speeds Delivery Of Virtualized Desktops
InformationWeek
By Charles Babcock
July 9, 2009
Wyse Technology is offering software to speed up remote virtual desktops, regardless of what distance they are from the host’s data center. A global company with workers in Bangalore or Beijing frequently needed a data center nearby to be able to implement virtual desktops, due to latencies and packet loss in the Internet’s TCP/IP network. “The further you were from the host server, the lower the quality of the end user’s experience” was the old rule that prevailed in desktop virtualization, said Jeff McNaught, chief strategy office at Wyse Technology in an interview.
Chrome OS: Cloud computing made real
InfoWorld
By Neil McAllister
July 9, 2009
Chrome OS must be a dream come true for Google-versus-Microsoft fanboys. Rumors that Google would ship a desktop OS first flew back in 2006, but the project in question turned out to be for internal use only. Then came Android, and reports that Google’s smartphone OS would soon make the leap to more traditional PCs set the market abuzz again — although many remained skeptical. Now the announcement of Chrome OS should brush any lingering doubts aside.
Analyzing Google’s Chrome OS strategy
c/net
By Peter Glaskowsky
July 9, 2009
Google is developing an operating system of its own, based on the company’s Chrome browser and intended primarily for use in low-cost Netbooks. Now I’ll tell you why I think Google is doing it. Like any other commercial enterprise, Google is trying to make money. No secret there. But Google doesn’t make money the way other computer software companies do.
