So, it looks like Google is releasing Chrome OS, and everybody is all aflutter. That’s fine and all, I guess, something like this was bound to happen sooner or later. Google has their big fat mitts into everything else, so why not this, too?

As an old school geek, I myself am an operating system junkie. As soon as new Windows beta or some new version of Linux that is supposed to be “The best and easiest ever” comes out, I’m on it like Pete Cashmore at a Miami Vice costume contest. I’m there, baby.

See our previous news and views on Google Chrome OS

Google Founder Sergey Brin’s Vision on the Cloud

Chrome OS Isn’t an Anti-Microsoft, Anti-Apple Play [Gratuitous Backpatting]

Google Chrome Cloud OS for Netbooks and Beyond – Google Chrome OS

Hey Developers Download Google Chrome OS – Chrome OS Download

I Was One Year Early on Google Chrome News – A Look Back At My Prediction Last Year

… Even More on Google Chrome OS [Not A War]

Why is Google Launching an Operating System?

Seven Smart Pundits. Seven Retarded Editorials [Google Chrome OS]

Now that I’ve established my identity so to speak, I’d like to talk about a disturbing trend that has come along in regard to operating systems in our new web-centric era:

Have Some of You Guys Ever Read a Computer Manual?

When it comes to operating systems and actual core technology, nobody seems to know what in the hell they are talking about. More than that, nobody knows what an operating system is, and that’s pretty scary, considering we supposedly have all these “brilliant” tech pundits out there. Seriously, have some of you gone mad? It certainly seems that for a growing number of you out there, if someone were to disconnect your Cat5 cables, it would be akin to unplugging you from a ventilator in the ICU. You’d be helpless and dead.

The problem is that people today, either through, ignorance, apathy, or just plain stupidity, have come to confuse the difference between operating systems and applications. For the good of mankind, this must stop. (But then again, if it didn’t, some airhead “tech” bloggers would have to get real jobs).

I’m going to try to keep this light, because I don’t have all day, and I see no point in making acclaimed tech “geniuses” make pilgrimages to the Wailing Wall and doubting their self worth.

In the simplest of Playskool terms, an operating system is what makes your computer go. It makes calls to the hardware, and coordinates all the neat little activities that we do with our beloved ‘puters on a daily basis. Think of it as a four layered diagram. On the bottom is the hardware itself, and then comes the operating system, followed by the applications, and then finally, you.

Notice something there? The OS comes before the application. They are not on par with one another, and they are certainly not interchangeable. The chicken did indeed come before the egg, boys and girls.

Obviously, misconceptions started when OS’s become more advanced, and more applications were bundled with the basic installations. This lead to people somehow thinking that if they didn’t have this program, or that program, that they don’t have an OS.

Don’t believe me? Okay, let’s wind it back then. Who remembers DOS? (Disk Operating System) Anyone? Bueller?

Now what happened when you switched your computer on, it beeped, (which is caused by the BIOS, which is an OS, by the way) and DOS came up? That’s right. You got a big, fat C:\. You could do some basic things like move some files around and so forth, but that’s it. Everybody knew that DOS was the engine, and you had to install applications and such to finish building the car so you could drive it around, going where you wanted to go and doing what you wanted to do. Everybody knew it, understood it, and was fine with it.

There’s a Point to This Tirade

The reason why I feel this is important to mention is not only because of what Google is doing, but because of a certain argument that makes my blood boil:

“Well, in today’s day and age, the browser is an operating system.”

No. It. Isn’t. People who perpetuate this argument should never be taken seriously, ever again. This shows a fundamental lack of understanding of what I just explained. Case in point, if the browser is an OS, why do I install Firefox after I install Windows? Beats me. Why do I have to install “Firefox for Windows”? Gee, I don’t know. More than that, why does Windows, OS X, or Linux even have to enter into the equation? Why don’t I just wipe my PC, burn a copy of Firefox to CD and boot from it?

Oh wait, I know why.

Because it won’t frigging work! That’s why! You have to have something which drives the hardware to interact with the browser which uses the given protocols to connect to the Internet, and then interprets the code into the web pages you see. That’s how it works!

While I am not the biggest fan of cloud apps myself. While I do not hate them, I do believe that the people who use them and pontificate on them need to wake up and understand that the programs they access via their browsers are programs which have been installed on a remote computer which happens to be running some form of server operating system, be it Linux, BSD, Windows or whatever.

Now, having pre-established that the home user must install an OS before he can use a browser, and then coupling that with the previous paragraph, unless you are as dishonest than Bill Clinton on a dating service, there is no way anyone could conclude that the web browser is an OS.

Finally, before I go…

For the record, those of you who think Chrome OS is a giant leap forward, and it’s a warning shot to Microsoft and Apple, have obviously been drinking too much.

It’s obvious that Google’s approach is to create something lightweight for portable information access and connectivity, and that may be a leap forward purely from a user experience standpoint. Google’s market is the web and web-based products, not the desktop and laptop market themselves. If that wasn’t true, Google wouldn’t have made a bazillion dollars from a search engine, okay?

Chrome OS will do fine in the low cost consumer market, because we all know everybody unconditionally loves Google. (Well, except for Steven Hodson, but he hates everybody, and strangely, that’s why I love him).

But, aside from that, the idea that it will dent Microsoft or Apple is beyond laughable. Windows 7 is a huge success, and Microsoft is of course already working on Windows 8. As for Apple, while they do have a small market share in comparison, its rabid fan base makes the company a force to be reckoned with. Steve Jobs could defecate in a box, paint it white, jam a USB cable in it and call it "iPoop". You know what would happen? People would camp out for five days on the sidewalk in front of the Apple Store to buy the thing.

The “Big Two” are more than safe, because there will always be a need for high powered desktop computing, especially in today’s world of rich multimedia content production and gaming. If anyone thinks that people are interested in doing things like real time linear video editing within a browser while being held hostage by the quality of their Internet connection, they’ve watched too much Sci-Fi TV, and are totally misguided.

ChromeOS does indeed have a place, but it is not the second coming. I can say this with certainty because I understand the underlying technology of what makes everything work. Now, hopefully you do, too.