Is Google Stealing Ubuntu’s Thunder?
I’m not pressing the panic button. I think millions of people remain committed to Ubuntu Linux. But recent events — involving Google Chrome OS, Google Android and Moblin — make me wonder if Ubuntu faces far more competition than Canonical anticipated.
Consider the following developments:
- Google plans to ship a thin open source operating system — called Google Chrome OS — designed for Netbooks. Dell and Hewlett-Packard say they are interested in the operating system. Plus, many netbook providers were already taking a close look at Google Android, which initially targeted smart phones.
- Buzz has been building around Moblin, the mobile Linux operating system and application stack evangelized by Intel. It’s designed for very small screens.
- Microsoft’s Windows 7 is expected to launch in October 2009, and discounted pre-order sales for the operating system are strong.
- Large North American retailers like Best Buy and Staples seem to be less and less interested in Linux netbooks.
Google Chrome OS
But the real news today involves Google Chrome OS. As a universal brand, Google is in the unique position to garner instant attention from PC makers, retailers and netbook buyers.
Consider this:
- Does the typical consumer or small business owner know about Ubuntu and Canonical? In most cases, no.
- Would the typical consumer or small business owner be comfortable buying a low-cost netbook that was branded with Google software? In many cases, I suspect the answer is yes.
Again, I don’t want to press the panic button. Canonical and Ubuntu have serious momentum. And Dell insiders recently told me they remain committed to Ubuntu netbooks, notebooks and PCs.
But now Canonical finds itself competing against established technology titans (Microsoft, Apple and soon Google) plus entrenched Linux providers (Red Hat and Novell).
Nobody ever said making Canonical a profitable business was going to be easy. And perhaps that’s why Canonical has wisely been launching additional services and products involving storage (Ubuntu One), remote management (Landscape) and managed private cloud services.
Updated: July 9, 12:15pm eastern
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Bring it on! I think this is fantastic! The only, absolutely only loser in this game is MS. They hold 90%+ market share on the desktop, and a sizeable chunck on the other ends (embedded/MID and servers). Whatever happens they lose. Ubuntu is in the opposite situation.
Google opening up the scene, taking a piece of this pie with underlying open source technology and Linux kernel, it can only be good for Ubuntu and free software in general. This is a good day.
Leo I agree: Overall, it’s a GREAT day for consumers and businesses. Competition drives innovation and lower prices. And let’s give Microsoft credit: Competition is forcing Microsoft to deliver a solid Windows 7 release.
So yes, consumers are the big winners as they evaluate computer options from PC makers, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Canonical, etc.
But still: Canonical faces a growing list of major rivals. And the competition is going to be intense.
If Gmail took 5 years to get out of beta, I can’t see google os being ready this century!
Nicholas: You just scored some points with that comment. Great one. Thanks for the reality check, and friendly reminder that Google isn’t perfect.
I think that in the long run this might be a boon for Canonical. Ubuntu has huge momentum, but the market needs to find a way to introduce the idea that there are other options in a big way before Canonical can really take off.
Google will push a whole new idea into the market in a big way. This is exactly what Linux needed. Ubuntu/Canonical will benefit from market awareness.
Another thing that Canonical can do is distinguish itself as a provider of non-web-based applications. It can claim better performance and usability off the grid. These are things that the new Google OS is going to have differences in.
I’m not an expert on this stuff though, so I could be very wrong.
~Pat
Interesting: A blogger on CNet/ZDnet is taking sides and choosing Ubuntu over Google Chrome OS.
Joe:
What a provocative headline. I think its a bit overboard saying that Google is stealing Ubuntu’s thunder as Google efforts appear to be complete separate…they aren’t even based on Ubuntu are they? I mean its pretty ironic trying to paint Google as a thief when Ubuntu’s value is primarily derived from the value of the work done in the Debian community. If anything Ubuntu is trying to steal Google’s thunder by providing Android emulation in Ubuntu. That sort of makes your headline that more ironic…don’t you think? Whatever Google is doing to gain mindshare it is not coming at the expense of Canonical or Ubuntu. If Google is stealing anyone’s thunder its Mozilla’s. Canonical is just going to be collateral damage if it doesn’t figure out how to be in a symbiotic relationship with Google (ie the Android emulation effort).
And you have to remember, neither netbooks nor the cloud were something Canonical was shooting for when it started out to build a business. These opportunities sprung up and Canonical shifted business strategies in order to chase after them..quickly..before the market opportunities matured enough to be attractive for more established players. I’m sure Shuttleworth knew competition would show up in these markets. He’s a bright guy that Shuttleworth. What he probably miscalculated was his own ability to throw money away at an area in exchange for creating a strong first mover advantage.
And there’s nothing wrong with that. Being nimble and aggressive about identifying new opportunities has its strengths. But it has its disadvantages as well..especially if your business management lacks commitment to any long term strategy with attempts to consolidate strengths and cherry-pick opportunities. How many different directions can Canonical chase after simultaneously and be competitive in the face of more focused competition in any area? By going after netbooks and the cloud has Canonical spread itself too thin to rally against serious competition in any area? Landscape has been around for a while now, is Canonical prepared to go on record with sales numbers or growth rate info associated with paying landscape customers?
Perhaps the reality is, Canonical and its current management team, suffer collectively from business plan ADD and can’t focus on any one area more for more than a year without feeling compelled to switch focus to something new. If Canonical were a more traditional startup, with venture capital funding, instead of a one man crusade to empty his personal bank accounts, I think we’d have seen a more focused and orderly business plan unfold over the last five years. As it stands, can anyone really point to where Canonical’s strengths really lie?
-jef
Its groundbreaking idea from Google web OS and they are planning to wipe out Windows in a most strategic manner. Google clearly pointing to Microsoft when they say “The operating systems that browsers run were designed in an era where there was no web”. But there are few questions which are unanswered like what will happen when we will go offline in Chrome OS? Can we use offline applications like iTunes or Photoshop? Can we run third party applications? How they are going to make profit from it ? I am also bit concerned whether Chrome OS will be embraced by enterprises as it is open source and web based as there is always a security issue….Just wait another thought can Chrome OS will become a global hit especially in small countries where internet is very fickle. But leaving these things aside its going to be win-win situation for the users and it will be interesting to witness the war between giants.
Jeff: Your points are well taken about Canonical potentially spreading itself thin.
But I stand by the question/headline: Is Google stealing Ubuntu’s thunder?
The reason: Six to nine months ago, it seemed as if Ubuntu was going to be widely available on netbooks in most major US retail locations. And to Canonical’s credit, the company has won some impressive OEM netbook deals (Dell, and a customized HP interface).
But fast forward to the present and most major media outlets (from tech sites to The Wall Street Journal) are buzzing about Google making a netbook move.
All the noise is around Google… And consumers/customers already know the Google brand.
Google’s OS is a great leaping off point for new linux users. I’m not one hundred percent sold that the browser only OS will prove popular, and Google’s betting pretty heavy on cheap mobile data plans. I’m not sure the larger carrier’s are that eager for Google to get it’s nose under the tent (Verizon & AT&T have no publicly released plans for an Android handset, and the Android handset, the HTC Hero, that is the most appealing sports no Google at all).
I think many users that buy a Google OS will want something more. All the better for a more mature Ubuntu Moblin or UNR.
“All the noise is around Google… And consumers/customers already know the Google brand.”
Exactly the point I was trying to make, but I took it a slightly different direction. Google will get all the press, because they are a big box company. Once the cat is out of the bag, more people might see that the alternatives are not as hard to come by and try something else. Ubuntu has shown remarkable versatility in the relatively small Linux market already. This I think is because they adapt and change headings so often.
As far as spreading Ubuntu too thin, I have this to say. Microsoft tries to sell Windows as a big umbrella item. You need a server, Microsoft will try to sell you Windows. You need a desktop… Windows… Laptop… Windows… palm device… Windows (albeit a heavily modified one). Ubuntu has to compete with this mentality. Redhat is content with just the server market, Novel wants business markets only. Canonical is the first company to truly go after Microsoft in ALL aspects of Operating System use. It isn’t hard to adapt Linux to a particular use. That’s the beauty of Open Source. The only thing it’s missing is the marketing. Canonical is trying to change that.
~Pat
I think Patrick put very clearly what I failed to imply in what I said in the first post. In short: Google may help increase Linux’ market share from a few % at best (today), into 30% to 50%. Ubuntu has now a large chunk of a little piece of the cake. If it can keep a sizable chunk of half the cake it will have grown enormously.
Patrick: In Comment 11 you essentially articulated the reason we (Nine Lives Media Inc.) launched WorksWithU. In the 1990s, I covered Windows 95 and Windows NT for InformationWeek, tracking Microsoft’s push beyond desktops.
Fast forward to the present, and Canonical is attempting that same push far beyond desktops. We continue to believe that Canonical will carve out an Ubuntu niche on mobile Internet devices, netbooks, notebooks, PCs, workstations, servers, appliances — and now the cloud.
But Canonical’s journey, I believe, will become more challenging as Google gains OEM mind share with Chrome OS.
Thanks again for all the comments above. It’s ok to disagree, especially when the conversation is filled with so many informed, strong opinions about the potential upside/downside for Canonical and Ubuntu.
No doubt I’ve been wrong about a great many IT trends over the past 2 decades… And Leo’s point in comment #12 certainly could come true…
Neither Google nor Canonical are OS companies. They are both Linux services companies. That is to say, they sell services to clients built on their own implementations of a Linux OS.
The company the does the best job of selling those services to their chosen markets will grow the most. But not necessarily at the expense of the other.
Remember in the open source world we collaborate and compete at the same time. Everybody benefits and everybody does good business as a result.
So really the only losers will be those that don’t participate in community collaboration. Of course it’s pure coincidence Microsoft has just remembered it’s supposed to be collaborating to make systems interoperable instead of suing companies like TomTom. So now Microsoft is in the sharing mood it’s okay to use Mono.
Nothing to do with keeping proprietary closed source software relevant. Nothing at all.
Aikiwolfie: Agreed, Linux providers like Canonical are actually services companies. But there’s a key challenge. Microsoft’s core business model may be under attack but the company remains one of the most profitable entities on the planet. At the same time, it’s hard to find profitable open source companies.
i think its great, the fact is with the buzz its getting already and it only being announced this shows the interest is there, secondly people dont like getting viruses or buying anti viruses or software for that matter, google will no doubt advertise itself this is the most powerful form of advertising you can get since nearly everyone who has used a computer has used google, they will no doubt make it simple enough for your granny to use, look at their apps they have a history of focusing on simplicity because it just works! and its straight forward, i cant see many linux advocates switching completely due to google collecting data which some have assumed it will we already know the chrome browser does, i for one will try it but il still be sticking with my Ubuntu
, google may take a nice slice of m$’s pie in the netbook market, however it will be a long time until it will be ready on the desktop , 1. because it will have to focus on offline apps and will have to be compatible with existing hardware eg ipods cameras ect , 2. they will have to take users on limited bandwidth and the cost it would take to users in some countries to run an os online, im sure there will be other delays in getting it on the desktop, Ubuntu and Canonical will have to make to most of this time to develop a stronger foothold in the markets as the linux market share increases!, just my two cents , great opinions expressed so far!
Which is exactly why we shouldn’t be bolstering Microsofts’ platform Joe. They’re big enough to stand on their own.
However if the OS becomes irrelevant as it largely is in the open source world since software is either written in scripted languages with support across multiple platforms or the source code is available for porting and recompiling. Then Microsofts largest profitable product really comes under threat. Which is why the “Cloud” and services are so important to open source companies. The need for Windows compatibility is what ties us to Microsoft.
While it might be hard to find profitable open source companies that are all open source from top to bottom. It’s not hard to find companies profiting from open source software and projects.
Massive global corporations like IBM are doing it. Google are doing it. Android is a Linux OS. At it’s heart is a Linux kernel. Even Apple who jealously guard their products from tampering benefit from open source projects and in kind find ways to return the favour.
In a world where it’s the services we receive that matters, there’s plenty of room for Chrome OS, Moblin, Ubuntu, Red Hat, Novell, Apple and all the rest.
Look at it this way. Nobody gets bent out of shape over which OS their DVD player is running. Most people don’t even realise their DVD player has an OS. And that includes technically savvy folk to. It’s just never an issue.
So is Google stealing Ubuntus’ thunder? No. You can’t steal something you have the right to compete for.
Google aren’t particularly badly behaved. Their core business is still advertising. They attract attention by being useful. If only more companies went out of their way to deliver things people actually want instead of delivering things they can push.
Competition’s good in the proprietary corporate world, but I’d rather see Google work WITH Mozilla and Canonical instead of competing against them.
I wonder why people keep comparing the forthcoming Google OS, with Ubuntu.
Ubuntu’s flavour for netbooks, UNR is uber crap ATM.
It needs much improvement to be called a decent choice for netbooks. Also the Google OS will only aim at netbooks, not every arch on the planet like Ubuntu does.
And FWIW id rather see Google pown Ubuntu, at least in the netbook market. I trust Google way more than Canonical.
I think that’s really fantastic. Open source is competition against proprietary software. Probably Canonical will develop some areas and Google others. At last, the open source will merge the best and we’ll get a great Ubuntu OS and an amazing Google OS.
Greg: WorksWithU covers Ubuntu at all hours. We’ve focused heavily on Canonical’s netbook strategy. So it was natural for us to raise the question Chrome OS’s implications for Canonical and Ubuntu.
Thank God Google is a Python-centric company. The last thing we need is more Mono being shoved down our throats in a mainstream distro.
Point 9 at TechRadar’s article on this subject brings up a really good point. Google’s big splash in the pond will likely attract more developers to the Linux platform, making things easier and more diverse for consumers. While it will be direct competition with Canonical/Ubuntu, ultimately this will make the whole Linux ecosystem more friendly to consumers.
Who cares. I hope Google crushes Ubuntu. I’m so tired of this fanboy OS crap. Ubuntu sucks for anything more than a newbs toy. Get over it. Who cares if were gaining desktop share, bla bla bla.. All these copy cat distros are the problem. And why would google “work WITH Mozilla and Canonical instead of competing against them”
There tends to be a lot of buzz over Google and its products as we all know. Chrome got lots of people excited but hasn’t really become the number one browser for all that many FF users yet as far as I’ve seen. Instead they may have influenced the direction of browser development in a good direction. Much is left to time to sort out.
Now their approach to an OS looks to me to do the same thing. The attention it will receive should be positive and may influence OS development–which would be a net plus for us all. And I welcome it, but its major shortfall IMHO will be its reliance on the web.
When I bought my latest laptop, I kept it small and portable. I might have been happy with a netbook, but the form factor of a small laptop seem better to me. That aside, how often do folks who travel with their portables find themselves without connection? Sure if your travel always includes stopping at a hotel then you can probably stay connected for the most part, but not always. And then we come to the thought of storing your all your data on someone else’s server–something I still am not comfortable with for security and safety reasons. Finally there is that nagging little thought that Google’s revenue comes mainly from people who want to know more about our habits–advertisers. If there is one group of folks I don’t want gathering any more statistics from my data, its advertisers.
Those are the reasons I don’t think an OS based in the web is such a great idea. I use my laptop disconnected a lot and one where the apps were on the web would be a better doorstop than laptop.
I think all the hype over the netbook garbage and netbook os is annoying. Almost as annoying as all the hype around ubuntu. When it comes down to it, a netbook is a netbook, and the internet is the internet. I can’t run all my apps on the internet. Logic control programming, hmi programming, games, personal documents ect. are all things that have to, or I want running on my own local machine. And how many people have the bandwidth to support this kind of web enabled OS anyway. Can you imagine your OS having to download every mp3, video, document to your computer before you can work with it, the speed would be horrible, effecting my productivity. I might as well take a gig of ram out of my machine and I’ll get the same speed and performance. These tiny toy laptops will never replace full featured desktop systems, nor will web enabled apps ever replace desktop apps. I have a netbook running Mandriva 09.1 and its great when your on the move. But when I need to do real work, its done on my mandriva desktop. Let google make its OS. It will be great for some people who live on a tiny screen on the internet. The rest of us should concentrate on our full featured Linux systems that do the real work.
and why all the hype anyway. its just another linux distribution.
Bill: When Google speaks, people listen…
Why do people think that it is going to take Google 5 years. Google has been running their own version of Ubuntu (goobuntu) in house for ages. I am sure this has been in development for a couple of years.
I think people have been resistant to linux because it has been too geeky and too techy hands on. Google is going to develop a user friendly app and consumers will be open to testing it because it has the google brand name on it.
For the average user who needs basic apps this is going to bring huge savings. 125.00 for an operating system, $60-125.00 for an office suite just to start. Plus you won’t need AV since it is on a linux platform.
I think this is a very healthy condition for us all. Again, it’s all about choice! With Google throwing Chrome OS into the OS market, now consumer will have more options to choose. ^^
Patrick:
You want to draw parallels between Microsoft’s business strategy of embrace and extend and Canonical’s lack of focus? Fine. Let’s do that. I encourage you to take an historical deep dive all the way back to the founding of Microsoft as a company and create a timeline of events and chart the course of that company’s expansion into new areas. I think what you’ll find is Microsoft moved into new areas like the server market from a position of strength only after they had developed a core competency in the desktop area and only after their core strengths were well understood both inside and outside the corporate fenceline.
Where is Canonical core strength at the moment? Other than Shuttleworth’s deep pockets I mean. What exactly is Canonical as a business good at selling as a product or service? Canonical sure isn’t talking about what their existing core strengths are. Canonical spends most of its time constantly talking about new initiatives and never the strength or growth of any particular existing revenue effort year to year or quarter to quarter.
Google on the other hand, has a base of strength in their search revenue business from which to expand from. Everything they are doing in terms of browser and operating system work is being built around their proven and reliable core strength as a profitable web services company. Just as MS moved out from its desktop computer operating system strength.
Google has a clearly defined axis of business interest around which they can use to discriminate between good opportunities and bad. This is exactly what Canonical is lacking at the moment..a core competency…a reliable prism through which to view business risks. Canonical is able to swing around wildly and try to do everything at once, because every possible choice on what to spend money developing is equally risky..equally bad. Which may sound like a good idea to you. But being a jack of all trades and a master of none doesn’t necessarily win in the face of serious competition when customers are looking for value for money and specialized services.
What is Canonical actually good at? Where is Canonical’s revenue or paying customer base strongest? 4 years ago before netbooks and the cloud existed, Canonical had a business plan didn’t they? Have they seen that business plan through? Or is Canonical’s plan essentially to reinvent its business plan every year?
-jef
[...] http://www.workswithu.com/2009/07/08/is-google-stealing-ubuntus-thunder/ [...]
Hasn’t it already been done: http://www.thinkgos.com
This is the OS that was famously shipped with the $200 Walmart computers. It runs Google desktop and already does just about everything a netbook user would need. The only thing missing is feedback being sent directly to Google so they can serve up ads.
I remember back in the day when I was tinkering with a firefox live cd derived from knoppix that would boot straight into a browser and used minimal resources – could boot off a 64MB terribly old PIII. It was serving its later years as a public Internet terminal and eventually as a great Ubuntu samba server.
You’d be surprised how many people think that laptops work like cell phones complete with Internet service plans and so on — and people actually ask “how much do you pay to use your laptop,” and what kind of plan are you on”. Bait for “the man” anybody?
Perhaps we should be watching Google’s moves, possibly waiting in the wings for Google to take radical and controversial directions, that give the market a jolt. This could be helping us to take Linux development to new heights and new directions. As with the firefox live cd is proof that we’ve been here before, and perhaps you all remember there was an Ubuntu derived distro called gOS Space designed for the netbook.
I don’t think we should sell ourselves short. We might be fan boys but we most certainly are ahead of the game, we are risk takers and innovators.
You people fail to realize that this operating system is built on top of linux; all google has to provide is a shell–google chrome–on top of it and add the various google docs and etc on top. It’s not that radical and it’s not going to take them years. You can bet it’s already done and has a couple of rough edges to smooth off and plop it’s going to go on a dell netbook. Get a grip, google isn’t comprised of stupid internet junkies, they are smart internet junky business people.
@dude:
A web browser can’t negotiate wireless or vpn or 3g modem connections. A web browser can’t print to your local network printer. It can’t connect to your digital camera or read your memory card and import photos into picasa. All of these activities sit above the kernel but below the web browser.
There is no way that Google’s web browser over a kernel approach can be as simple as the initial announcement and appeal to a general consumer audience. There will be a desktop-like layer of plumbing and UI to deal with hardware. Most of that existing plumbing for linux distributions assumes that the X windowing system is available. If Google really plans to get rid of X, and replace it with something else, they’ll need to re-invent several other pieces of functionality as well at least for the UI. The most interesting things about Google’s announcement are the things Google hasn’t said about its plans for a new windowing system.
Sadly, Google tends to do large code drops instead of having an open development process leading up to product launch. If that trend continues, we probably really won’t be able to gain an intimate understanding of what their windowing technology is until its shipping on devices.
-jef
google OS will help linux in general
it will steal windows users
the code , patches goes back to the linux/OSS community
Hardware makers develope for linux (even thou they will have special binaries packages for google OS)
everything i do in ubuntu i can do it in fedora (sometimes with a bit more tinkering of couse), so i see no difference with this new google distro.
they just need to workout some of linux’s rough edges and get some much needed support to the community
i can only see ubuntu gaining more users. Googles gets em from windows and into the linux world and from there on many will stick with chrome os or choose another distro like ubuntu.
by supporting google u will be supporting linux (some without even knowing it..)
fishing time
[...] Certains y voient le chant du cygne pour Microsoft, ou encore une menace pour l’open source [en] et les distribution Linux dont notamment Ubuntu censée faire les frais du futur OS de Google. [...]
[...] ou encore une menace pour l’open source [en] et les distribution Linux dont notamment Ubuntu censée faire les frais du futur OS de Google [...]
Maybe Ubuntu is Google Chrome Os….
The arrival of multicore ARM-based netbooks (or plain laptops?) with powerful graphical chips (read Nvidia Tegra) could become the real launching platform for GoogleOS and desktop Linux in general. They will be super cheap and utterly useful – what else is needed for the next Eeepc-ish boom? I can’t wait for what the next months will be bringing… and wonder if Google is somehow deliberately synching their OS release with the arrival of ARM machines. Just a thought.
I don’t really think google’s os will be competing with Ubuntu. Honestly, the health of Ubuntu is not about how many people use it. They aren’t selling it to consumers, they aren’t making a profit. Its free. Ubuntu, like many other distrobutions, is about the developers who collaborate to make the software. I’ve been using Ubuntu for a long time now. Why would I want to switch to a google Os? Ubuntu has more to offer to me. Look at all the users who buy a netbook like the eee pc and take off the linux that comes with it and install Ubuntu. I took off the Xp that came on my netbook and put on Ubuntu, because it has more to offer to me than Xp does.
No, I think that google’s Os will be a good thing for open source. They may not be using X. So what. Lets see if they contibute code to improving the kernel. If they can do something like improve hardware support for wifi devices, this could be great for us all. The more people and resources we have contributing to the kernel, the better off we all are.