Google Going Forward

[thatotherdude24]

This is something I've been curious about for awhile. I apologize if this is a repeat post or if it's discussed somewhere else, I was not able to find anything.

Where do you think Google is going to go moving forward? Google has changed so much since Android came around. Do you think Google is going to make a full blown desktop OS? By full blown I mean more than just running apps from an app store, actually running programs from discs, for example similar to Windows. Microsoft has done this but I don't think their ecosystem is as complete as Google's.

What do you think? Does anybody have any links to any interesting articles or info?

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[Web_Paige]

I'm not an insider so I don't have any juicy info, but here's a link with a cool slideshow:

Google Future Tech: 10 Coolest Google R&D Projects - CIO.com

 

[thatotherdude24]

I'm not an insider so I don't have any juicy info, but here's a link with a cool slideshow:

Google Future Tech: 10 Coolest Google R&D Projects - CIO.com

Are these all real? Some seem very unrealistic.

 

[outlooker]

Not all of them are "real". Some of them are prototypes, others are just products Google may consider developing in the future.

 

[Fairclough]

I think most companies are trying to diversify everywhere.

The driverless car isn't a new idea, Toyota has been working on it for awhile and my uni has been building prototypes of a driverless flying saucer (see automobile section of the forums(

- Android Central App. Remember courage is contagious.

 

[Sizzers]

Focusing on Android (which is primarily why we're all here) I'm in agreement with this Android is going to become more like Apple because that's what Google wants

I did find a slightly better take on this but can't locate it now, but you get the drift.

 

[JRDroid]

This is something I've been curious about for awhile. I apologize if this is a repeat post or if it's discussed somewhere else, I was not able to find anything.

Where do you think Google is going to go moving forward? Google has changed so much since Android came around. Do you think Google is going to make a full blown desktop OS? By full blown I mean more than just running apps from an app store, actually running programs from discs, for example similar to Windows. Microsoft has done this but I don't think their ecosystem is as complete as Google's.

What do you think? Does anybody have any links to any interesting articles or info?

Sent from my M470BSA using Tapatalk 4

I find it odd that your example of a "real" desktop OS is the ability to run programs off a disk. More and more laptops, and now even some desktops are shipping without CD drives and will never have a CD drive attached to them. They will get many of their apps from stores (both Windows and OSX have stores). I think it is more about what an OS can do than where it gets its applications. Android is on the verge of being a desktop capable OS. It is sort of facing a chicken or egg problem. No one is creating high power Android apps because there are no high powered Android devices. And no one is making high powered (like Intel i5) Android devices because there are no apps that would take advantage of the power.

 

[Algus]

Google is more like Amazon than Apple. Their hardware and OSes are considerably more open (and affordable). Services like iTunes, Amazon MP3, and Google Music seem like they are going to be on the front lines. Why would I switch services now that all my music is on Amazon MP3? Granted I use AutoRip so at least I have the physical CDs. I'll probably be locked into devices that Amazon supports from now on because of this.

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[thatotherdude24]

I find it odd that your example of a "real" desktop OS is the ability to run programs off a disk. More and more laptops, and now even some desktops are shipping without CD drives and will never have a CD drive attached to them. They will get many of their apps from stores (both Windows and OSX have stores). I think it is more about what an OS can do than where it gets its applications. Android is on the verge of being a desktop capable OS. It is sort of facing a chicken or egg problem. No one is creating high power Android apps because there are no high powered Android devices. And no one is making high powered (like Intel i5) Android devices because there are no apps that would take advantage of the power.

You must not have liked my comparison. No, I don't think that just because a computer doesn't have a CD drive makes it not a desktop OS. I understand it's becoming standard for laptops in particular to not have disc drives, nor on any of my computers do mine get used all that often. I used the CD programs example because I honestly didn't know what else to call it. As it sits right now I don't consider Android or ChromeOS a desktop OS because they can only run apps from the app store and can't be connected to a domain type environment where any user could log in to the OS as you would a Windows or Mac connected to the domain. Laptops that come without disc drives are still capable of running programs off discs via installation from USB. What I mean by will Google build a desktop OS is (I'm trying not to butcher this comparison also) will Google make the desktop OS that can be used in home and have business capabilities to be used in a business, that you can run full blown production programs such as Photoshop, Adobe Audition, Imgburn and (I know this will never even come close to happening) but a downloadable program such as iTunes....programs that don't come from an app store as of yet.

I agree with your power to apps comparison. I think that's kind of what WP is going through right now...developers won't build apps because there are no users but users won't come because there are no apps.

 

[thatotherdude24]

Google is more like Amazon than Apple. Their hardware and OSes are considerably more open (and affordable). Services like iTunes, Amazon MP3, and Google Music seem like they are going to be on the front lines. Why would I switch services now that all my music is on Amazon MP3? Granted I use AutoRip so at least I have the physical CDs. I'll probably be locked into devices that Amazon supports from now on because of this.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

You suffer from the Amazon version of iTunes locked.....in.....whatever the term is.

 

[garublador]

You suffer from the Amazon version of iTunes locked.....in.....whatever the term is.

Funny side note, when I buy MP3's from Amazon I download them to my phone and have them automatically sync to my iTunes on my laptop. On my phone I can choose from several different music players.

We're at an interesting point in computing right now. What were considered "standard" PC CPU's have been as powerful as they need to be for most home users for several years now and the types of architectures that were previously only used in mobile applications (e.g. ARM) will soon hit that level of power as well. More and more people are realizing that they don't need a "full blown" PC OS like Windows or OSX as long as they have a browser, document editor, spreadsheet editor and a finance program. There's still a big market for powerful desktop and laptops, but it's all business, science and students that really need them. MS is trying to make OS's that are both mobile friendly and home PC friendly simultaneously, and a lot of people don't like it. The main people that need PC OS's don't require the UI that a mobile OS would use, and the mobile users don't require the power of a PC OS.

Really all the mobile OS makers need to do is prepare UI's for home PC type form factors. You don't use a desktop PC or laptop like you do a tablet so the UI needs to be different. That's really just a launcher, so it should be easy to integrate into Android. Google doesn't need a ton of planning or strategy, just some good UI engineers on deck in case Android for laptops and PC's ever becomes popular. That's my understanding of how Ubuntu for Android is set up. One kernel and OS and different launchers that have access to the same data. IMO, MS and Apple should keep their desktop and mobile OS's separate to avoid Linux creeping up and taking away their business customers. If they try to do both mobile and desktop at the same time they'll drive up the demand for business type applications on Linux.

I don't think Google will try to make a different OS for desktop/business environments. That's what Linux is for. There's no use trying to break into that market. There's so much legacy software for the existing OS's that it will be very difficult to get developers to port all of that code to a new OS. The types of applications that they'd need to port are way beyond the complexity of anything in the Google or Apple app stores, too. I think Google will stick with the growing mobile market and ignore the shrinking desktop OS market.