If you have been around awhile, you may recall that Netscape and Microsoft (Internet Explorer) were in competition with each other years ago.  I used to own (I paid for it!) Netscape 3.0.   That was 1996.  Yeap, got the disk in the mail, loved it.  Remember that exclamation point in the browser that meant you had an email?  Well, one day, I really don’t know when, Netscape decided it was going to “give away” it’s browser just like Microsoft was doing with Internet Explorer.  (This may have been when AOL purchased Netscape)  That was the day it began to “suck”.  And suck badly!  So much so… who the heck even has this browser installed anymore??    Do you remember what the law suite Netscape/AOL filed against Microsoft was about?   Microsoft had “apparently” made Internet Explorer “part” of the OS in Win98.  See more here from a cnet article from Jan 2002:  http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-820227.html

Isn’t Google OS a “browser/OS” ?  See a visual look at it here: http://www.pcworld.com/article/182628/google_chrome_os_visual_tour.html

Like I said… I heard it before…  seems folks want to hate Microsoft, but give a pass to Google.  Don’t get me wrong.   I like *both* companies.  If it wasn’t for Microsoft I couldn’t do half the things I have done with my business.  If it wasn’t for Google, I’d have no Gmail or Google Apps.  I find both companies to be outstanding.  But… like I said.. I’ve heard this before…   had Google gotten into this horse race back in the days of Netscape/AOL, then I’m sure Google would have been lined up in the law suite game too… how quickly we forget and move on…

I’m looking forward to what Google can do with an OS, but I don’t think it will be very competitive for years and years until it can get the drivers needed to run all the different types of hardware out there.   This is the same battle that Ubuntu has had to deal with.   Once Google OS can actually “compete” with Microsoft, we might see some real legal irony.

James