Comments on: What does Google’s new OS mean for games?

By: Mrga

Mrga — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:00:03 +0000

Why are you all against Google OS. I think that is a good idea. Something new, plus they said it is going to be OpenSource.

By: Rog

Rog — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:32:33 +0000

YouTube is all set to roll out for http://www.youtube.com/html5

The issue with no baseline codec for HTML 5 doesn’t prevent them from just using H.264 as they’ve licensed it.

I’m fairly certain that Google has no interest in Flash on their OS.

By: Andrew Wooldridge

Andrew Wooldridge — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:54:49 +0000

I think one thing that will make a big difference in games on an OS like this will be if tool makers like Adobe or Google create some kind of easy to use game engine for HTML5 making use of the strengths of the web and things like SVG and Canvas. Almost like a Dreamweaver meets RPGMaker. …

By: Raph

Raph — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:50:46 +0000

Netbooks have hardware at least as capable as most smartphones and in most cases, a lot more; and smartphones run plenty of modern games — just ones designed for the platform. And it may be that the same needs to be true of netbooks: games FOR netbooks.

By: Yukon Sam

Yukon Sam — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:59:47 +0000

You could serve up compiled JavaScript. I’ve never tried it myself — never wrote any JS code I considered unique enough to be worth protecting, nor a host that would support it. But the option exists.

By: Spot

Spot — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:07:35 +0000

If Google IO showed us anything, it’s that Google is setting their minds on browser native implementations, as opposed to plug-ins. While Flash is greatly considered a requirement these days, it would not completely surprise me to see Google push for highly efficient HTML5/Gears support over Flash.

However, JS will never completely do for me without the ability to provide some code obfuscation to preserve IP. Although it’s useless even speaking of, considering my two year old niece could decompile an swf.

By: Rob Hale

Rob Hale — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:54:31 +0000

Speaking as an avid Netbook user: Games are a non-issue. I can’t run games on my Netbook if I wanted to even using Windows. It just doesn’t have the power required to do such a thing. The best I can manage is Minesweeper.

What I actually want from my Netbook is Web access, email, instant messaging, skype and OpenOffice.

Windows 7 is too bloaty and uses too much memory and CPU on my Netbook (it is lovely on my Desktop PC though) and the Linux distros are generally more complicated than I actually want.

Complaining that an OS designed for hardware that can’t run any games made in the last decade can’t run any games made in the last decade is fairly nitpicky.

By: We Fly Spitfires

We Fly Spitfires — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:00:55 +0000

It’s very ambitious of Google to launch a OS. They obviously think the web is the future – maybe it is, maybe it isn’t but it’s certainly a big gamble for them. Android wasn’t the smash hit they hoped for so this may never amount to anything but if anyone can push through a new OS though, it’s Google.

By: Enno

Enno — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:34:02 +0000

Also, Google’s new Virtual World is going to be the next big thing. Oh, wait. It’s dead already you say?

By: Derek Licciardi

Derek Licciardi — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:50:13 +0000

What I have yet to hear is the value proposition of the Google OS. It’s an OS that runs Chrome. Chrome is not very different from Firefox or Internet Explorer for that matter. What does the OS + Chrome buy you that you can’t get from Windows XP or Windows 7 on the same machine? It has to buy you more than simply the feature list because you get an entire library of Windows software for the XP/Win7 install in addition to stable drivers for all the peripherals you’ll use your netbook with.

I can’t see this taking off in any real sense unless some value proposition is achieved. That value proposition isn’t at all clear right now meaning this is nothing more than an interesting story from Google. Their success depends upon the Value Proposition versus the software you have to give up and the driver support for all the peripherals you’ll use with a netbook. I’m not convinced at all it will succeed.