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Google's New OS Will Offer Remote Desktop Capabilities

42 points by sound 16y ago

tybris 16y ago
That's a fairly standard linux feature (X+SSH), isn't it? Seems like Chrome OS going to be the long awaited commercialization of Linux for the desktop.
- nudded 16y ago
  An OS that only runs on SSD's? commercialization of Linux for the desktop? I don't agree with you on this one.
- pjscott 16y ago
  A small note: X+SSH isn't very fast. Other software like VNC or NX generally work better, and Google wrote an open-source NX-compatible server: http://code.google.com/p/neatx/ http://code.google.com/p/neatx/
- dRother 16y ago
  I think MacOS is close enough to a commercialization of Linux for the desktop to count as that. (I realize it's not based on Linux of course, but the result is very similar).
stcredzero 16y ago
Google is clearly making a play for the enterprise using small to medium businesses as a beachhead. It has been noted here that the world's most widely used database is Microsoft Excel. This is because enterprise software is about top-down control of workflow and processes -- it's solidified corporate policy/politics! As a result, enterprise software sucks. In order to work around maladapted restrictions imposed by enterprise software, the most productive workers take their processes and automation into spreadsheets like Excel, where they can adapt quickly to changing conditions. Often, the most successful of these processes are then built into enterprise applications, to become the new status quo. Google wants small and transitional medium sized businesses to outsource much of their IT to them and to run their spreadsheets on Google's apps. Google hopes that this will allow them to do with ad-hoc processes in spreadsheets what they did with web links: organize and unify a huge collection of disparate linkages to create value. When a company has all of its spreadsheets in Google apps, users will be able to link data in disparate spreadsheets. This network of links will be subject to analysis. New business processes will be absorbed from the ad-hoc spreadsheets into the enterprise more quickly and efficiently. This will have tremendous value to companies, especially small and medium sized ones, some of which will grow into giant conglomerates. If this works, Google stands to dwarf the achievements of Microsoft. EDIT: This remote desktop stuff is just a selling point in support of larger goals.
- ryanhuff 16y ago
  I don't subscribe to your theory that the wide adoption of Excel as a database system is due to corporate politics. My experience (mostly in smaller companies of <1000 people) has shown that people use Excel because of low barriers (easy to learn), quick results, empowerment, and ownership. Corporate politics certainly plays a role in some environments, but if you eliminated politics, Excel would still dominate.
  - stcredzero 16y ago
    I don't subscribe to your theory that the wide adoption of Excel as a database system is due to corporate politics. Well good, because that's not my theory. I never said Excel wasn't good on its own merits. What I am saying is that Excel is used for ad-hoc process and automation. The phenomenon I actually described happens all the time on trading floors in the energy industry. Whatever trading system is in use gets in the way of something new. The processes to support the something new are run largely off of spreadsheets. If the something new is a big hit, higher-ups start a project to enable the new processes on the enterprise software where they can be better controlled. My experience (mostly in smaller companies of <1000 people) has shown that people use Excel because of low barriers (easy to learn), quick results, empowerment, and ownership. If Excel didn't have all of these attributes, it could never be used by non-programmers to support ad-hoc processes.
    - ryanhuff 16y ago
      The trading example you mention illustrates how organizations can benefit by allowing people to innovate within the business units, see what works, and implement the successful ideas in a more scalable form. One of the challenges is whether the person/people who developed the spreadsheet version and the enterprise development team can successfully manage a transition to a formal enterprise project. Sometimes, the people who build these spreadsheets see the job as their domain, and see outsiders as treading on their turf, while the development team is not always sensitive to the ownership issues.
      - 16y ago
arethuza 16y ago
If I install Ubuntu today (and probably other Linux distros) I get the option to do a RDP connection to apps or a desktop on a Windows server. How is this different?
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- billpaetzke 16y ago
  Yeah, I use the rdesktop command to remote in to the Windows machines at work. Works great!
- losvedir 16y ago
  With your Ubuntu solution, does the computer you're logging into remotely have to be on? Do you have to know its IP address? I haven't used it before. The advantage with this is to connect you probably simply visit chromeos.google.com (or something) and log-in. You don't have to worry about the IP address of the machine you're using or firewalls or anything like that.
  - arethuza 16y ago
    Usually when I've seen people using remote desktop connections it is to access internal ERP or LOB applications - things which Google are not going to be able to provide access to. For "normal" desktop apps (e.g. MS Office) - wouldn't providing access to these kinds of things undermine Google's strategy of doing things in the browser? I guess they could provide a LogMeIn/GotoMyPC kind of product - but that is hardly revolutionary.
jsz0 16y ago
Isn't Google just giving all these win32 apps a new lease on life? Forget HTML5. Just buy some Windows servers and move your win32 app to the cloud instead. It's the most practical thing to do if Google wants their OS running on lots of desktops but is it good for the future of the web? All I see here is more ad views for Google and more Windows licenses for Microsoft. We get stuck running win32 apps for the next decade because it's easier & cheaper than developing a native HTML5 app.
peterwwillis 16y ago
it sounds somewhat like a vnc plugin in addition to their native chrome applications (if these 'legacy' apps indeed run 'in the cloud'), but could also include wine for windows apps or perhaps a nested X server for native linux apps. but the majority of the article is speculation and a review of recent tech history, so who knows
w1ntermute 16y ago
Original post on RWW: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/googles_new_os_will_offer_remote_desktop_capabilities.php http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/googles_new_os_will_off...
moolave 16y ago
To be honest, I am actually looking forward to install this OS into my system. I saw their feature video on this stating that turning Google Chrome bypasses the BIOS startup. A few of my colleagues said this is impossible, but for what it's worth, this is Google we're talking about.

42 points by sound 16y ago

That's a fairly standard linux feature (X+SSH), isn't it? Seems like Chrome OS going to be the long awaited commercialization of Linux for the desktop.

nudded 16y ago
An OS that only runs on SSD's? commercialization of Linux for the desktop? I don't agree with you on this one.
pjscott 16y ago
A small note: X+SSH isn't very fast. Other software like VNC or NX generally work better, and Google wrote an open-source NX-compatible server: http://code.google.com/p/neatx/ http://code.google.com/p/neatx/
dRother 16y ago
I think MacOS is close enough to a commercialization of Linux for the desktop to count as that. (I realize it's not based on Linux of course, but the result is very similar).

stcredzero 16y ago

Google is clearly making a play for the enterprise using small to medium businesses as a beachhead. It has been noted here that the world's most widely used database is Microsoft Excel. This is because enterprise software is about top-down control of workflow and processes -- it's solidified corporate policy/politics! As a result, enterprise software sucks. In order to work around maladapted restrictions imposed by enterprise software, the most productive workers take their processes and automation into spreadsheets like Excel, where they can adapt quickly to changing conditions. Often, the most successful of these processes are then built into enterprise applications, to become the new status quo. Google wants small and transitional medium sized businesses to outsource much of their IT to them and to run their spreadsheets on Google's apps. Google hopes that this will allow them to do with ad-hoc processes in spreadsheets what they did with web links: organize and unify a huge collection of disparate linkages to create value. When a company has all of its spreadsheets in Google apps, users will be able to link data in disparate spreadsheets. This network of links will be subject to analysis. New business processes will be absorbed from the ad-hoc spreadsheets into the enterprise more quickly and efficiently. This will have tremendous value to companies, especially small and medium sized ones, some of which will grow into giant conglomerates. If this works, Google stands to dwarf the achievements of Microsoft. EDIT: This remote desktop stuff is just a selling point in support of larger goals.

ryanhuff 16y ago
I don't subscribe to your theory that the wide adoption of Excel as a database system is due to corporate politics. My experience (mostly in smaller companies of <1000 people) has shown that people use Excel because of low barriers (easy to learn), quick results, empowerment, and ownership. Corporate politics certainly plays a role in some environments, but if you eliminated politics, Excel would still dominate.
- stcredzero 16y ago
  I don't subscribe to your theory that the wide adoption of Excel as a database system is due to corporate politics. Well good, because that's not my theory. I never said Excel wasn't good on its own merits. What I am saying is that Excel is used for ad-hoc process and automation. The phenomenon I actually described happens all the time on trading floors in the energy industry. Whatever trading system is in use gets in the way of something new. The processes to support the something new are run largely off of spreadsheets. If the something new is a big hit, higher-ups start a project to enable the new processes on the enterprise software where they can be better controlled. My experience (mostly in smaller companies of <1000 people) has shown that people use Excel because of low barriers (easy to learn), quick results, empowerment, and ownership. If Excel didn't have all of these attributes, it could never be used by non-programmers to support ad-hoc processes.
  - ryanhuff 16y ago
    The trading example you mention illustrates how organizations can benefit by allowing people to innovate within the business units, see what works, and implement the successful ideas in a more scalable form. One of the challenges is whether the person/people who developed the spreadsheet version and the enterprise development team can successfully manage a transition to a formal enterprise project. Sometimes, the people who build these spreadsheets see the job as their domain, and see outsiders as treading on their turf, while the development team is not always sensitive to the ownership issues.
    - 16y ago

arethuza 16y ago

If I install Ubuntu today (and probably other Linux distros) I get the option to do a RDP connection to apps or a desktop on a Windows server. How is this different?

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
billpaetzke 16y ago
Yeah, I use the rdesktop command to remote in to the Windows machines at work. Works great!
losvedir 16y ago
With your Ubuntu solution, does the computer you're logging into remotely have to be on? Do you have to know its IP address? I haven't used it before. The advantage with this is to connect you probably simply visit chromeos.google.com (or something) and log-in. You don't have to worry about the IP address of the machine you're using or firewalls or anything like that.
- arethuza 16y ago
  Usually when I've seen people using remote desktop connections it is to access internal ERP or LOB applications - things which Google are not going to be able to provide access to. For "normal" desktop apps (e.g. MS Office) - wouldn't providing access to these kinds of things undermine Google's strategy of doing things in the browser? I guess they could provide a LogMeIn/GotoMyPC kind of product - but that is hardly revolutionary.

jsz0 16y ago

Isn't Google just giving all these win32 apps a new lease on life? Forget HTML5. Just buy some Windows servers and move your win32 app to the cloud instead. It's the most practical thing to do if Google wants their OS running on lots of desktops but is it good for the future of the web? All I see here is more ad views for Google and more Windows licenses for Microsoft. We get stuck running win32 apps for the next decade because it's easier & cheaper than developing a native HTML5 app.

peterwwillis 16y ago

it sounds somewhat like a vnc plugin in addition to their native chrome applications (if these 'legacy' apps indeed run 'in the cloud'), but could also include wine for windows apps or perhaps a nested X server for native linux apps. but the majority of the article is speculation and a review of recent tech history, so who knows

w1ntermute 16y ago

Original post on RWW: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/googles_new_os_will_offer_remote_desktop_capabilities.php http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/googles_new_os_will_off...

moolave 16y ago

To be honest, I am actually looking forward to install this OS into my system. I saw their feature video on this stating that turning Google Chrome bypasses the BIOS startup. A few of my colleagues said this is impossible, but for what it's worth, this is Google we're talking about.