5 ms·

Let me list the ways that Chrome starts to encroach on the OS territory. 1. It has a fast Javascript VM, that converts Javascript into native code, cutting thr

Let me list the ways that Chrome starts to encroach on the OS territory. 1. It has a fast Javascript VM, that converts Javascript into native code, cutting through lots of layers. 2. Each Javascript app (i.e a tab) runs in its own process, which the browser manages. So effectively Chrome is the OS layer as far as your JS apps is concerned. 3. The browser provides a nice control panel for managing those tasks and provides stats about its usage - again tradtionally what you wanted from an OS. 4. Chrome is not yet cross-platform, but we can expect it to be cross platform in due course. It is open source with a BSD license, so I am guessing lots of people have already started compiling it to every platform on earth. Expect unofficial distros soon. 5. Layering Chrome on top of a very stripped down Linux or BSD kernel, letting Chrome do all the GUI work is possible. Chrome does not need MFC, it is layered directly on top of a lower level graphics library (Win32). The calls Chrome needs could be done on top of BSD fairly easily. In fact, that is how Chrome (or Firefox for that matter) is really cross-platform - they come with their own widget sets (i.e MFC equivalent) rather than relying on the specific platform's widget set. Incidentally, Java does the exact same thing. 6. OEMs could come up with a 20-30 MB distribution of Chrome, with everything included (kernel, libraries, JS, Flash etc) and bundle it as a web top. So, yes, Chrome is an alternative to traditional operating systems. The fact that it would include a stripped down BSD kernel doesn't count: from the application perspective Chrome is the OS. Snark is all fine and dandy, but occasionally exercising the brain cells a little bit keeps them in good working order.

blasdel 18y ago
WRONG I think most of this 'WebOS' bullshit was kicked off by web-dilettante Jason Kottke, and it's even more ridiculous this time around, because Chrome is the least OS-like modern web browser yet made (and Firefox would be the most OS-like by far). Chrome is not trying to be the operating system, it's trying to get out of its way. By using a shared-nothing separate process for each tab and plugin, it's letting the Kernel and libc do the job they were designed to do. Most modern browsers (especially FF3) are trying to do an operating system's job — scheduling logically independent processes, micro-managing memory allocations, mapping virtual memory, providing an internal windowing system, providing an internal GUI scripting system. The whole point of an 'operating system' is to present a lot of layers. Chrome does none of these things. It parries them off to the real operating system, where they belong — instead of adding another five nested layers on top of the pile of indirection.
- scott_s 18y ago
  You said something similar in the other thread, but from the horse's mouth, http://dev.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/process-models http://dev.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/process-...: "Web content has evolved to contain significant amounts of active code that run within the browser, making many web sites more like applications than documents. This evolution has changed the role of the browser into an operating system rather than a simple document renderer. Unlike current browsers, Chromium is built like an operating system to run these applications in a safe and robust way, using multiple OS processes to isolate web sites from each other and from the browser itself."
- sah 18y ago
  Come on, it's not as simple as "WRONG". Chrome acts more like an OS, in part by delegating many tasks to the OS itself. Firefox does more of what an OS needs to do, because it does all the work of handling those tasks in a simplified way itself, rather than delegating.
anamax 18y ago
> So, yes, Chrome is an alternative to traditional operating systems. Chrome is basically a launcher for web-based programs so it is more like a alternative to traditional shells.
- ardit33 18y ago
  honestly, all the points above, I have heard few years ago for Java and the Applets who were portable, and would replace desktop apps, and Windows didn't matter anymore.... Sun even managed to create a Java only Os. But the whole thing went nowhere. Chrome will probably never be able to do 3D, or very intense computing tasks, so I think the OS is still here to stay.
  - PieSquared 18y ago
    You're right, Chrome won't do 3d. But that doesn't mean you can't look at 3d things through Chrome. Didn't we have the about:internets article just a few days ago? Chrome isn't going to be an OS; but it might be a desktop environment. Which, to the casual user, is the same thing.
  - lallysingh 18y ago
    HTML5's canvas tag has an OpenGL ES 3D API. Well, that's what they've said. We'll see. And frankly, they should've gone for the more DOM-like X3D.
orib 18y ago
Chrome is an OS in the same sense that the Java VM is an OS. In other words, none to speak of.
- gaius 18y ago
  Chrome is an OS in the same sense that the X server is an OS.

blasdel 18y ago

WRONG I think most of this 'WebOS' bullshit was kicked off by web-dilettante Jason Kottke, and it's even more ridiculous this time around, because Chrome is the least OS-like modern web browser yet made (and Firefox would be the most OS-like by far). Chrome is not trying to be the operating system, it's trying to get out of its way. By using a shared-nothing separate process for each tab and plugin, it's letting the Kernel and libc do the job they were designed to do. Most modern browsers (especially FF3) are trying to do an operating system's job — scheduling logically independent processes, micro-managing memory allocations, mapping virtual memory, providing an internal windowing system, providing an internal GUI scripting system. The whole point of an 'operating system' is to present a lot of layers. Chrome does none of these things. It parries them off to the real operating system, where they belong — instead of adding another five nested layers on top of the pile of indirection.

scott_s 18y ago
You said something similar in the other thread, but from the horse's mouth, http://dev.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/process-models http://dev.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/process-...: "Web content has evolved to contain significant amounts of active code that run within the browser, making many web sites more like applications than documents. This evolution has changed the role of the browser into an operating system rather than a simple document renderer. Unlike current browsers, Chromium is built like an operating system to run these applications in a safe and robust way, using multiple OS processes to isolate web sites from each other and from the browser itself."
sah 18y ago
Come on, it's not as simple as "WRONG". Chrome acts more like an OS, in part by delegating many tasks to the OS itself. Firefox does more of what an OS needs to do, because it does all the work of handling those tasks in a simplified way itself, rather than delegating.

anamax 18y ago

> So, yes, Chrome is an alternative to traditional operating systems. Chrome is basically a launcher for web-based programs so it is more like a alternative to traditional shells.

ardit33 18y ago
honestly, all the points above, I have heard few years ago for Java and the Applets who were portable, and would replace desktop apps, and Windows didn't matter anymore.... Sun even managed to create a Java only Os. But the whole thing went nowhere. Chrome will probably never be able to do 3D, or very intense computing tasks, so I think the OS is still here to stay.
- PieSquared 18y ago
  You're right, Chrome won't do 3d. But that doesn't mean you can't look at 3d things through Chrome. Didn't we have the about:internets article just a few days ago? Chrome isn't going to be an OS; but it might be a desktop environment. Which, to the casual user, is the same thing.
- lallysingh 18y ago
  HTML5's canvas tag has an OpenGL ES 3D API. Well, that's what they've said. We'll see. And frankly, they should've gone for the more DOM-like X3D.

orib 18y ago

Chrome is an OS in the same sense that the Java VM is an OS. In other words, none to speak of.

gaius 18y ago
Chrome is an OS in the same sense that the X server is an OS.