This, in part, explains why it was a good thing for Google to release Chromium to the open source community now, rather than later. Consider: Microsoft could p

This, in part, explains why it was a good thing for Google to release Chromium to the open source community now, rather than later. Consider: Microsoft could potentially compete in this arena. They have MinWin now. They could, if they chose, build something roughly equivalent to Chrome OS. However, they have a problem. Even IE 9 is behind the competition. In its current incarnation, it is slower than the currently available versions of Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, in everything except perhaps graphics rendering, a difference hardly noticeable. As TA notes, it is still playing catchup on standards. Microsoft boasts an Acid3 score of 32/100, and actually believes that Acid3 is to blame. So - what happens when ChromeOS provides a viable alternative to those who are quite happy to live on the Web, use Microsoft Office Online or Google Docs, etc.? Whatever is keeping them in Windows? As I see it, Microsoft has only one alternative: Buckle down and bring IE 9 into the HTML5/CSS3 fold. Pour their reputed brilliance into dramatically improving their Javascript engine. THEN, perhaps, with MinWin / IE9, they could go head-to-head with Chrome OS. But you know what? Say they succeed, and successfully provide a viable alternative to ChromeOS. Google still wins. Why? Because every browser on the market is, finally, standards compliant, and a suitable canvas for all the Web App goodness that Google would like to market to everyone in the world.