The future of my kind of work
Today Google announced its release of the source code for the Chrome OS. That is their version of a computer operating system that revolves around the web browser.
I have mixed feelings about this from a user perspective. From a technical perspective I’m totally buzzed about it.
For family and friends reading this (all 5 of you) this plays really well to explain what it is “I do for money”. See in the video when they are talking about the software you use (Gmail, YouTube, Searching etc), well that is the kind of software I build. Web based software. Presumptuously this would would mean that in a world where computers only run software from the internet – I have a lot of opportunity.
But I have a concern as a user. Frankly I like things the way they are. I want to store data on my machine. I want local (native) applications. But then again, I’m rather techy and maybe there’s context about all of that. When I think of my Mother using her computer, I don’t think of anything local. It’s email, browsing and that’s really it. So this kind of thing would be perfect for her.
So while I’m totally digging the idea and I’ll be paying really close attention, I have this underlying suspicion that it won’t be “applicable” for a while yet.
Maybe I’m wrong.