Google plans Chrome operating system

now this is gonna be big! Google OS? wow. i just hope it will be smooth on low-edge pc's. CHROME OS and ANDROID promises faster boot-ups, faster surfing on the web and, of course, lower costs.





(from USA today)

Until now, most consumer PCs have run on software from one of two companies: Microsoft or Apple.

But on Wednesday, search giant Google (GOOG) shook up the computing world by formally announcing plans to compete head-to-head against those companies on their home turf: PC operating systems.


Google Operating System To Challenge Microsoft(from npr):

Google Inc. is working on a new operating system for inexpensive computers in a daring attempt to diminish Microsoft Corp.'s longstanding control over people's computer experience.

The new operating system, announced Tuesday night on Google's Web site, will be based on the search giant's nine-month-old Web browser, Chrome. Google intends to rely on help from the community of open-source programmers to develop the Chrome operating system, which is expected to begin running computers in the second half of 2010.

Shares of Google jumped $6.92, 1.8 percent, to $403.55 in morning trading Wednesday, while Microsoft fell 15 cents to $22.38.

Google is designing the operating system primarily for netbooks, a lower-cost, less powerful breed of laptop computer that is becoming increasingly popular among budget-conscious consumers primarily interested in surfing the Web.

Google has already introduced an operating system for smart phones and other mobile devices, called Android, that vies against various other systems, including ones made by Microsoft and Apple Inc.

The Android system worked well enough to entice some computer makers to begin developing netbooks that will run on it. For instance, Acer Inc., the world's third-largest PC maker, said last month it would make netbooks that run Android instead of Windows. Acer said Android would make the computers less expensive and possibly help them boot up faster.

Google, though, apparently believes a Chrome-based system will be better suited for netbooks.

That is a direct challenge to Microsoft, whose next operating system, Windows 7, is being geared for netbooks as well as larger computers. And it would be Google's boldest confrontation yet with its biggest nemesis.

Microsoft had no immediate comment Wednesday.

A duel between the two technology powerhouses has been steadily escalating in recent years as Google's dominance of the Internet's lucrative search market has given it the means to threaten Microsoft in ways that few other companies can.

Google already has rankled Microsoft by luring some of its top employees and developing an online package of computer programs that provide an alternative to Microsoft's top-selling word processing, spreadsheet and calendar applications.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has been trying to thwart Google by investing billions of dollars in improving its own Internet search and advertising systems — to little avail so far.

In the past month or so, though, Microsoft has been winning positive reviews and picking up more users with the latest upgrade to its search engine, now called Bing. Microsoft is hailing the makeover with a $100 million marketing campaign.

persepolis

yes! a movie. indeed, this a 10/10 movie. i was very satisfied of how the movie went. well, aside that i don't understand french and i have to read the subs as fast as i can. nevertheless the message and ANIMATION were awesome. kinda the classic animation only it is smoother compared to the ones were used to. though it black and white, i found it very soothing for my eyes. i could get the idea shown and i never got lost on conversations. simple but elegant. and the message it brought, you could learn so much in this movie.(you can read the synopsis below).


SYNOPSIS:
Marjane Satrapi grew up wearing sneakers and beating up boys. She wanted to grow up to be a saint. When she was ten years old, her world changed overnight. Girls and boys had to use different doors to enter the school. She had to cover herself with a long dark robe. Grownups around her began to disappear. Marjane has several close encounters with the country's morality police and her teachers at school. Iraqi bombs fall on the street where she lives. Eventually her parents send her abroad to receive a European education, but she is miserable: she loves her family and country, despite their flaws, too much to stay away for long. After a brief return and a failed marriage, Marjane leaves Iran for good.

This is a heartbreaking true story of a childhood coinciding with regime change and war in Iran. It's a story that everyone who counts themselves as a human being should read or watch.





(comment from IMDB)I was somehow hesitant before watching this as many have hailed the movie as an achievement both technically and artistically. Considering it tackles issues related to the Middle East I thought this will be yet another politically correct show-off that leaves you dead-cold. Well it's nothing like this. Though the story simplifies things quite a lot, it has a good reason for doing so: everything is seen from the point of view of the main character who brings forth her memories as a little girl in Iran, as a teenager in exile and as a married woman back in Iran. The story is always interesting, heart-felt, funny, sarcastic at times, nostalgic, cruel and absurd at some points but very very convincing.

The movie's best asset is it doesn't preach, it leaves everything to the viewer's judgment, and this is something to be appreciated because we all know that cartoons can be very effective propaganda devices. You can use animation for subversive purposes in a may number of ways. Technically, the movie-makers decided for stylishness rather than anything else. It's very interesting to compare Ratatouille's "realism" in animation and its shallow plot and the intricate and subtle plot of Persepolis and its abstract animation. I think animation was never about a big budget but about taste and artistic reason for choosing a specific technique. Displaying such a consistent style throughout, Persepolis manages never to feel too much in spite of its length (Ratatouille felt a bit too much after half an hour, at least to me and most of the people in the audience). Mnay reasons account for this: good story, excellent acting (the characters are all memorable), excellent pacing etc.

The best thing I got from watching this, besides the 95 minutes of great fun, is that there is a way of separating between good and evil without hurting anybody and you can come to terms with your past without feeling a sense of despair, no matter how bad that past was.