Yes it's coming, the cloud operating system that's really looking into the future ! Ofcourse there already are a lot of good, free, open source operating systems that work on netbooks (like ubuntu remix), but the minimal approach of Google, combined with the power and versatility of your already existing Google Account and information will make it a truely powerfull tool for people on the road, minimal requirements users and don't forget the blooming markets of India, China and 3rd world countries (100 dollar laptop project) that are starting technology, but can't afford the big desktop machines.

But what about me ? I'm never satisfied with my macbook, stil need an upgrade to get some more diskspace, lacking memory when using a lot of apps and can't stand to wait for something to complete.

Well, that's where cloud computing comes into place !

So, how can we compare things we're accustomed to use on our desktop machines, to web based services ?

Word processing
We're already used to Google Docs for some collaborate writing, but truely remarkable, layout based editting or document design isn't really possible yet.

There are some alternatives :

- Incorporating (really) rich text editors into web enabled software, like this one
- Iwork 2009 already has some really nice features built into their software, to be able to add annotations to your documents. Just a small step away from real text editting online (and don't forget Apple and Google have tight connections)

Photo and video editting
I've been working with final cut pro for several years now and I'm really happy with the functionality it offers, although it comes at a cost. The integration with other software in final cut studio is really nice as well, atlhough it needs some polishing here and there.

Same story for photoshop, indesign and illustrator, really nice software we're used to working with, and the integration is really tight, but a drag on your systems' resources. Although CPU power is relatively cheap these days, it still is worth it to upgrade your system every 3 years to keep up with software developments, another big advantage for cloud computing. (leaving front end to the client side and back end processes to renderfarms)

Some examples of nice initiatives in the video scene :
- Jaycut, already impressive and their new editor is even nicer, already showing some really great possibilities of web based software
- Splashup is also really great in editting pictures, although it's controls are still a bit akward to dedicated photoshop users.

Where to from now ?
Google already activated some brains to crunch over the progress of internet applications, and I think the Google OS will certainly create some groundswell to wake up the big guys like Microsoft and Apple on how to handle it. Apple is ofcourse the happy third, with a good bond with Google, I'm certain they won't get in their way, with Apple already in the high end of the market and enabling renderfarms from their software already, they just need to hook up to the OS Google is offering.

We'll see some new things evolving, terminal based computing is really nice for schools and public institutes like governments, saving money on system administration, software licensing and administration, and hooking op your mini netbook to such a terminal is easy as well.

Ofcourse, system privacy and security is a big thing. Leaving that into the hands of the ever growing Google can create a "big brother" effect, especially when they edit their privacy policy or a leak is found in their software. Personally I don't really care about what Google saves about me, as long as I can use their services and they offer me contextual interesting information.

• How about you ? Will you take the plunge ?
• Will you trust Google enough to handle your data with care ?
• What use will this operating system have for you ?
• What's the ideal form factor to use it ?

To answer my own questions :
1. Yes I will, to testdrive, to be on the road, always available
2. As said, yes I don't feel privacy is the biggest problem.
3. To be online, communicate, collaborate
4. Tablet with decent input (a la dual screen size iPhone) and decent offline functionality, when connectivity is not available (in extreme cases...) with a good battery life (~10 hours)

Hope to see your response ! And are their applications you want a web alternative for ? Please let me know !