Internet operating system may be in Googles' sites

Source: Timesofoman.com

Is Google Inc. quietly arming itself to challenge Microsoft Corp.’s Windows software by developing an operating system that lives on the Internet?

The closely held search-engine company has been clear all along about its goal of organising the world’s information.

But followers of the Mountain View, California, upstart have been seeing that lofty mission statement in a new light since the company unveiled plans this month for a free e-mail service with enough storage space to save nearly 500,000 pages of messages.

The Gmail service, combined with Google’s enormous cluster of computers that use Linux, a free operating system, to process hundreds of millions of search queries each day, has some technologists panting over what the ambitious company may do next.

"Who needs Windows when anyone can have free unlimited access to the world’s fastest computer running the smartest operating system?" Jason Kottke, a New York City web designer, wrote in his influential web log at Kottke.org.

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