Chrome OS will handle media with its own player

Many people seem to be worried about what Chrome OS can't do. However, I am more concerned with what it can do. And there's another skill to add to the operating system's list: media playback. In a recent interview with Ars Technica, the directing engineer for the Chrome OS project explains that Chrome OS, without any web app in play, will be able to play your music and videos.

"...You might just have a USB key that has a bunch of MP3s on it, so you want to be able to plug that in and listen to those MP3s. There might not be any controlling webpage for that activity, but it’s clearly something you need to be able to do in any reasonable operating system or browser. So we’re doing a lot of work to make Chrome and Chrome OS handle those use cases really well"

That said, Mathew Papakipos just might have put many fears to bed. While numerous people have said that a "browser" can't do everything they need to do, this shows that Chrome OS will be able to do quite a bit. You can read the full interview here: Google talks Chrome OS, HTML5, and the future of software.

Should Apple and Microsoft be afraid of Chrome OS?

Eric Goh, of egoh.com, has an interesting slant on Chrome OS and its effect on the OS landscape. He wagers that Google's new operating system should have the big players scrambling to get something together. Because, as Goh puts it, "a simple browser based OS that is self-updating and relatively secure would solve 95% of the issues people contact me about".

Goh touches on a point I had in a recent article (which you can read here: How Chrome OS will change computers as we know them).  Chrome OS, when it is production ready, could supplant current Windows and Apple OS' for many users. These users simply want to use the web and Internet for daily routines. They rarely need to edit an image more than resizing it, they don't develop software, and they withhold from heavy video-editing. Chrome OS is perfect for what they need to do. And it will keep them out of virus and malware troubles.

So even though you see many pieces in the blogosphere with authors complaining that Chrome OS is too weak, you don't see your cousin and grandmother writing that the new OS can't do what they want. Because it can and it likely will, if the big dogs don't come up with something fast.

You can read Mr. Goh's post in its entirety here: Google Chrome OS - Microsoft and Apple should be worried