I just read that Google had confirmed that Goobuntu will be released. It's thier own OS based on Ubuntu Linux.
Check out more here:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=175746&cid=14609148
http://google-blog.dirson.com/index.php
http://www.goobuntu.com/blog/ - The screenshots here look fake. I dont think they are real.
Or just search google for Goobuntu. 
~Wuzzie
his direct quote:
Goobuntu is our internal desktop distribution. It's awesome, but we're not going to be releasing it. Unless you work here it wouldn't work anyway
oh, and those screenshots are just butt-ugly... wouldn't use that anyway :slant:
Wow ugly how is this a threat to windows?
if the great ubuntu is not consider a threat just yet?
come on stop over hyping the situation-i use both linux ubuntu and xp..
and i can honestly see why the average joe woulndt want to switch to a linux
os-packaging debs-apt get from terminal use wine etc.... come on seriously-the average user wants 1 click access to everything-and mac and xp have that down pack-linux is getting there not yet.
goobuntu (what a rip off) is thought to be running on gnome right...
then that means the average joe will have to get aquanted with new software and have to learn how to configure things manually...
a threat to windows? HELL NO
not at you thread starter just anybody in general who thinks google os is a threat...
i love google search engine and their picasa software (wich they bought) but come on-a google os?
Ubuntu is great, but goo- one... nooo! This looks like hell, although the screenies are defenitely a fake (I have Ubuntu installed), and I also wouldn't use it if they continue developing to make such screenshots real.
/i agree ubuntu is excellent i love it-i use it more then xp...
rimmer i have a question is there away to configure my xconfig for better gamma,contrast etc?
ugly interface design :|
but anyway, google doesn't use my favourite design style.. picasa has some ugly elements, the google web search has some pretty bad elements..
I ask, as always, the question: Why do people develop ugly things? Look at the labtops of .. sony or whatever. They look all ugly, but why don't they simply create a labtop with a none-ugly design? That isn't so difficlut - It's so confusing! :|
don't know. I saw those screenshots months ago, when they were first talking about a possible "Google OS". Come on, which usable OS includes full transparent windows ? 
anyway I thought a few days ago they said "no, we are not doing it"...
lol that can't be a OS's interface... if google is planning for a OS they would come up with a lot better interface. cause I think thay can do it. and choosing ubuntu is definatly a good Idea and logical because it is already lot easier to use.
another thing that just came to my mind: why would Google launch a linux OS, if none of his other programs works under linux ? think about Talk, Picasa, Earth, DesktopSearch... if they had been working on their linux port, they would've hired people to do it - and it takes time !
Another issue is that a lot of Ubuntu functionality relies on Unix commands and the average Joe user does not want to be bothered with a command-line interface. They want everything to be simple, pretty, and to just work. Google is probably going to stumble a little with this if it's released but then again, almost every company developing an OS has. (Ironically, the only one I can think of that hasn't is Canonical)
Anybody know what google is trying to do? (besides take over the world, one computer at a time)
With Goobuntu, they might take over... one or two computers. I guess more remains to be seen as to who they're trying to market to. I see two huge hurdles if they want Goobuntu to have mass consumer appeal--
1) software availability-- gotta run something. maybe there are enuff linux/unix apps out there, I dunno
2) UI/ease of use
Personally, I'd consider goob IF it had killer style and a killer look... (OSX)
From what I know about this project (which is nothing), I don't see this OS expanding beyond the niche demographic of techies, geeks, and the tech savvy.
I read a paper from one of Microsoft's dev teams awhile back (this is probably about 5 years ago or so) about the future of OSes and the Netcentricity of them, meaning the OS of the future wouldn't actually be a program that sits on a physical drive on your computer but would instead be on a server where it could use the combine power of the servers it was connected to.
This in turn would lead us toward a world where we would log on to a server to use applications. Such is the way Microsoft is heading with its Live name-branding of it's products. The reasoning behind is simple: it leads to an application that is always up-to-date without our interacting with it, a program that is cheaper, and an easier computing experience for everyone.
A few OSes already offer this sort of feature, in a way, Linspire comes to mind, but they fall short by making the user download and install the program before you can use it.
Google, with its warehouses of servers (literally) are in prime position to do this. From another paper, they already have containers with servers packed inside ready to roll out to anywhere and drop (a sort of mobile network node). And this is exactly where a Google OS can take the most advantage of this system.
Imagine a set top box, similar to Microsoft's MSN.TV or whatever they decided to call it now, but instead of just a browser, chat and email client you got all that and a full-fledged computer capable of running all your office products (only they would be google applications here) storage space on a server (hence the 2 gig and counting space they offer with Gmail) for all your files, photos and whatnot. We see the makings of it already with Google Talk, GMail, Firefox (a Google partner), Picasa...the infrastructure's there.
What makes this system even better is that it's portable. Unless you had a laptop, in the past what was stored on your desktop stayed on your desktop and was only accessable from your desktop (minus the remote desktop programs that are on the market). Now that all that information is stored on a server somewhere, it's accessable from anywhere you have Net access. And with broadband penatrating just about every nook and cranny of the world, that information is at your fingertips in a snap.
A few years ago when the idea was originally devised, it was unfeasible with dial-up. That's all changed and with broadband service only getting faster I can see a day when computing as we know it won't be from a giant box that sits beside a desk taking up space and making a lot of noise. We'll have a box by the television, one in kitchen, one in the car (with 3g mobile net services getting better and the next-generation Wimax development) and we'll always be within reach of it all.
This is where Google wants to be. This is where it'll do it's most damage to Microsoft and the market-hold they have with Windows. Microsoft is slowly heading that way as well (XBox 360 anyone?). The brass ring will go to whomever can get it together first. That'll decide where the future of the OS will go from there.
Looks horribly Photoshopped. Even though it's real. Still, I guess it doesn't matter if they're not releasing it. I would guess that's partially the reason they're not - it hasn't reached a standard of professionalism yet.
Those screenshots look terrible...
They didn't confirm Goobuntu, they just said they were using Linux, which was well known before.
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