谷歌操作系统Chrome OS前景如何？

    大家可能已经忘了谷歌（Google）曾经在2009年推出过自己的电脑操作系统，这也情有可原。虽然谷歌坚信未来所有数据和应用都将储存在云端上，但是它据此理念推出的Chrome OS系统却很少引起人们的注意。根据IDC公司发布的数据，2014年1月，Chrome OS占PC市场的份额只有1%。另一家名叫Net Applications的公司甚至指出，Chrome OS的全球市占场有率甚至连1%都不到。

    不过Chrome OS眼下已经显露出了一点增长的迹象。走简练风格路线的Chromebook笔记本已经开始经常出现在亚马逊（Amazon）的畅销笔记本排行榜上。另外到今年夏天，除了苹果（Apple）之外的所有主要笔记本电脑生产商家都将开始销售Chromebook，其中不乏戴尔（Dell）、宏基（Acer）、华硕（Asus）、索尼（Sony）、惠普（HP）、东芝（Toshiba）、联想（Lenovo）等大牌厂商。也许最能说明问题的是，连微软（Microsoft）都花了不少时间直接放话诋毁Chromebook。如果厂家都去大量生产谷歌这款低成本、低维护费用的笔记本电脑的话，那确实是够微软头疼的。

    另外，NPD集团的数据显示，到2013年末，Chromebook在商用领域的占有率已经达到9.6%，在这个领域的份额已经超过了苹果笔记本、Windows平板和安卓平板。NPD的报告还指出，Chromebook在商用领域的出货量从2012年的40万台翻了四番，达到2013年的176万台。简而言之，Chrome OS从总体上看虽然依旧是个小不点，但是这个小不点正在慢慢长大。

    除了一个网页浏览器和一点少得可怜的本地文件空间之外，运行Chrome OS的Chromebook笔记本和Chromebox台式机就没什么其他亮点了，这意味着它们必须依赖于网络连接、在线应用和云储存，但同时也意味着它们的部署成本和维护都很低廉。安全性和软件升级可以由系统自动搞定，而且系统备份也可以通过远程控制来完成。特别值得一提的是，谷歌最近刚刚与虚拟化厂商VMware建立了合作伙伴关系，使Chromebook的用户只要通过浏览器就能使用Windows应用程序。

    NPD公司的史蒂夫•贝克认为，Chromebook销量的上升主要归功于越来越高的实用性和外形因素以及它的价格优势，而且它使用起来也更方便。贝克接受《财富》（Fortune）采访时表示：“Chromebook的卖点首先在于它与传统笔记本的差距越来越小，其次它还提供了一些并不是完全依赖于网络的功能。消费者寻找低成本的联网设备和计算设备已经有一段时间了，而Chromebook正好满足了这些需求。”

    IHS公司分析师克雷格•斯蒂斯也认为，较低的成本对于谷歌Chrome OS系统的增长非常重要。他说：“光是价格就让这个系统很有吸引力，Chromebook笔记本电脑的价格普遍都在两百多美元。同时它正好赶上低价PC和上网本市场被整体淘汰的时候。另外，云储存为小型IT部门创建了一个更简单的管理架构，此外Chromebook的易用性也让它得到了老师们的青睐。”

    You could be forgiven for having forgotten that Google (GOOG) has its own desktop operating system, launched back in 2009. Championing a vision of a future where all data and applications live in the cloud, Chrome OS has struggled to make a dent: It accounts for only 1% of the PC market as of January 2014, according to figures from IDC. Net Applications, another market research firm, pegs global usage of Chrome OS at somewhere south of a single percent.

    Yet small signs of growth are appearing. Chromebooks -- the stripped-down notebooks that run Chrome OS -- are starting to show up regularly in the list of bestselling laptops on Amazon (AMZN). By this summer, all the major laptop manufacturers other than Apple will have Chromebooks on sale, including Dell, Acer, Asus, Sony (SNE), HP (HP), Toshiba, and Lenovo. And perhaps most tellingly of all, Microsoft (MSFT) has taken the time to disparage Chrome OS directly. If companies turn to Google's low-cost, low-maintenance laptops in significant numbers, it will cause some serious headaches in Redmond.

    Then there are figures from the NPD Group, which show Chromebooks claiming a 9.6% share of the business sector at the end of 2013. That's higher than sales of Apple laptops, Windows tablets, and Android tablets in the same space. NPD's report noted a fourfold increase in the number of Chromebooks pushed through commercial channels in the U.S. during 2013: 1.76 million compared with 400,000 in 2012. In short, Chrome OS remains just a dot on the horizon as far as the bigger picture is concerned, but it's a dot that's growing.

    The Chromebooks and Chromeboxes that run Chrome OS offer little more than a web browser and a sliver of space for local files. While this makes them dependent on Internet access, online apps, and cloud storage, it also means they are inexpensive to deploy and easy to maintain. Security and software updates are effectively handled automatically by the operating system, and backups are handled remotely on the web. Significantly, Google has just announced a partnership with the virtualization vendor VMware (VMW), enabling Chromebook users to access legacy Windows applications through a browser tab.

    NPD's Stephen Baker attributes the rise of Chromebook sales to increased availability, lower prices, improved form factors, and a better use case: "Chromebooks are now marketed as being more strongly equivalent to a traditional notebook PC and offering capabilities that aren't only tied to the web," Baker told Fortune. "Consumers have been looking for low-cost web access and computing devices for quite a while, and the Chromebook fits those requirements."

    IHS analyst Craig Stice agreed that a low price was critical to the growth of Google's lightweight operating system. "The price alone is a big attraction to these systems, which are in the $200-plus range," he said. "As well, they came at a time when the low-end priced PC and netbook market had disappeared. The notebook-like form factor of a Chromebook with the attached keyboard aids efficiency and offers what a media tablet cannot provide. The cloud-based storage creates a much easier management structure for small IT departments, and the ease of use makes them a blessing for teachers."