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The Google Future

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It’s 2012. EU regulations require a choice between at least 2 operating systems when buying a new computer. Since the introduction of these regulations the Windows market share dropped to 15% on new computers, against 65% for Google Chrome OS (GCO).

During the installation of GCO on my new laptop, all I have to do is fill in my Google account details. During the rest of the installation I can just click the next button because all other details like my name, address and current location are retrieved from my Google account. After the installation I click through my hard disk and am surprised what’s already there. All my Google Docs are available offline to be edited with the Google Office suite which includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, database engine, an image editor and email. I find copies of my music and video collection I previously downloaded from the Google Media Store and all my pictures from Picasa. The default instant messenger is, not surprisingly, Google Messenger. Twitter was integrated into Google Talk after the takeover in 2010 and Google started its own IP telephony service in 2011, pushing Skype out of the market.

I double click on my favourite song and it opens in the Google Media Player. Suggestions for related songs and concerts appear on the right hand side of the screen. I synchronise my media files to my Gune, Googles answer to the iPod. Between every song I hear a two second advertisement, the drawback of the free downloads from the Google Media Store.

It’s time to fill in the spreadsheet for last months business expenses. While I fill in the declaration, advertisements appear for places to lunch and car rental companies. A bit annoyed about the amount of ads I look at the pictures from my last holiday. Suddenly my pictures are accompanied with advertisements of travel agents. When I want to tell my friends about these annoying advertisements Google Messenger comes with even more "related" advertisements.

Is this where we want to go tomorrow?