Open software advocate derides Chrome OS

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Google's upcoming cloud-based operating system Chrome OS has met an early adversary in Free Software Foundation founder and GNU creator Richard Stallman.

Stallman, who has been critical of cloud computing for years, recently told the Guardian that Chrome OS is "careless computing," and it puts data protection in jeopardy by requiring users to store information on the cloud, rather than on their own systems.

"I think that marketers like cloud computing because it is devoid of substantive meaning," Stallman told the Guardian. "The term's meaning is not substance, it's an attitude: 'Let any Tom, Dick and Harry hold your data, let any Tom, Dick and Harry do your computing for you - and control it.' Perhaps the term 'careless computing' would suit it better."

Google unveiled its new Chrome OS, which is based on GNU/Linux, earlier this month along with the launch of a stripped-down netbook used to beta test the operating system. In a blog post, Google's CEO Eric Schmidt called the work one of the most important of his life, saying it allows users to take "full advantage of the capacity of the web."