It's been five months since I first wrote Why Google Chrome OS Will Fail. It's one of the most popular articles ever on Bitts. Well, in that five months, a lot has changed in the market. Chrome OS is making somewhat of a debut, but it's among a world where tablets have begun to take over. Netbook hype has significantly died down as I predicted, and while they are certainly still out there, it's nothing like it was earlier in the year. One thing hasn't changed though, and that's my opinion that Google Chrome OS will fail.

Let's start out by pointing out the major change in five months: tablets. Tablets quickly swooped right in and they definitely aren't going anywhere. I think we are all in agreement that what started it all was the iPad. After that came the Samsung Galaxy Tab, after that some Archos tablets, and so on and so forth. There's quite a variety of tablets on the market now and we're only at the beginning.

Google has said that Chrome OS will be focused on netbooks, but will also work with tablets. First of all, any OS will work on a tablet. It may not work well, but it will work; so that means nothing. Second, even if Chrome OS makes its way onto tablets, there's one thing standing in its way. Android powers the majority of the tablets currently on the market, even if it's stripped down and changed entirely. Android is made by Google. Chrome OS is made by Google. That means there will be two totally different operating systems both made by Google running on tablets? In essence, Google will then be competing with Google in the tablet market.

You can probably see where I'm going with all this tablet talk. Tablets will eventually take over netbooks. Some even say they will take over laptops as well, but I'm pretty sure that netbooks are going down very quickly. How do I know this? Well let's look at the facts. People buy netbooks mainly for low price and portability beyond any other computer. Tablets are even more portable than netbooks, and they are priced reasonably as well. Plus, those prices will only go down as they get more popular. Some will argue that tablets are only good for consuming content and not creating it. Right now this is mostly true, but eventually they will evolve into content creation devices. And let's face it, you aren't going to be doing heavy content creation with a 10-inch low-res screen and ULV processor on your netbook anyway.

So what does the eventual downfall of netbooks have anything to do with Google Chrome OS? Well with no netbooks, there's no Chrome OS. Should anyone decide to stick Chrome OS on a tablet, it will be pitted against Android and eventually lose because the UI of Android is made to be touched. Chrome OS is not.

I'd like to end this article a bit off topic. I've seen and tried out the new Chrome Web Store. It sucks. It's basically a place for people to "install" websites into Chrome. That's all I see it as. The only way I see it taking off is through Chrome OS, since that's really the only main source of apps. As for my thoughts on whether or not Chrome OS will take off, it's been five months since I first wrote Why Google Chrome OS Will Fail. It's one of the most popular articles ever on Bitts. Well, in that five months, a lot has changed in the market...