Chrome OS: I'm Disappointed.

Google held the Chrome OS event this past Thursday and I’ll admit I was excited.  Excited to see what Google would bring to the table and how game changing it would be.  However, while my excitement is there (mainly due to the inner geek still wanting to try it), I’m a little disappointed with what was announced at the event.

My disappointment doesn’t really stem at the fact that Android apps won’t be supported, or that you can only purchase a new computer (netbook only) with Chrome OS, or that it won’t be supporting desktop applications (so it is truly web based).  I mean, those things do bother me a little, but overall, I’m disappointed about something else Google didn’t do which would have made Chrome OS truly perfect based on how they are currently marketing it.

The major pitfall for me is the fact you will require a wireless Internet connection to actually make the OS fully functional.  Even with Google Gears installed (which really wasn’t discussed much that I saw, so who knows how well it would work with Chrome OS in the grand scheme) and HTML5 capabilities (which will be more beneficial for offline work), Chrome OS is still limited in terms of usefulness for the user.  However, all of this could have been a non-issue if Google did one little (well, maybe not so little) thing about a year ago.  Can you guess what I’m talking about?  I’ll give you one hint: think of the number 700.

So what am I getting at?  Imagine if Google had gone through the bidding war and actually purchased the rights to the 700Mhz spectrum.  Just think of the marketing and selling power they could put behind Chrome OS.  If they controlled the 700Mhz spectrum, they could make sure WiFi was nation wide.  If WiFi was everywhere, Chrome OS would be ideal.

Now, granted they were very influential in creating the rules which detail the open access of the spectrum, they still don’t own it – Verizon does.  Verizon already filed a law suit attempting to have the rules dismissed (they lost and eventually dropped the case) so you can see how big they are on the whole “open” thing.

I still think we will have WiFi nation wide at some point, but not soon enough to when they are planning on releasing Chrome OS for it to matter.