Several different applications that formerlyÂ? ran on your desktop have moved to an online platform thatÂ? allows for increased accessibility by the creator of the content and distribution or sharing of the content. ImagesÂ? and videos are obvious examples, with interactive slideshows of still imagesÂ? and video clips beingÂ? passed around online in record numbers.Â? Google has their started developing their own business-type suite of applications, withÂ? Google Documents and Spreadsheets, Google PageÂ? Creator, and Google CalendarÂ? creating the foundation of a Microsoft Office Suite of applications all based online. It is a widely discussed head-on-collision between the two Internet giants, and is represents a strong indication of the push for these types of products to move away from the desktop, if not entirely, at least partially. So, why wouldn’t the very operating system (OS)Â? that your computer runs on do the same?

Whether they like it or not, the anti-Microsofters of the world have to accept that the Windows OS is still the number one operating system. Combined with the fact that it is also not an open-source project, the idea of another company, or in this case more of an organization, becoming significant in the arena with an open-source, web-based OS has to be considered a threat. To this point, there hasn’t been a real, significant attempt at developing an online OS, but this would be theÂ? perfect final piece for a company intersted in enteringÂ? the competition. Especially if the efforts of this company, based in Spain, show any real success or promise.

Of course Google would be an obvious candidate to pickÂ? as a potential future purchaser of this company or any other company thatÂ? can successfullyÂ? develop an online application that might notÂ? act as a full-fledge replacement for the Windows OS, but has the potential to grow into one. Just to keep things interesting, I’m going to throw out another suggestion that might seem a little wild and crazy, and that’s a Yahoo! purchase of this type of company.

In the wake of the Peanut Butter Manifesto, as it has come to be known as, there are likely to be a great deal of changes in the company. According to an article on Techcrunch, Brad Garlinghouse has been put in charge of a working group to review how the points in the memo can be put into action. What better way to consolidate the entire collection of Yahoo! properties than building them on top of their very own OS? Yahoo! has enough users and could easily start aligning themselves with ISP’s in a way that would promote the effort. It’s going to be a battle to re-create and amalgamate everything, how much more work would it really include if you throw in a custom OS along with Windows, Linux/Unix, and Mac OS/X?

The free, open source project is looking to launch in early 2007. There are currently about 80,000 registered users/computersÂ? with the server-based application installed. Security risks by business customers is one of the reasons that this a server app. It is based on JavaScript and will run on almost any browser.

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