IF YOU worry about your computer being infected by viruses, or regularly spend money on software to prevent that happening, then here鈥檚 some good news: a carefree antivirus nirvana beckons. Or so Google and Microsoft would have you believe.
Last week, Google plans to launch a computer operating system in mid-2010 based on its Chrome web browser, directly challenging Microsoft鈥檚 hold on the market. Google Chrome OS is intended for people 鈥渨ho live on the web鈥� and who are happy to run remote software located on servers in Google鈥檚 internet data centres 鈥� or 鈥渋n the cloud鈥� as it is known 鈥� rather than have all the software downloaded onto their computer. It will be based on a version of the free, open-source Linux operating system.
While further details on the Chrome OS are scant, Linus Upson, Google鈥檚 engineering director, made one major promise: 鈥淲e are completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so users don鈥檛 have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.鈥�
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The idea chimes with Microsoft鈥檚 plans for the latest version of its own operating system, which launches in October. will run software like Word and Excel, stored on the user鈥檚 computer in the traditional way, but for the first time will include free regularly updated antivirus software.
Which is likely to be the more secure approach? At this stage it is not clear. 鈥淒ownloading updates is always going to be a step or two behind the cloud approach because it takes a while to get a fix out to a PC to install it,鈥� says Paul Jackson of Forrester Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 鈥淭he cloud approach allows patches to be applied much faster.鈥� However, he doubts Chrome OS will be able to do all its virus fighting remotely, since a web-based operating system will still be vulnerable to viruses that target the web browser and Linux itself.
Robert Caunt, an analyst with CCS Insight in London, points out that Google has a relatively good record on security. 鈥淚ts gmail spam filter and search engine鈥檚 phishing-detection is good. They know what needs doing.鈥�
In contrast, critics liken Google鈥檚 cloud computing approach to the situation in the 1960s, when computer users 鈥渢ime-shared鈥� connections to a mainframe 鈥� a slow-to-access centralisation of data that Microsoft鈥檚 PC revolution was supposed to have quashed.
Whichever proves the better, it is encouraging that the two computer giants are finally taking malware seriously, rather than leaving it to third parties.
