Google Operating System?

I have been reading some “Techie” Blogs for a few days and I found that there is a rumor that Google is going to be coming out with a “Google Operating System”. Now I didn’t give this much attention because I think Google want to be everything for everyone and besides, it just a rumor.

Then yesterday I was on “Craig’s List (SF)” checking out the job postings and under “Software Jobs” I found this listing:

Craig’s List Job Posting: “Google/Stanford/MIT Startup Seeks QA Manager (palo alto)”
Join a world class team of engineers from Google, Stanford, MIT, and Cal. We are close to releasing our beta. We are using PHP, so you should have experience with that. If you are brilliant and you don't have experience with PHP, you should still apply since you could learn quickly. This is an equity only opportunity plus salary once we are funded. Our beta will be released end of June; ……

Well this did get my attention because when I saw “Google”, “Stanford”, “MIT”, and “Cal” all together on one line and referring to “releasing our beta” I immediately though about the “Google Operating System” blogs rumor. These are the “big guns” when it comes to technology and if they are working on something together, it must be BIG.

Also on “Craig’s List” there are a number of Google ads for “Marketing” positions, which tends to make me think they are going to be promoting something very soon.

Just think, a “Google Operating System” that would compete with Microsoft, UNIX, etc. Interesting I must say.

I think they should name it “GoOS” pronounced “Goose”. Then if you are multi-tasking they could call it “Gaggling”.

If you receive an error on one of the applications you could say “When I opened the third Goose application it laid a goose egg and failed with an error = honk.” (They could have a goose’s honking audio playing in the background over your speakers.)

They could come up with a marketing slogan “Have you been GoOS’d today?” This should get some attention don’t you think?

I have nothing more to add except that maybe this is all really a rumor and the beta software coming soon is for a valid “Google.com” email address that allows users to contact Google directly and be able to respond back without getting the “No response”.

The Dark Side of Google continued...

Today I went searching for a “Google.com” mailing address and I used “Google.com” to search for the address. What I found were many other folks who with the same problem, “I can’t find a Google email address to ask a question.”

I found one that had an address was where Google sent some one and email and the return address was accounts-noreply@google.com, which the person could not respond too.

There some others but nothing specific. Then a friend told me that you can send an email to “Google” Support, but after an hour looking for where it was, I gave up.

On most sites when you go to a “Support” Tab or “Contact Us” and click, they give you the option to send an email with a question. Also on these sites these tabs are usually on the link you are in. You don’t have to go searching like you do on Google.

The other day I went to Google to look for a problem I was having with a Google Toolbar. I started with a link that led to another link that led to another link and so on for five more links. At the fifth link I found I needed to go back to where I started and try a different selection. This after reading every link I came to before continuing. “What a pain!” So I went back and tried again following more links with NOTHING getting accomplished. I spent a good hour looking and this is exactly what I am talking about. I don’t want to “waste” an hour looking for a “fix”. I want to send an email, wait for and answer, and while I am waiting move on to other tasks.

Now I am drawing the conclusion that Google is creating technology for an “Exclusive Community”. This community is all “techies”. The average user has been forgotten, lost in the corporate spaghetti of links on “Google.com”. I consider myself an average user and I know may folks who are far less as technical as me. I wonder what they do when they go to Google looking for a fix of a problem. My guess is they get frustrated much quicker than I do and end up calling some one like the “Geek Squad” and paying for something that should be free and easy.

Here is one suggestion for Google. When some one who is obviously a “non-technical” user starts to look for a “fix” on “Google.com” add a new page that simply says “May God be with you in your search for a solution. (Last time God was here looking he/she found NOTHING.) Good luck!”

Now you might ask how Google would know when a user is a “non-techie”. The answer is easy. Since Google tracks everything a user does when they use “Google.com”, they could write a script to analyze the contents and in the script create a formula that make decisions based on the results. They are technology leaders aren’t they?

Another suggestion is to survey “non-techies”. I see ads for Google surveys all the time around here. What they could do is gather up about 200 “non-techie” users and get some feed back on the Google.com site. An even bigger leap for Google would be “non-techie” users over fifty years old. I doubt if this leap would ever happen because based on the age of the “Exclusive Community” at corporate headquarters they may not be able to talk to older people. (Of course, they could bring in interpreters.)