Ballmer confused by Google's Chrome OS

by Stevie Smith - Jul 15 2009, 15:45

With Google’s Chrome browser making but a modest dent in the dominance of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer platform, recent news of an upcoming Chrome computer operating system (OS) probably didn’t have any Redmond-based executives shivering in their highly expensive shoes.

Moreover, speaking at a New Orleans business conference for Microsoft partners, the software giant’s outspoken CEO Steve Ballmer has this week shrugged off Chrome OS as a genuine challenger to its market-leading Windows platform.

“I will be respectful,” said Ballmer to the gathered conference attendees, a comment that garnered peels of laughter from the audience. “Who knows what this thing is?”

While conceding that Chrome OS is certainly “highly interesting,” the Microsoft bigwig went on to question Google’s need for two operating systems, given that it already plays a major contributory role in the open-source Android OS for mobile phones.

“I don’t know if they can’t make up their mind or what the problem is over there, but the last time I checked, you don’t need two client operating systems,” he added, likely in reference to Microsoft’s own disappointing experience when running separate consumer and business systems Windows 85 and Windows NT. “It’s good to have one.”  

According to market share performance numbers, more than 90 percent of the world’s personal computers are running on a variant of the Windows operating system.

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