Yeah, Yeah
Yawn, the same old misinformation. Don't you just love it when people wheel out 5 year old boilerplate myths.
Windows 7 comes with a firewall and if it weren't for all the antitrust issues they would have included their own antivirus / antispyware too. As it is you can download MS Security essentials which is more than adequate for general purpose use.
Besides, a bog standard (NAT) home router blocks out 99.9% of all attacks almost out of the box. The only thing that really left is trojans and phising which other OSs are equally prone to.
I have a great respect for Linux. In fact if things were different I might have gone that route but it's not the operating system that make Windows what it is, it's the apps and frankly, most Linux apps are second rate. I've spent over 20 years in IT and I've tried a couple of times to move over to Linux but I'm always brought back because a) the Linux apps just don't work as well and b) because I've built up a heck of a lot of knowledge on Windows apps and I'm, not going to ditch all that and start again.
I also think Android is a great smartphone OS and whilst I can imagine owning an Android Tablet to mooch around the house on, but I still can't imagine it on my main desktop at home. It's far too limiting. Chrome by all accounts will be even more restrictive in features and require an internet connection.
I support small businesses running PCs of all sorts (Windows, Macs & Linux) and the number one issue they have is due to internet problems of one sort or another. I would not want to be in a situation where I couldn't even type out a letter, run an accounts package or do some spreadsheet work if the connection suddenly went down.
Chrome may be getting ready for the internet but the internet is certainly not ready for Chrome.
Google are going back to the 'mainframe'. Chrome OS is basically nothing more than a thin client OS. Google has the servers onsite so going the Chrome OS route inhouse makes total sense. I'm just not sure there will be enough flexibility in the system for all the small & medium sized businesses out there.
I'm worried about Chrome OS as a philosophy too. If you take thing to the logical end, this will mean Google will own all your apps and hold all your data. Where does the application developer fit into this? If you were a developer be happy with one outfit controlling what you could or could not distribute?
Lastly, If you thought Microsoft's monopoly was bad, just wait five years and see how bad it's going to get when Google, Apple (and Microsoft) really start locking things down. They all talk of 'standards' but they're all trying to differentiate, through fair means and foul and I believe there's going to be a massive issue of top level fragmentation which is going to hurt businesss and especially small developers. The web is about to be chopped into pieces and Business will end up having to pay three times (or more) to make sure they're connected to everything.
:D
(not one for sticking to a point and much prefers a good ol ramble)