At the hardware level maybe. But being a PC company doesn't mean that
you only design hardware...
What does a PC require?
Major OS Development (even if it's just a flavor of Linux)
Development, support, and packaging of applications
Support of 3rd party hardware including driver support and validating
Longer warranty lifecycles
Stock in the way of parts for repairs
It's much easier for Google to ship an appliance box that is totally
closed to modification by the end user, that they can slap a 90 day
warranty on, and only have to handle simple tech support requests.
The margins are awful for PC Manufacturers. Why Google would want to
develop their own flavor of Linux and bundle it on low-cost hardware is
beyond me. That's not what they do as a company.
Think about it - Google's entire model is search, searchable content,
and content delivery. It totally does not make sense for them to design
the delivery mechanism as well.
Now a Video on Demand or Tivo type box that targets ads to users? Right
up Google's alley.
Hayes Elkins wrote:
There are but a few components separating a tivo from a full blown PC.
In the future it will be indistinguishable.
