BANGALORE: In his 2009 book ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ former Google employee Douglas Edwards describes the company’s fear that ‘the Beast of Redmond would awake’. Translation: That Microsoft Corporation, headquartered in Redmond, Seattle, would realize just how powerful the small start up had become.

Those days are long gone, as Google and Microsoft are now openly and aggressively competing on the market. The latest missile to be fired from Google is the Asus Chromebit. The size of a cigar, it is a portable PC that can be plugged into any LCD screen, which will turn it into an automatic computer monitor.  The best part? It costs less than $100.

Like the Chromebook and Chromecast before it, the new device runs on Google’s custom built Chrome operating system (the company has very consistent branding!) which is designed for our modern, constantly wi-fi connected world.

The advantages of such a device are clear: People are now just as likely to use Google Docs and Spreadsheets as Microsoft Word and Excel. Also, the Chrome OS is intended for internet use and pays close attention to security issues.

Google has long been the queen of the consumer tech sector, but it still lags behind Microsoft in the education and business applications space. The company is marketing its chrome products heavily in schools and colleges, and to a lesser extent, in government agencies and businesses.

The push is because of innovations in technology that have blurred the line between phones, PCs and Televisions. Companies are now racing to come up with the new iPhone, the revolutionary product that offers a two in one combo of previously distinct technologies.

Intel will launch a similar device called the Intel Compute Stick, and Dell already has the Wyse Cloud Connect out on the market. However, these devices are still rather niche, and JP Gownder, an analyst with the research firm Forrester has a theory as to why.

He explains that in using these PC sticks, you still need a way to interact with the software it runs- like a physical mouse or a keyboard. (Touchpad software can help with this, but to an extent)

“A device like this has utility, but the problem is interface,” he said “The utility is not as cut and dried as it may seem”

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