As you’ve probably heard, Google is releasing an Internet browser called Chrome. It’s an early product, but has some innovative features which will make it a compelling product for many. As others have pointed out, Chrome is much more indicative of an attack on Microsoft Windows than other browsers. If it is successful, as I imagine it will be if Google decides to promote it heavily, then it has a number of important implications not the least of which is the concerns about privacy.

Another question is the future of computing freedom. GNU, the project that started free software, is turning 25 years old, but in some ways, the specific goal of a free operating system is outdated. The move towards cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS) means that more and more computing is done through the browser. In fact, as Nick Carr points out, Chrome represents Google’s effort to improve the browser. The end goal, it seems, is to replace Windows and Mac OS X with lightweight, browser-based computers. The day when computers are sold with only a browser is near; traditional programs - downloaded and installed locally - are quickly being replaced by online versions. If the browser is the OS, does Chrome (and Firefox), both free, open source browsers, represent the culmination of the goal of free software advocates?

I’m afraid not. In place of one proprietary set of code, network services provide many more. Hosting photos on Flickr? Using Gmail? Posting to Twitter? Connecting on Facebook? These services all lock in data to some extent. Tinkering is limited so customization falters. As Tim O’Reilly wrote a while back,

“Take note: All of the platform as a service plays, from Amazon’s S3 and EC2 and Google’s AppEngine to Salesforce’s force.com — not to mention Facebook’s social networking platform — have a lot more in common with AOL than they do with internet services as we’ve known them over the past decade and a half. Will we have to spend a decade backtracking from centralized approaches?”

Luckily a group of developers and activists are pushing back against this dependency on third-party lock-in. Blogging at autonomo.us these smart folks are raising the red flag and in the case of Identi.ca, creating more open services to compete with proprietary leaders. Evan Prodromou is the creator of identi.ca, a micro-blogging service which embraces computing freedom to an extent Twitter does not. Unfortunately, the network effects in play make Identi.ca a difficult success story.

So, as you try out Google Chrome, an admittedly exciting product (if it were for Mac…), keep in mind that the sites you are visiting do not embrace the same ethic as Chrome or GNU - they are the new digital silos.

Update: Thanks to Greg Grossmeier, I see another examples of a free network service - Tiny Tiny RSS is an RSS Reader like Google Reader, but it is open source and self-hosted. Check out Greg’s post about the site.