Windows 8 vs. Mozilla OS B2G vs. Chrome OS – An Open Web Race

It seems that not only browsers, but next generation operating systems are also in an open web race.

Earlier this week, Mozilla announced a new project designed to build an open web platform dubbed Boot to Gecko (B2G) which would, at least during its early embryonic phase focus on blending Firefox’s Gecko rendering engine with Google Android code.

There have been plenty of voices calling Mozilla’s Boot to Gecko a potential rival to operating systems such as Android and Windows Phone.

But I don’t see a reason why the Windows client and Chrome OS should be ignored from the list of platforms that B2G will go against.

B2G is designed as a response to “proprietary, single-vendor stacks for application development,” according to Mozilla, an OS set up to “make open web technologies a better basis for future applications on mobile and desktop alike.”

The Boot to Gecko project is certainly ambitious, but Google with Chrome OS and Microsoft with Windows 8 are already doing the same thing if you ask me.

This is the official description of Chrome OS / Chromebooks from Google: “Nothing but the web. Chromebooks are built and optimized for the web, where you already spend most of your computing time. So you get a faster, simpler and more secure experience without all the headaches of ordinary computers.”

Back at the start of June 2011, Julie Larson-Green, Corporate Vice President, Windows Experience revealed: “Windows 8 apps use the power of HTML5, tapping into the native capabilities of Windows using standard JavaScript and HTML to deliver new kinds of experiences. These new Windows 8 apps are full-screen and touch-optimized, and they easily integrate with the capabilities of the new Windows user interface. There’s much more to the platform, capabilities and tools than we showed today.”

To me it sounds like Chrome OS today and Windows 8 in 2012 are two valid alternatives embracing Cloud applications much in the same manner as desktop programs. Users can also add Mozilla’s B2G to this list.

While Chrome OS seems limited to Chromebooks for the time being, I don’t think that Google is not at least exploring the possibility of taking this platform beyond netbooks.

But in the end, B2G appears focused on next generation form factors, mobile devices in particular, rather than on existing machines such as desktops, notebooks or netbooks. So, in a sense, B2G will also be an Android competitor.

Personally, I see B2G and Windows 8 also colliding, since Microsoft has expanded the reach of its next gen Windows client to an array of additional devices by introducing support for ARM and System on a Chip architectures.

It’s easy to see that Mozilla is somewhat late to the operating system game, and that Microsoft and Google will benefit from a head start. Still, Mozilla wasn’t exactly around when the first browser wars were in full swing, and it managed to do rather good in the end.