The problem with your argument is that Google is a business, not a research university. It measures success by introducing products that generate revenue, not publishing papers in academic journals.

The two Fry's stores in Los Angeles that I frequent - Woodland Hills and Burbank - were in rough shape during the weeks leading up to Christmas.

The Woodland Hills store (with the "Alice in Wonderland" theme) had nearly empty shelves and practically no shoppers. I was shocked to see this as I walked in. The Burbank store (with the "1950s Sci-Fi" theme) was the same, except the few shoppers that were in the store (perhaps sensing that the store might soon close) were posing for pictures with the sci-fi monsters on display. This was sad to see.

This contrasts with the Best Buy store in the Empire Center down the street from the Burbank Fry's - the parking lot was packed, the shelves were fully stocked, and the shopping activity inside was hectic.

The possible closing of Fry's marks the end of an era in retail sales, and possibly geek culture itself as high-tech goes mainstream.

No.

When people say "Linux on the Desktop" they really refer to an ideology: a computer running the Linux kernel, the GNU system on top of the kernel, and server or application software running on top of the GNU system, with all software licensed under the GNU GPL.

Chrome OS certainly uses the Linux kernel. But the 'magic' of Chrome OS happens on the backend of Google's datacenters, and none of that software is GPL.

In fact, I'd say Chrome OS is the anti-Linux: a vendor (Google) creating a product that uses GPL software (the Linux kernel) when beneficial, and mixing in proprietary software (the back end services) when it isn't. While legal, this clearly violates the spirit of the GPL and the free software movement.

[BTW Qbertino, complements on your English.]