I don't know who the "many" people are, but it seems to me that there are not many people who know what the operating system is. Even I think that the whole country, think the browser is IE or 360 browser, than know what is the operating system more than the people.
"A lot of people" are not clear what the difference is the browser;
"Many people" do not know what the operating system is;
"A lot of people" don't know the difference between different operating systems;
So, I think "a lot of people" are not very good at talking about what the next operating system is.
Or, more specifically, they don't deserve it.
"A lot of people" do not know the operating system of the macro kernel, micro-kernel, mixed kernel differences; "Many people" do not even know where the operating system kernel is, "many people" do not know what is driving in the operating system ...
My Computer, Office, Chrome, these are the software on top of the operating system. To speak more clearly, like the explorer these things, but the operating system is an auxiliary tool, or even a can be stripped from the operating system, these things, with the operating system of the kernel is completely out of the way.
You see a variety of fancy interfaces, various surface operating system features, most of which are not part of the operating system's core, or even part of the operating system does not match.
You see the various software running in Windows, the complex file management, memory management, process scheduling code, these are the operating system is the core of things.
An operating system as long as the kernel, interface, is a Windows Explorer, or a Linux xterm, or a browser, is not important, the important thing is the kernel.
Win7 's kernel performance (task scheduling, semaphores) more efficient than XP (specific data forget, like 30%), this is the technical content of things, as for the interface, really unimportant.
Therefore, those who think that browsers will become the next generation of operating systems, may be simply the resource manager as the operating system, this is completely wrong to understand.
The browser is again strong, out of the operating system kernel, can not run;
And if a browser can replace the operating system, you must bring an operating system kernel and a large number of drivers, so this is the current operating system to replace the shell, switch to browser, what is the difference? How does the browser run when the kernel is not designed?
I don't think browsers will become next-generation operating systems, most likely the next-generation operating system's shell, or desktop;
I also do not think that the function of the operating system is to provide resource management and shell, which is the most important function, so no time the operating system will not become a browser.