Google Announces Own OS (Google Chrome OS)

Ouch. Just as Microsoft was poised to continue its netbook dominance with Windows 7, Google on Wednesday announced an OS of its own, Google Chrome OS, which will run on both x86 and ARM systems.

The emphasis of the OS is the same as what netbooks were originally designed for: light, Web-based computing. Obviously, Windows XP wasn't designed for such a scenario, but its relative light weight, low cost, and familiarity have made it a big hit with netbook buyers.

Google's new open-source OS will almost certainly beat XP and Windows 7 on cost, and will be lighter weight, but there's no telling how it will be to actually use. The relative dearth of Linux on netbooks also shows that people tend to prefer a more Windows-like environment. Google's blog entry about the OS says:

"The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the Web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work."

According to Google, the Chrome OS runs "within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel," and will eventually run on everything from netbooks to full desktop PCs. That's the key differentiator between the full-blown Chrome OS and Google's Android, which will start appearing in netbooks in the next few months (Google says there will be areas of overlap for the two operating systems, netbooks being the main one).

From a developer standpoint, the Chrome OS is good news, because there's basically no new platform to write for—any browser-based app will work with Chrome, just as it will in any browser on any OS.

It remains to be seen how the Chrome OS will affect companies like DeviceVM, which provides a quick-boot Linux-based environment that can be quickly loaded before Windows. DeviceVM, and rival Phoenix Technologies, provide access to the Web and multiple apps in seconds, far less time than Windows needs to load.

"The announcement of the Google OS further validates Splashtop's value proposition to consumers who are demanding instant-on, easy to use, secure computing," said Mark Lee, co-founder and chief executive of DeviceVM, in a statement provided to PCMag.com. "The market has been moving towards an instant-on model for several years now, and DeviceVM has already seen tremendous success in the space, with tens of millions of consumers already using Splashtop today, and 8 of the top 10 PC OEMs shipping Splashtop on devices this year.


Google says it is already talking with "multiple OEMs," and that we can expect Chrome netbooks to hit store shelves in the second half of 2010—yup, you've got a year to wait. Will you have Windows 7 on your netbook by then?

That is the sensible thing to do anyway. As it is now, you cannot even get it RIGHT NOW even if you wanted to. It will NOT be available to manufacturing until 2nd Quarter of next year. Some people have been saying this is MS killer but I doubt it. From what I have read, it is going to be a lightweight OS (no unneccessary graphics), directly competing with Windows 7.

As it is, it is a straight fight between Google and MS. I bet MS will win. The good thing about this kind of competition is that we developrs and users win. No more buggy code, see what Firefox did to IE. Better products is the result of all these competitions. At the end of the day, who wins. It is neither MS, Google or any of the companies out there. It is we the users.

No rational person would want a web based OS.
Except google have some security inovations, this thing is already doomed.
Google software seems to always miss the point anyway.

The whole thing sounds crazy, whats their kernel going to be? Linux? Or are they going to create one from scratch (incompatibilities will fry it quicker than it happened for Vista).

@ Beaf The Google Web OS is actually meant for heavy internet users (like my humble sef) and I think it is quite a great idea, and an outstanding motivation to web 2.0 enthusiasts all over the world.

My only regret is that they are a bit loud mouthed. I wish they surprised Microsoft by launching the product suddenly, and not announcing their "intention" to do so. Hope Microsoft doesn't do something about this "Web OS" innovation, because I love Google Corporation.

Microsoft have nothing to worry about. This is nothing other than a variant of Linux. Hello, there are many variants and packages already, I very much doubt google would bring anything that can challenge MS to the table.

ah, at last there is worthwhile competition for microsoft besides weak apple!

well thumbs up for research and development
I think the chrone OS will be a success b/cos most simulations are gradually becoming web-based,but i quite agree with beaf; we are in the era of illegal system penetration,in lieu how reliable is the user-security features of the chrone OS Besides the web is too open,Microsoft has the resources to come up or improve its OS.with these,the chrome might not be able to create a healthy competition,even though it is rooted on a different platform,it might end up being second to microsoft like linux,apple and the like.

Let's even see the thing at work before we run more analysis.

hello my name is aik. pls if you are a celebrity,lawyer,footballer,business man, and any kind of business you do .i do what we call personal email address eg YOURNAME@YOURCHOICE.COM. i will do it for you at a very cheap rate .i understand Nigeria conditions.i am use it to it. use it to build your business .call me 08060032733

then call me on 08060032733

I read this over the weekend and i must say that i found it interesting. I just hope google don't come stuck like netscape.
Like every new project, it'll have a few problems earlier on. Fingers crossed, they'll come good.

. . .One thing about Netscape. They were selling their browser!

Microsoft gave us the free browser. So the web is now democratic.

A lot of the anti-MS religion is down to the bitternes of netsape after MS won (and even planted a giant IE logo in netscapes fountain  ).
MS is better for the average joe than linux ever will be.

any competition is good enough besides steve jobs!

Thing is google is already very late in the cloud computing market. MS, Amazon and others have been there and dominate. . . Cloud computing is already a failure, so will chrome os based on a failed concept.

Why are we on the same wave length? 

I bought the first ever eeepc - 7inch version, and while everything works, it still not a match for windows OS. After enduring it for three months etc. I had to return it and get the bigger brother, but with windows installed on it.