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Google Chrome OS is Official

Simon604
edited July 2009 in General
So Google finally made it official that they are actively developing an operating system. Although this rumor has been circulating since the release of Android OS (for mobile phones), we now know that the desktop operating system will be based off Google's Chrome browser (30 million users, 1 % market share) instead of Android.

From the Google Blog:
We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear — computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates.
Although it won't be the "Windows killer" that everyone keeps making it out to be, I'm pretty sure that a lot of people will appreciate Google's vision of an efficient operating system that puts usability above all else. In terms of speed, it will effectively eliminate a major restraining factor because it will run "within a windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. This means that web applications will work immediately on this operating system." In other words, the Windows environment is inefficient and slowing down the internet and Google wants to change that.

From the Google blog:
Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.
It's also clear that the Chrome OS will be most beneficial for people who spend most of their time on the Web and/or on Laptop computers. There are some demographics that simply rely on the internet more than others, for both business, work and pleasure. With this shift in usage, web apps like Google Docs, Pixlr, and Hulu are growing in popularity and complexity. With the Google Chrome OS, your work will stay in sync wherever you go without the added step of uploading things to the internet (ever email yourself an essay or assignment so you could print it at school?) You can basically do all the things you could do on a desktop but on a centralized and social medium so that your experience and access is the same no matter where you connect from.

I've been using Google Chrome since it's release and have already found it to make the web surfing/working experience faster and more reliable. Although Windows will always be around to dominate the desktop computer market, as more and more core desktop functionality moves online, the need for a desktop based operating system becomes less clear...a browser that IS your desktop is starting to make a lot more sense. Due to this I think that computers will look and feel a lot different if the operating system is designed from a "connected" perspective as opposed to an unconnected one that we have grown up with. Google is probably not the only one thinking this way, but they are definitely pushing for innovation which will change the way we look at computers. Get ready for the next stage in computing.

References:
Google Blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html
Mashable: http://mashable.com/2009/07/07/google-chrome-operating-system/
WebWare: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10281997-2.html?tag=mncol;title

Comments

  • Simon604
    edited July 2009
    From Wired magazine:
    Frank Gillett, a VP at Forrester Research, sees Google’s announcement less as an entrant in a conventional OS battle, and more of an attempt to create a new kind of platform that ties together users’ data with online and offline services — which he calls a “personal cloud.”
    Ref: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/07/all-roads-lead-to-chrome-os/
  • ikkaku
    edited July 2009
    say goodbye to any privacy you had!
  • Agentbob
    edited July 2009
    It's suppose to be just a new windows manager for Linux, not a full scale OS. I think it's an alternative to GNU or something. Regardless, this is good stuff.
  • Ether
    edited July 2009
    Maybe they could start by, you know, actually releasing Chrome for Linux first.
  • Ether
    edited July 2009
    google-microsoft-chrome-480.jpg
  • mikeandmore
    edited July 2009
    Agentbob;57485 said:
    It's suppose to be just a new windows manager for Linux, not a full scale OS. I think it's an alternative to GNU or something. Regardless, this is good stuff.
    The key idea of chrome OS should be the "computing cloud" service which google provide. It's only a thin client for user.

    BTW: As far as i see, it's not very possible to provide a nonGNU userland for linux kernel.As far as i see, it's not very possible to provide a nonGNU userland for linux kernel.
    :tongue:

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