Chrome OS will, according to Google, be an extremely slim operating system that is intended to get the user online, using the Chrome browser, where Google is already more or less in charge. Google says that Chrome OS is its interpretation of how an operating system should work today is of course built on the open source Linux platform.
"We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be."
Google's vision is that everything will go through the Internet and Chrome OS will be more or less a platform for the browser Chrome, from where users can then access applications online through Google Apps or third-party programs. Chrome OS is Linux-based and will be released with source code available for download, and Google hopes that the community will assist in making Chrome OS an even better operating system with new programs and functions.
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Google Apps is a vital component of Chrome OS |
Chrome OS will be developed for all active platforms today, not just x86 but also ARM that looks to come in strong among netbooks. Even if we can see a close relation to Google's mobile operating system Android Google claims that Chrome OS is better suited for full-size desktop computers and that the two will be easy to tell apart.
"Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010."
The user interface of Chrome OS will be optimized for the hardware limited netbook market. It will be minimalistic to makes full use of the small screens and Google says that users will not have to worry about viruses or other harmful code thanks to the design of the operating system.
Since it will boot in just a few seconds Chrome OS will be Google's way of helping users to get started fast and that it will happen via the Internet. There will not be any support for running applications locally, everything will happen over the Internet, which for long has been Google's vision.
