Google Chrome OS

It's official - Google are developing an operating system for personal computers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8139711.stm

Google is developing an operating system (OS) for personal computers, in a direct challenge to market leader Microsoft and its Windows system. Google Chrome OS will be aimed initially at small, low-cost netbooks, but will eventually be used on PCs as well. Google said netbooks with Chrome OS could be on sale by the middle of 2010. "Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS," the firm said in its official blog. The operating system, which will run on an open source licence, was a "natural extension" of its Chrome browser, the firm said.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/...chrome-os.html
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=20815&tag=nl.e589
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Greenfield/?p=406&tag=nl.e589

They're designing it to be quick, simple, and easy to use, and want it to start in a matter of seconds, allowing people to be surfing the internet in moments.

I've not read the three links above yet (but I have a couple of others), but my thoughts are that this is going to be the first truly web-oriented OS, and may well take full advantage of the cloud.

I, for one, am quite excited. In fact, I've already started making preparations and began practising my grovelling for when our Supreme Overlords take over - I can't wait!

It has been rumored for a very long time now and is finally official. I hope to see it out very soon as well, if mid-2010 was an official timeline most people on here could have it installed along with the new versions of Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2. Haha.

Well, they want to open-source the code later this year, get all the open-source nutters coding for it, and release it in mid-2010.

Reading the various articles around the net (and particularly Google's announcement on its blog), it's clear that Chrome OS is going to be closely linked with the cloud. Indeed, it's being developed with web apps in mind (if anyone is interested, it's being built on top of a Linux kernel), and is being designed with as few distractions on the desktop as possible. It's being directed at the netbook market for now, and as such is being developed with netbooks in mind*, so I can't see you playing games on it from release.

*Quick and easy internet browsing from the word go. Netbooks are built with few resources and little power, as their main purpose in life is as a machine with which to browse the internet. Thus, NETbook. It really annoys me when people buy netbooks as small laptops, expecting, and using them, to replace current computers and laptops. Idiots.

This will be cool for netbooks. Something quick and fast would make me actually want to own a netbook.