Google announces Chrome OS

By on Jul 8, 2009 at 7:45 AM
General July 8, 2009

It all started with a browser (well, actually it started as search but you know what we mean). After growing out of web pages and applications, Google created the Chrome browser and now the behemoth is leaping beyond that and getting into the computer OS game. Naturally, the search giant’s new cloud-friendly OS is going to be open source and will run on x86 and ARM chips. Google has decided to get its feet wet by targeting the netbook market first, then more capable computers later. The new operating system is intended to be lightweight so that it starts up quickly and you can get going without having to wait too long for items to load up and other processes to run. We’ll see if this new venture becomes a success, and if you’re wondering what will become of Android, Google has this to say:

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.

With the meticulous nature of Google, we can expect this to be a top-notch operating system but sometimes data-driven features don’t always make for the best user experiences. Let us also not forget that the Chrome browser, though still in its infancy, fell short of many expectations. We’ve still got plenty of time before Chrome OS materializes so we doubt Redmond and Cupertino are shaking in their boots just yet. Anyone excited?

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  • msknutson

    I personally would love to see a light OS alternative for netbooks that “just works.” I have a Dell Inspiron mini12 netbook that is physically limited to 1GB RAM. I’ve tried XP, Win7, Ubuntu 8.04, Ubuntu 9.04 and Kubuntu 9.04, and none of them provide fully satisfactory speed or the hardware support. Windows is slow, and Ubuntu and variants just don’t seem to provide support for 100% of the existing features (like limiting video to 1024×768 rather than the native 1280×800) w/o major effort. If ChromeOS could be like a light, fast OS like QNX, for example, it’d be a winner. A long time ago QNX came out with a web browser and realtime OS that fit on a floppy disk, and was lightning fast. I know that this will not be enough for ripping/ burning/ playback / etc; requirements, but it’d be a good start.

  • iDavey

    What’s with this Chrome bashing??
    It’s the only browser that offers maximum screen real estate besides Safari. But where it beats Safari, IMHO, is the separate processes. I like to be able to close a tab that has frozen, and not lose my whole window. It’s so simple…I often think to myself why nobody has done this till now.

    And for the OS. People saying they want games…videos…Nvidia 3D Crysis playing goodness. It’s supposed to be a lightweight, netbook type OS. Meaning the minimal operation. People who get netbooks are not looking to have a full multimedia device. I’m sure it will do music and video up right. But hoping for full game support…come on.

    With that said…if they have Android going good on a netbook. This should be easy pickings for Google. And with the name behind it…it will most likely sale. Will it beat out MS…or even Apple. I highly doubt it. But it will gain a good share most definitely.

  • WazzuKirk

    If you want all of your browsing information to be stored by Google, go right ahead and use this OS. Google is a terrible company with subpar products. They only thing that is decent is the search engine, but it records everything which I totally hate.

  • John

    @iDavey I think the reason no one has thought of it before is because it is a bit of a resource hog having each tab as a separate process. Reasonable men can differ on if its the right way to go.

  • dannyomo

    Agreed. I can usually open Chrome, finish finding what I needed, and close the laptop by the time Firefox or IE have even opened.

  • dannyomo

    UNR, Ubuntu Netbook Remix, is quite fast on my Asus eeePC 900a. With the 4GB SSD, UNR installed using ext4 (no swap), it starts in 30 seconds from dead off and I can be on the web within a couple seconds after that.

  • joe

    I freaking love Google Chrome, and wont use anything else unless there is a specific site or web app for school that only uses IE. Other than that, Chrome beats IE in every category, and Firefox in a lot, just wait till Chrome can support addons like Firefox. I am definitely looking forward to a Google OS, I will wipe my PC clean and start running it the first day I can.

  • Nikolaus

    What about Goobuntu? It is a Ubuntu distro for internal use at Google. Apparently half of the 20,000 employees use it from time to time, for years now, and Mark Shuttleworth is cool with it. Wouldn’t that be a much better starting point for Chrome OS than starting from scratch? I think Chrome OS should be based on Ubuntu and incorporate the larger community which is already working very hard to make Ubuntu the best linux experience possible!
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goobuntu

  • Jayrodathome

    The chrome browser does not suck. It was the fastest browser until Apple dropped Safari 4. That is quite an achievement. The first browser they make; in beta; the fastest. Remember “in beta”
    It has a clean interface, It had only 1 text bar across the top (super-bar) which works great and the cover flow style history at startup, not to mention multi-threaded processes. All of these Microsoft and firefox hadn’t done yet. Chrome was a very innovative browser and it forced other companies like Microsoft and Apple to adopt these innovations. It did all of this “in beta”

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