Chrome OS to launch this fall

[Firestrider]

You are able to download the Chromium OS source code, put your own Linux packages in, and compile it for your system now if you want, but when it comes out to the public Chrome OS will only be available on designated netbooks and no "installed" applications will be allowed.

The reason why it will only be on designated netbooks is because of the optimized boot path firmware. Google wants these netbooks to cold boot in less than 5 seconds. The only way to do that is to have control on everything... down to the hardware. Choosing the best wireless card, graphics card, etc in Linux for power management / performance is important also.

In a sense this is like what Apple does with OSX on Macs, but instead of restricting the end-user to put OSX on Apple-branded computers only, Chromium OS can be put on any hardware for free but only Google "approved" netbooks will have that optimized firmware/drivers and be fully supported by Google.

As far as applications... everything will be web-based... so Google Docs, Google Mail, Google Talk, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Only HTML, CSS, JS and Flash/Silverlight/Java and server-based languages like ASP.NET, PHP, and CFM. There will be native-like applications later with Native Client (NaCl) but that won't be for a while until they can work out the portability, and security model. There will be a build in probably open source (maybe based off VLC?) media player in the Chrome web browser when Chrome OS ships. There will also be a web application "marketplace" here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore

 

[Souljacker]

I'm not really impressed with this, like I wasn't impressed with Chrome browser. What I AM impressed with, is android as I have the HTC incredible and it truly is a magnificent operating system for a phone.

I get the whole concept of *diversify* to maximize potential but I think that Google is over-reaching themselves by a little bit. I personally think that they should stick to polishing Android before they start to take on the PC market and push all this *cloud* nonsense - which is just another way of saying "let us control all your personal data for you, we know best after all".

I like linux as much as the next girl (posting this on a Lucid Lynx system), but I don't see Google overthrowing Canonical's Ubuntu as the joe schmo user distro of choice, nor do I see all the linux enthusiasts leaving behind their debians and fedoras and mints to flock to Google's variation.

It might be a novelty and a lot of people will go to buy it thinking *wow it's google, it must be like Android there's going to be all this cool stuff!* and then when they get it and see it's basically just an overpriced browser.... Well they will go back to whatever they were using before.

I'll stick with Windows 7 for my media, gaming, and office productivity needs.

 

[baarod]

7 starter works well. I miss very little on my netbook. What annoys you? Remember that these distros only serve to get you on the web -- all of them, linux, Microsoft and Google. That's all they are for and nothing more. The rest is cake.

Yeah, I understand that...and I think that Win7 Starter is great for someone who isn't looking to do much. However, netbooks are getting more powerful, and some people (myself included) are picking them up for reasons more than getting on the net. I bought mine to take on business trips, where I use Photoshop and Dreamweaver CS5 on a regular basis. Starter just seems to limited to me, but I understand that could be because I'm more of a "power user" than a lot of people who buy netbooks.

Photoshop and Dreamweaver CS5 on that tiny screen maxed out at 2GB RAM and an Atom processor? You must be taking some LOOONG business trips regardless of the OS!

 

[blackroseMD1]

Photoshop and Dreamweaver CS5 on that tiny screen maxed out at 2GB RAM and an Atom processor? You must be taking some LOOONG business trips regardless of the OS!

Haha, yeah, it's a PITA, but I get my work done and that's what counts.