Google Chromium OS – It Is For Real! And It Is Linux!
- Is Google Going To Reinvent The Netbook Or Just Improve On The User Experience?
- Google Shows Off Its Concept UI For Google Chromiun OS On Tablet PC
- Apple Has A Tablet, Now Google May Have One As Well – Are You Excited Yet?
- Google Chromium Netbooks Specifications – What Do You Think?
- Google Plans On Using A Browser Logon For Chromium OS
Google has officially announced that it needs developers, partners, and the open source community to get this operating system ready for use by next year. Google states that the new operating system will function entirely in a browser and that all application functions will be done online.
Here is what Google says will be great about the new operating system:
First, it’s all about the web. All apps are web apps. The entire experience takes place within the browser and there are no conventional desktop applications. This means users do not have to deal with installing, managing and updating programs.
Second, because all apps live within the browser, there are significant benefits to security. Unlike traditional operating systems, Chrome OS doesn’t trust the applications you run. Each app is contained within a security sandbox making it harder for malware and viruses to infect your computer. Furthermore, Chrome OS barely trusts itself. Every time you restart your computer the operating system verifies the integrity of its code. If your system has been compromised, it is designed to fix itself with a reboot. While no computer can be made completely secure, we’re going to make life much harder (and less profitable) for the bad guys
Most of all, we are obsessed with speed. We are taking out every unnecessary process, optimizing many operations and running everything possible in parallel. This means you can go from turning on the computer to surfing the web in a few seconds. Our obsession with speed goes all the way down to the metal. We are specifying reference hardware components to create the fastest experience for Google Chrome OS.
There is still a lot of work to do, and we’re excited to work with the open source community. We have benefited hugely from projects like GNU, the Linux Kernel, Moblin, Ubuntu, WebKit and many more. We will be contributing our code upstream and engaging closely with these and other open source efforts.
Does this mean that we can all dump Windows? I seriously doubt this will be the case. But what I believe will happen is that for many consumers this will be a viable alternative. For those who only surf the Internet, send email and the like; this may be ideal.
What I also see is that with Google behind the project this is going to be a giant shot in the arm for Linux and the entire Linux community.
So what do we really have? Sounds like some kind of a modified browser that will run Web application.
What do you think?
Comments welcome.
8 Comments
Dave
November 20th, 2009
at 3:21pm
Doubt whether it will make much of a dent in Microsoft’s almost monopolistic share of the market. It will need some serious pushing – and what of the thousands (millions, even!) of existing apps? They will surely not run under Google’s new system.
mhz
November 20th, 2009
at 7:33pm
Finally all those companies who pollute the water supplies are going to ecstatic that something else comes up first when you do a Google search for “chromium.”
Bobzilla
November 20th, 2009
at 8:53pm
It is real and it is Linux. I have not dug down into all the inner workings, but basically what loads is the Linux kernel, X and window manager and one application… Chrome browser. All other applications are web apps and run in the browser. Chrome OS is not designed to replace desktop OS like Windows, Mac, and Ubuntu. It is a Netbook OS.
Ron Schenone
November 21st, 2009
at 6:18am
Bobzilla,
Exactly. Chrome OS will be for Netbooks. But depending on the continued popularity of Netbooks, it could put a minor dent in the sales of Windows.
Bobzilla
November 21st, 2009
at 2:13pm
Ron,
Only time will tell, however I can’t see this type of OS competing with desktops. Microsoft will not even flinch over lost sales of Windows to Chrome OS.
Zergy
November 24th, 2009
at 3:17pm
It will fail.
They are attempting to appeal the less tech savvy web only user base there are many problems with that.
1. The OS will more than likely not come standard on the netbook so the user will need to install it on their own
2. Web Apps pretty much fail they will run poorly due to being java based oh wait it can’t have java unless it is built into the OS/ Browser
3. Should a web server for these apps go down the entire App is compromised for the apps hosted there
4. How will users store files if it’s web based?
5. The Linux Kernel itself can create so many problems for your average user it’s not even feasible for Google to provide all of this tech support for free (No offense to Linux it’s just that A LOT can go wrong)
6. Yes I understand that this based towards the netbook
segment of the market
7. This renders a perfectly good storage device useless unless they allow for on disk/ ssd applications as basic files will never use up all of the space
8. There are things you CAN do on a netbook but CAN’T on a web based OS unless hard coded into the browser
E.G Bit Torrent, iTunes, etc
9. While fast due to the lack of applications it lacks overall usefulness.
10. Most netbooks don’t have disk drives how will they get the os on with an ISO
Useful Information: The Netbook segment of the market is currently unstable due to the impulsive consumers which this market was created by.
The netbook segment of the hardware market usually consists of people who do not really understand computers and their uses and more than likely do not understand how to install an OS.
No hate against google or linux i just dont see how it would work
markzenegar
December 7th, 2009
at 5:10pm
Announced in July 2009 and based on its Chrome web browser and a Linux kernel, OS Chrome is free, easy, fast and secure. Note, however the majority of information about Google Chrome OS still vague, and the version that is unveiled is not final. It is especially Google to offer drivers to run their OS on most machine as they wants to make a real success so Google going work together with Acer, Asus, Adobe, Freescale, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba, Texas Instruments, and the Asus where AsusNetbooks would be part of the first machines to use Chrome OS …
Continued at:
http://www.techarena.in/review/18377-google-chrome-os-chromium-os.htm
Richard Karpinski
December 15th, 2009
at 2:09pm
Hey guys, it’s OPEN SOURCE, so it can do ANYTHING.
In lower case, I expect to run it in a virtual machine on any laptop or desktop machine I use regularly.
I already find the Chrome browser almost addictive. It does not get in my way, and that’s before the extensions start showing up.
Speaking of extensions, I have no doubt that there will be versions which interface to other virtual machines for disk and local web service and “remote operation” of non-web apps.
What else do I need? Page waits won’t be very long when the server is on the same laptop.
Don’t worry, be happy.