A new operating system from Google is being designed for people who spend most of their computing time on the Internet.
Chrome OS is an open-source operating system that will target netbooks first, but will eventually move all the way up to desktop PCs. In announcing Chrome OS, the Official Google Blog says simplicity, speed and security are the goals.
The operating system will essentially be a tweaked version of Google Chrome, with a different windowing system, running on top of a Linux kernel. The emphasis is obviously on Web applications, such as Google's word processing and e-mail services, and Google is encouraging Web developers to keep creating Internet-based applications for all platforms.
For security, Google plans to build protection from malware and viruses directly into the operating system. "It should just work," the blog says.
Google clarified that Chrome OS is completely separate from Android, which is a more traditional operating system with a wide variety of applications. Chrome OS, by comparison, is intended for PC users that live mostly on the cloud.
And that's all we know. The real substantive details won't come until the fall. The New York Times reports that the software will go online this year, and netbooks will start using it in the middle of 2010. Windows alternatives that favor speed and simplicity tend to excite me, but I've yet to be convinced that I don't need a full-fledged operating system, even on a netbook. We'll see if Google can popularize the cloud for good.
