Google chrome operating system announced

Google, less than 24 hours after bringing a number of its major services out of beta, has announced its first foray into providing users with a free, desktop OS alternative. Introducing the Google Chrome Operating System (GCOS).

A post to The Official Google Blog states:

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010.

The release of a desktop OS is in response to current operating systems which Google says, “were designed in an era where there was no web.” GCOS will be developed around the Chrome browser with Google focusing on speed and simplicity. Interestingly, security is going to be tackled in such a way that, “users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.”

Here’s a run down of the key features detailed in this announcement:

• GCOS is open source and will run on both x86 and ARM platforms
• Netbooks are already planned to be shipped with GCOS next year
• The OS consists of the Chrome browser and a new windowing system built on top of the Linux kernel
• All application development will be done for the web using your favorite web technologies
• Any apps developed for GCOS will automatically work on other operating systems because they target the browser rather than the underlying OS
• GCOS is a totally separate project to Android, but there is some overlap

Google state that GCOS is a response to the needs of users and the feedback the company has received, saying:

People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don’t want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates.