Google Chrome OS

[IH8U]

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html

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.

I have been wondering for a long time now when Google was going to release their own OS.

[Black Viper]

I read about this today on Slashdot. I had to check the calandar and make sure it was not April 1st... hehe.

And I quote from the article linked above:

The software architecture is simple ? Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.

Oh, and I hate to bring up an old thread from September 2008, but this was touched on by me here... lol?
http://bbs.blackviper.com/index.php/topic,1167.msg7008.html#msg7008
I said that they would have to knock out Windows, OS X and Linux... when instead, they are just building on top of Linux...
I was close.

[Spawn]

This could be interesting.  While I am not a fan of Chrome, or its 'fisher price' look, it was a nice first effort.  I see no reason why an OS from Google won't at least be a usable alternative to a pay OS.
 
Spawn

[Spawn]

It appears Google'e announcement was inteded to steal thunder from Microsoft's soon to be announced Gazelle:
 
http://www.osnews.com/story/21793/Gazelle_Applying_Operating_System_Concepts_to_the_Browser
 
Spawn

[IH8U]

I said that they would have to knock out Windows, OS X and Linux... when instead, they are just building on top of Linux...

I knew of Google using a customized Linux OS internally for a long time now so I assumed that if they ever came out with an OS that it would be Linux based. Google building the Chrome OS on top of Linux kernel seems to be natural for them as they support a lot of open source projects including some Linux distros.

It appears Google'e announcement was inteded to steal thunder from Microsoft's soon to be announced Gazelle

I didn't know about Gazelle. It seems this may "OS" may not even see the light of day according to the article. If it does, it will be very interesting to see how much competition arises from Gazelle and the Chrome OS. Thanks for the link!

[couttsj]

Interesting! Microsoft has been toying with this idea for at least the last 15 years. Instead of using a window as a container for a program, the browser page becomes the container. It's not that revolutionary, but it will not come without a lot of pain.

J.A. Coutts

[Spawn]

I didn't know about Gazelle. It seems this may "OS" may not even see the light of day according to the article. If it does, it will be very interesting to see how much competition arises from Gazelle and the Chrome OS. Thanks for the link!

Apparently, Microsoft has a major announcement coming out Monday.  It will probably be about Gazelle or some Cloud work...Office perhaps.

Spawn

[WildcatDan]

I'm very interested to see where Google is going with this.  The Gazelle concept is interesting, and probably is the future of browsing, but is it the future of OS?  I find myself wondering how close the concepts of Chrome and Gazelle are.  The browser is such an integrated part of the OS anymore and you see more and more web elements making their way into Windows.  Sun has an OS Shell running on top of Linux that is entirely Java.  So all this is certainly not far-fetched.  The questions will be: can they develop this concept to handle the local hardware resources while maintaining speed and what kind of security issues will arise?

[Black Viper]

The Gazelle concept is interesting, and probably is the future of browsing, but is it the future of OS?

I do not know.
Kinda silly when you think about it. Making a "new" OS for netbooks "light" and "fast" when (talking about MS) CE has been doing this for years on embedded devices.

[IH8U]

Heres another netbook OS if anyone cares.

http://moblin.org/

[WildcatDan]

It's interesting how many OS choices are out there.  There are several Linux editions focused on lite notebooks.  I came across an interesting one last year called Kolibri.  It's being developed by some guys in Russia.  The last version I downloaded and tried ran and booted up from a floppy.  All this got me thinking about operating systems so I went out for a renewed look and found a bunch.  ReactOS is actually a Windows clone project based on Windows XP.  They intend to make it a free OS that will even install Windows binaries.  Apparently even old OS/2 is still being developed as eComStation.  I plan on keeping my eyes on ReactOs and another interesting project I found called SkyOS. 
 
On the Google front, I really thought they would push Android into the OS market, not Chrome.  After reading up on Gazelle, though, it made more sense.

[Spawn]

I really didn't care for Chrome at first, but that has changed.  I like IE8, but it still is rather slow and some security issues still abound.  Firefox was my main browser, but I have been increasingly unimpressed with the latest version for various reasons.  Opera?  I just couldn't get used to it.

Lately, I have been giving Chrome a new run, and I have come to really enjoy it!  The speed is great, and all around performance has impressed me.

If you have wondered about Chrome, I suggest giving it a test drive.

Spawn

[IH8U]

Spawn have you ever heard of SRWare Iron. It's based on Chrome from Google but they rid the browser of it's privacy defects. The makers of Iron also claim it is faster than Chrome as well. Here's a list a stuff that's different.

http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron_chrome_vs_iron.php

Iron is also available in a portable version which is really nice too. It starts way faster from a flash drive than portable Firefox.

[Spawn]

I have not heard about it, but I will check it out.  Thanks!  Does it function well in W7?

Spawn

[IH8U]

Seems to function no different than Chrome. I haven't had a problem with it in 7 so far.