Google had a low-key event today to preview
Chrome OS, its new operating system based on Linux and the Chrome browser. Things are still pretty early -- it's not even in beta yet, let alone on shipping products -- but that's the first official screen shot right there, and the big features are all roughed out. The entire system is web-based and runs in the Chrome browser -- right down to USB drive contents, which show up in a browser tab, and the notepad, which actually creates a Google Docs document. Web apps are launched from a persistent apps panel, which includes Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, and Hulu, among others, and background apps like Google Talk can be minimized to "panels" that dock to the bottom of the screen. Local storage is just used to speed up the system -- everything actually lives in the cloud, so all it takes to swap or borrow machines is a login, and you're good to go. Google also said it's "very committed" to Flash, and that it's looking to hardware accelerate whatever code it can -- although Google didn't have a solid answer to give when asked about Silverlight. Overall, Google was upfront in saying that Chrome OS is focused on very clear use cases for people who primarily use the web, and that it's not trying to do everything: "If you're a lawyer, editing contracts back and forth, this will not be the right machine for you."
As far as going to market, Google's not talking details until the targeted launch at the end of next year, but Chrome OS won't run on just anything -- there'll be specific reference hardware. For example, Chrome OS won't work with standard hard drives, just SSDs, but Google is supporting both x86 and ARM CPUs. That also means you won't be able to just download Chrome OS and go, you'll have to buy a Chrome OS device approved by Google. Interesting move, for sure -- but since the entire OS is
totally open-source as of today, we're sure it'll be hacked onto all kinds of hardware soon enough. (And for the record, the demo was run on an off-the-shelf Eee PC.) Check Google's intro videos after the break!
posted November 19th 2009 12:53PM
Can't wait for the final release in 2015. :D
Are you kidding me, that's much too soon for them to release it.
@matt
sounds more like 4017.
@Saad Rabia
well 2015 will be here in no time if we keep getting fun little videos like that to sit and watch. i mean if i watched that adorable little video again i wouldnt even care about the next 6 years...and BAM! time for cloud os...i mean chrome os
@Saad Rabia
That is if we survive Dec 21, 2012.
@Saad Rabia
Can I keep my extra chairs, google balloons and party poppers at your place for the launch party?
oh, but you are not invited!
@Saad Rabia This looks like an embedded OS, suited more for set top boxes
Looks like crap.
@Saad Rabia I can't wait for "Saad the MS fanboy" to stop anti-google/apple posts in 2015.
Now if EU was all over Microsoft's ass for their web browser... what the hell is gonna happen to Google in EU when this is done?!
I don't even want to start imagining the numbers...
* checks internet banking for any changes *
I am waiting for this OS to release in Europe :)
@Saad Rabia
Sorry M$ drones this will be here a lot sooner than you want
Too cloudy. I don't want to have to be connected to the internet all the time.
@Okay
I agree. I hate the concept of cloud computing in general. I at least want some semblance of privacy (whether it's really there or not!).
@Okay
Agreed. If people thought vendor lock-in through proprietary formats (e.g. AAC, .doc, etc) is bad, they should have a field day with this - none of your data is actually your own. At Google's behest it can all disappear. On top of that, they can scan through anything you have; anything remotely resembling privacy becomes a dream.
All of this for what? Functionality that exists under ANY current operating system (they all have browsers), which you know, actually allow you to use your computer as you want instead of as a dumb terminal.
@Okay
agreed
cloud computing concept still has its flaws
@Okay Well...You don't need to be ALL the time because of their whole sync thing and I'm sure gears.
But besides that I dont see why the cloud is a bad thing. Remember this is on a netbook. I run 3 computers: Desktop, Laptop and Netbook. I won't assume everyone runs 3, but I would like to hope that people with a netbook aren't using it as their main computer. All have their very specific purposes and the netbook's is not to hold a bunch of personal data. In fact I install a different OS on it every couple of months without even thinking about the reformat cause there is nothing on it but the OS.
I might be inclined to agree with you...if google had't explicitly said this is for netbooks (for now ;P)
@Okay
Could be implemented with netbooks from Cell carriers that will have 3G...
But overall, I don't see the point. I can do everything I can with ChromeOS on a netbook with Linux / Windows 7
@kjb434
I agree. I talked to a buddy of mine over at Google and I told him there were some cool things with Google Docs that could be used for making simple databases, but I told him I don't trust Google and he said he wouldn't trust Google with information either.
And on a side note, I have serious doubts about this "no updates" thing.
@Mark
Couldn't agree more, what with the sidekick issue I'd been totally screwed if I lost all my data. I'm not to keen on them owning it all and basically leasing it back to me either. Perhaps they'll let you back up but even still the prospect of working entirely in a browser doesn't really appeal to me. They claim no access to the core of the OS is a good thing, really?
today's weather: cloudy with a chance of chrome os.
yeah, this concept is not for me. i like my files on my own disk, thank you very much.
you all seem to be misunderstanding. you will be able to store stuff on your own machine if you want. google will also implement gears so that when your internet goes down, you'll be able to use non-interactive apps offline (apps will sync data when connection is restored)
google is not off its rocker, it know what its doing. google IS the internet after all
@Okay
The three most used apps on my computer are - Chrome/FF, Skype and itunes (not that I'm particularly attached to it, too lazy to switch to alternate iphone sync programs). And I see a lot of people like me.
I don't know how well offline support will be, but really, cloud computing is the way to go!
@DirtyVegas You're all missin the point: HTML5 (which this will utilize) allows you to cache information offline. This means you could still create all of your documents offline and they would sync when you came back online.
@kjb434
cloud computing is a cool idea in concept, but the infrastructure isn't there for a constant state of connection, and the ability to locally back up is a must for me. just look what happened with the sidekick fiasco. the ability to have everything wherever you go is great in concept, and google's online apps are great about this, but to make it hardware restrictive is very unappealing.
@Okay
Don't forget, all those "floating windows" seem like perfect real estate for Google's revenue stream...ADS
@Okay
Why? that's kind of silly...what are you going to be doing on your computer that you won't be using the internet for? I know that sometimes it goes down, but so would the internet on your non chrome os computer.
Also, if your going to say typing a paper or word processing...you probably need to reference the internet to do that anyways.
The only thing I could think of is watching movies/listening to music.
@Okay When Comcast stops restricting bandwidth to 250GB/month, maybe I will consider joining the "cloud"
@Okay And no It's "not" stored on the internet. IT IS STORED ON GOOGLE SERVERS!
@Okay
Same here. I don't like the idea of having to have an internet connection all the time. And i like the idea of my stuff being right next to someone else's stuff.
I'll stick to my RAID 0+1 Array thank you very much.
@pee tee
Sounds like Crystal Pepsi
@Okay
"Too cloudy. I don't want to have to be connected to the internet all the time."
Agreed!
And this only works when you have a fast net connection to take advantage of this tech. And some places dont have that still.
@Okay
I agree. I don't like the idea of having all my personal data stored on a server far away from me. I also don't understand why we need the cloud anyways. I mean storage is unbelievably cheap nowadays so why not just storing all my things on that 70 $ 1TB HDD?
What I do like about the idea of Chrome OS is being directly connected to the internet without having to start a web browser. But I want to keep all my offline programs to watch a movie, listen to music or just play a game, when my internet connection fails (what happens about every evening at the moment).
So what Google should/could do is making Chrome OS with everything stored on the computer itself and being able to do a backup(with optional password protection) on the cloud, so that if my HDD crashes, I can restore everything from "the cloud", but I always have all my data on my own computer.
I think everyone is always connected nowadays. Even when I turn off my machine at night, the DSL stays on.
@(Unverified) when do you ever use a computer WITHOUT being connected to the internet??
what do you do on it?
woohoo. 2015.
Wow, they've really gone crazy with the tabs
Yeah I kind of think that sort of tab mania would get a little annoying. Can you imagine having say 15 things running how tiny they would be?
@Jason Shaffer
That's why we need 96 by 9 monitors.
@Jason Shaffer
I just have to say that right now using chrome I have 20 tabs open... but that's a bit of a rare case, I'm doing some researching now so that;s why-but usually I have 7-10 tabs open.
btw, people mention what you can't do-games people, games...
Cool, I guess.
"Too Cloudy"
(Best response to date.)
@Seahound
Yea the saying that came to my mind is "when it rains, it pours".
Don't have an internet connection? Good luck.
I wonder how they are going to get hardware compatibility built in? thats already a struggle with linux for users who dont know code (like myself)
@nicholas.brown: By setting a reference system? That's kind of the point.
@nicholas.brown
Funny, I haven't had a hardware issue with Ubuntu or Fedora in about 4 releases (2 years or so). Compare that to my experiences installing XP, Vista, or more recently Win7, where I spend hours finding drivers from various CDs and websites for all the hardware components. In fact, my last two windows installs (1 vista, 1 win7) didn't even successfully add LAN support, so I had to use another computer to find the LAN driver, put it on a USB key, and install it on the new Windows machine before I could go online and find the other goodies like video, sound, and wifi drivers.
Something tells me that, if people can figure that out, they can figure out Google's OS (or Ubuntu for that matter).
@Jorvay
You did something wrong then,when i installed Win7 I didn't install any drivers,Win7 found all my equipment and then when I got online it grabbed the latest drivers for everything,no effort on my part required.
@none of your business He didn't do anything wrong, the drivers for his hardware just weren't natively supported by the OS. I've had precisely the same issue in both Windows 7 and Ubuntu (until a year or so ago, incidentally)
This is going to be an EPIC FAIL.
basically a browser, everything in cloud. only webapps
lol, thats fine for a limited function devices, but for a computer? no chance in hell.
no bt, no porno, no any real games, no real hardware accelerated softwares.
Its so much worse than linux, not to mention windows.
Is google going nuts?
@clevin Excuse me, but what the fuck is wrong with Linux and Windows?