This could be big. I hope they do it right.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.htmlIntroducing the Google Chrome OS
7/07/2009 09:37:00 PM
It's been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome
browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed
Google Chrome for people who live on the web searching for
information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just
staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that
browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So
today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of
Google Chrome the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt
to re-think what operating systems should be.
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. Because we're
already talking to partners about the project, and we'll soon be
working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision
now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.
Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome
OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and
get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal
to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place
on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going
back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security
architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses,
malware and security updates. It should just work.
Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are
working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market
next year. The software architecture is simple Google Chrome running
within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For
application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based
applications will automatically work and new applications can be
written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these
apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based
browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the
largest user base of any platform.
Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was
designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from
phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created
for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being
designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size
desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and
Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the
benefit of everyone, including Google.
We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear computers
need to get better. 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. And any
time our users have a better computing experience, Google benefits as
well by having happier users who are more likely to spend time on the
Internet.
We have a lot of work to do, and we're definitely going to need a lot
of help from the open source community to accomplish this vision.
We're excited for what's to come and we hope you are too. Stay tuned
for more updates in the fall and have a great summer.
Posted by Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management and Linus Upson,
Engineering Director
---------------------------------------------------------------------
