Google is starting to respond to questions about the just announced Chrome operating system. In a short FAQ today they talked about cost and initial partners.
First of all, the software will be free, which was an easy assumption to make since it will be open source. Like Android, Google will not charge users or device manufacturers to use the Chrome OS.
Yesterday Google said they were already working with device manufacturers to roll out Chrome OS devices late next year. Today they announced at least some of those partners: Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments.
Acer and ASUS are the no. 1 and no. 2 netbook manufacturers worldwide. HP and Lenovo are also large netbook manufacturers. Freescale, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments are chip companies that Google is likely working with to ensure a good user experience. What I’d really like to know is if Google is working with these or any other partners to release products off the ARM or Atom processors. A desktop or even dual core laptop running Chrome OS would be a compelling device too.
Google is clearly aiming Chrome at Windows, and focusing less on battery management (Android’s strength) to focus on robust driver support. Users will not be happy unless they can plug any printer, camera, or other peripheral device into these computers and have them work properly.
The other focus is on speed, which is why Google is working so closely with the chip guys. This isn’t going to just be Linux with a browser bolted on. It will be (or should be) a compelling user experience with super fast boot and web surfing times.
“Users will not be happy unless they can plug any printer, camera, or other peripheral device into these computers and have them work properly.”
And Google has a one-year timeline on doing this?
Time to dust off that Beta tag…
ChromeOS is the new Dwight Schrute: “Do you want to form an alliance with me?”
thats what im saying: you dont make an OS in < 10 yrs. It takes time for compatibility not only for devices but also the hardware (cpu, mobo, hdd, etc.)
good luck Google! i hope you dont divert too much resources… who knows, YHOO might return!
They are not starting from scratch.
“It takes time for compatibility not only for devices but also the hardware” You think they don’t know this? You make this sound like google is a car company trying to make an OS.
It’s linux. Stop talking.
She’s blond, she’s probably never heard of linux.
Yeah linux is the awesomest desktops softwares anywhere in the internets! It’s like… 1% or something! Talk about winnings over the Microsofts!
drivers not required in 2010. USB will be universal.
But all this is built on goog text money?
What does USB have to do with drivers? All printers use USB, but you still need drivers for them. Same goes for any other peripheral. USB is the peripheral standard already, but drivers are still needed for everything.
Besides, the main problems as far as drivers will be with the computer hardware itself, not the peripherals. If people try installing GCOS over their default Windows installation and their graphics card/NIC card/etc. isn’t recognized, it will turn them off to the OS altogether.
Because this OS is based off Linux, but a distro with an actual budget and branding, compatibility shouldn’t be a problem. If anyone can pull this off, it’s Google.
ChromeOS: Did you get your tickets?
MSFTBing: To what?
ChromeOS: The gun show. [kisses bicep]
printer, camera, what else? sure you don’t expect to do video editing on your netbook…
Phones and music players, maybe mice…
well, you know. it’s linux. if you can’t find a driver, write one.
ummm that works for programers and geeks… not for suzie smit the soccer mon, or her dorky husband
Seriously, any device that is popular is supported in linux in a matter of months.
They’re building it on top of Linux. There’s not much it doesn’t support natively.
presumably they’ve been working on this for at least 18 months already. Operating systems take years to get right.
take it easy guys. Linux has been around for 18 years. There are plenty of drivers, and netbooks don’t really have much hardware, you know…
Why is everyone taking on google so fiercely?
I want a Crunchpad with Chrome pre-installed
I HOPE that its actually a rebranded android based OS
android with a native chrome renderer and with app’s ripped out make much more sense than anything else
this will enable the device manufacturers to do a MUCH better job…
regards
John Jones
“A desktop or even dual core laptop running Chrome OS would be a compelling device too.”
How would you know? Have you seen the OS?
perhaps you have not realized that the OS already exists, albeit in broken parts. Chrome is already available, based on the Skia library, which sits on top of , which sits on top of linux. The only thing missing in the chain is the windowing system, for which we have no details but most probably will branch from xorg
*on top of (missing window system here)*
And somewhere in there lies Crunchpad Inc.
can’t delete comments but there should have been a question mark at the end of that.
What’s the revenue model for ChromeOS?
more users online = more eyeballs exposed to Adwords = more clicks = more revenue for Google
this just really made me double take, because it’s exactly right. google is diverting hundreds of millions or billions into getting more people online, but when they get there, they are getting to a place which could very well be shifting towards a Bing equilibrium. they might end up knocking msft where it hurts but taking serious losses to do so if it affects the needle even a few points and lets Bing claw a few more points of share.
even so, at least it would be fair, which I believe is Google’s goal.
If Bing Search out-innovates Google and wins so be it.
Not sure how ChromeOS equates to more people going online? Are more people going to buy notebooks now because it comes with ChromeOS?
considering the manufactor does not have to pay for an OS, that reduces the overall cost of the device does it not?
Sure, but how does that equate to more people going online? Manaufactures have been selling computers without an OS for some time now. You’ll still need to pay for broadband access.
Luis,
I have wondered the same thing and then I ran across some of these stories.
http://gigaom.c...trum-land-grab/
I think Google is hoping that the old analog TV spectrum will be utilized for broadband internet connections, and they could be getting into the business of getting more people connected to the web through this project. So, if they can get people to use their OS, and provide the means to get people online, then there isn’t another company that they would be relying on for their business model. I think this is their overall goal, it will be interesting to see if they can achieve it.
it is going to get more people online, the same way that with the iphone the usage of mobile data networks skyrocketed
The iphone is a mobile device with an obvious revenue stream. Giving away a free OS still does not equate to getting more people online.
can a default freeware browser kill the explorer browser? the future is not about browsers it about building a “fan base” around a website. software and browsers are a dime a dozen. hardware wars are over. let the fan wars begin.
The various technology wars of the past were driven by the entry cost. People felt compelled to justify the hundreds or thousands they put down on a product, and did so by bringing the competition down.
That’s no longer the case. The entry cost of Facebook ($0) doesn’t wipe out my toy fund, so I can still try out Orkut ($0) and Friendfeed ($0).
Wow. Awesome line up!
Will Wait and Watch..rather than commenting on it now..
Where is Dell?
So when are they expected to release a teaser/demo?
This is going to be so hyped… I’m going to start camping out for 2010
Intel and AMD are noticeably missing from this list, although it does not mean they are not in on the game, because it’s way early.
Having ASUS and Acer lined up means Google is keen on riding the Taiwan Express on this journey.
Perhaps you forgot to mention Apple? fat chance – although it would be nice to have a unibody netbook
Ultimately it will depend how central the device manufacturers will make this to their overall strategy. While everyone like to diss MS, most netbook/notebook manufacturers are likely to think twice about it.
If we just see alibi Chrome OS versions of standard devices come out (can we please go back to calling it GooOS?) it is unlikely to catch on for a long time, as this will seriously hamper SW adaptation for the platform.
I think they will try an Apple and draw the line on certain devices.
Adobe is interesting, looks like Flash is in.
What makes my ears perk up is that Adobe is listed as a partner. Does that mean that Chrome OS will come with Flash and/or AIR?
a web browser without flash would be missing A LOT of the web’s content
I actually wonder if microsoft plans to port silverlight to linux
It is already being ported by Novell, search for Moonlight
yep but it’s based on mono. perhaps microsoft should take over
who uses silverlight anyways.
beyond Flash the partnership with Adobe could even mean “Photoshop for Chrome OS” (I likes the sound o’ dat)
Also, some of Googles own services utilize Flash, as Google Analytics and the street view in Google Maps.
Nice, more resources pulled out of Search & Advertising into this, the better chance for Microsoft Bing to win over Google Search.
As long as Linux in general doesn’t run Outlook, no chance for any destro to win any market share over windows
You don’t think Microsoft is taking the same risks with Bing? Their core business is operating systems and office applications. Like Google, they’ve hit a point of diminishing returns in their core business. You can’t go much higher than #1.
Microsoft is presently Google’s biggest threat in the advertising and search markets, and the best way to subdue them is to keep Microsoft tied up on the Internet while forcing them to triage their OS and application dominance.
Right now it looks like it will keep going until one company’s investors blink, and both companies are still extremely profitable. This could go on for a while.
the future is not about browsers it about building a “fan base” around a website. software and browsers are a dime a dozen. hardware and software wars are over. let the fan wars begin.
Clearly, this a big day for SMARTBOOKS!
All of those Chrome partners are part of the smartbook consortium —
http://jkonther...-os-smartbooks/
I think that Mike is over-hyping this. I wouldn’t really think much about it until they show what they made. They will use Debian for core, strip it and use some of the lighter window managers for X to run browser. I am really looking forward to this, also to the CrunchPad, however I am skeptical why they didn’t show anything, Wave for example was crashing during the presentation and that didn’t spoil the excitement, I fear that they don’t really have much at this point, and as some of you said, you can’t make OS overnight, even when you take Linux. Is it really fair to call something myOS when they are using essentially branded Linux.
And why can’t they release Chrome for Mac again ..??
Woooooooow. The game is on.
isn’t 2010 around the timeframe for whitespaces as well?
Competition is good, Google has fired the first round…Redmond is now loading their guns.
What fantastic news for Linux in general!
I hope this will mean more driver support across the board for Linux. And who knows, maybe we’ll get a big influx of hardware and software optimized for Linux.
Add one more to DistroWatch
Now I need to get back to building my alter to our ever expanding Google overlords.
Aiming it at Windows?
Nah. They want it installed on high end HDTVs.
Mike, can you put on hold the launch of CrunchPad until ChromeOS is ready?
Foolishly, I always dreamed that Google Pack should be complete OS, eventually it is ready to become that. “Google Chrome OS” was an expected announcement for me. Google actually built Chrome just like an OS under hood. Remember, Chrome presentation of internal architecture where they say that very tab, JS engine, Image render engine and video player all will be running on separate processes.
I think it is a step in right direction. MS has not changed in last two decades from their approach of “everything is OS dependent”. Unwillingly, they tried to sallow hard pill of “Network is OS”, but their every attempt has same flavor to tie it same old boat “OS”.
All the more, it was expected to be Linux only, as they embrace Open Source in most of their approach. E.g Android, AJAX, Java on App Engine/Android etc. Yes, Linux has more adaptations than total numbers of Michal Jackson songs till his heart attack. I hope Chrome will finally put it to rest.
I always believed that mankind will move to have single brain and Google is on that path by making web as a center.
Cheers to Chrome ….. will be waiting for this final incarnation of “web as OS”.
http://bit.ly/Js84u
I hope they put this thing on a Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered netbook. That would be a killer combo!
Mike this is exacly what you should do with your CrunchPad – “sell” it to those companies.
Think of it as for ex. “Sony – CrunchPad”.
Chrome OS is only a Google’s wet dream of cloud computing
ASUS Express Gate is like the same basic concept, they just dont sell it as the new mother of tech.
Mike, Acer is a Taiwanese company and thus it is not sitting in a “province of China”, get your political sense right, you have visited Taiwan yourself and yet still shows ignorance.
no offensive, but Taiwan isn’t a province of china
The idea of a lightweight Tablet Netbook PC could and probably will dominate in the next couple of years. There are only a few factors that need to be fixed. These are SS HDs need to drop in price significantly, NVidia Ion (with an ATI or Intel GPU substitute) needs to become ubiquitous, Adobe needs to fix the GPU acceleration problems of Flash, Intel Atom 330 needs to be a little faster, and battery technology needs to improve to give the more powerful systems a little more operating time. That being said all of the above changes appear to be well in the works. We will likely see an Asus T101 (or better yet a T121 12″ tablet with a cheap SSHD, free Google Chrome OS, Wifi n, Bluetooth, with the necessary outputs (HDMI, 2+ USB2, SPDIF, eSATA, Gigabit LAN, etc.) This machine would significantly canabalize the current Laptop industry. More importantly with a sub $300 price point you would likely see it a requirement that every student in any decent elementary and high school in the nation have one. The combination of an OneNote/Outlook type free program on a Google Chrome OS based Netbook Tablet PC would be a world wide market shifter. The trend to small form factor, energy efficient, low cost, multimedia rich, web based computing is so well on its way that Microsoft, Intel, AMD, Via, Dell, Acer, Asus, LG, Nvidia, and Lenovo would all be fools to not see it for what it is. And honestly they have already seen it!
At least, Adobe can help Google OS with the logo, because at the moment, it is incredibly ugly
i was wondering wer is DELL (HELL?)… has this got some thing to do with the close relationship of M$ and Dell??
> Google is clearly aiming Chrome at Windows
Total nonsense. Google is filling a niche that it is currently empty. They said it very clearly in their announcement. Why not just analyze the facts and make intelligent remarks instead of creating these alternate realities of wars and battles that serve no one?