Google Chrome OS To Launch Within A Week
by Michael Arrington on November 13, 2009

Google’s Chrome OS project, first announced in July, will become available for download within a week, we’ve heard from a reliable source. Google previously said to expect an early version of the OS in the fall.

What can we expect? Driver support will likely be a weak point. We’ve heard at various times that Google has a legion of engineers working on the not so glamorous task of building hardware drivers. And we’ve also heard conflicting rumors that Google is mostly relying on hardware manufacturers to create those drivers. Whatever the truth, and it’s likely in between, having a robust set of functioning drivers is extremely important to Chrome OS’s success. People will want to download this to whatever computer they use and have it just work.

We expect Google will be careful with messaging around the launch, and endorse a small set of devices for installation. EEE PC netbooks, for example, may be one set of devices that Google will say are ready to use Chrome OS. There will likely be others as well, but don’t expect to be able to install it on whatever laptop or desktop machine you have from day one. Google has previously said they are working with Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba on the project.

We’ve seen convincing and not so convincing screenshots of Chrome OS over the last several months. The good news is the speculation is about to end, and you can try it out yourself. If you have one of the supported devices, that is.

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  • Wow! Looking forward to see that early…

    • Another hype Google launch! Another useless product!

      • Yes, another useless product, like that search engine no one uses because its so slow and never finds the right results, that map thing that nobody links to all the time and that browser they do that it so rubbish because it loads pages too quickly and doesn’t fill half your screen up tool bars you don’t want to use.

        • You evidently don’t live in the same world I do.

        • Google acts more like a military operation than a normal company. All their ventures seem to be useless and obscure at first, but a year or two later you start to see how it fits into the puzzle.

          Remember when they took over GrandCentral two years ago? Seemed pointless at the time, now Google provides a free calling loop with voice and Gizmo(Which they now own.) This merge started over two years ago but no one knew.

          Also, Someone has to pioneer new ideas for things to be accepted in the future. Hell, think of the first hybrid car. Who wanted that? Now the Prius is actually a nice car and is being bought up.

          Google has a plan, you just may not see it yet. And I beleive that is how they like it.

          • I could not agree more!
            it is fantastic to see the Great Google Plan unroll. Im exciting to see how Chrome OS and Wave will integrate all other services google provides.. :) cant wait!

        • @font, in which world you are? learn how to use search engine, enter correct tag result will be correct.

      • Agreed.

        What more special they can offer in a Linux Distribution. There are a lot out there in different flavors.

        It will get some support because Google’s trademark is attached.

        There was already a supposed leaked version and nothing useful in it except that you will find shortcuts of Google’s applications at desktop :)

        • supposed… do you really think those where real screenshots?

        • They can bring a much tighter interface. Netbooks have one big problem: low resolution screens. It can be painful to browse the net on a 1024×600 screen, since the vertical resolution is so low.

          By integrating the browser and the window manager, you can remove a lot of the cruft. You can get an experience closer to full-screen browsing without losing the main OS interface.

          It also has the potential to be quite light-weight. Most people seem to use netbooks to surf the web. Why run a full copy of Windows or a full Linux distro if you only really need one app? So there’s also the potential to make better use of available CPU and RAM resources.

          Media playback is an issue, but by integrating playback functionality into the browser (they’ve already got a bunch of codecs built in for HTML5) you’ve got that covered too.

          I also see potential for patching the underlying OS to help accelerate the browser. It makes it a heck of a lot easier when you control the entire software stack from the kernel down to the browser. You can patch the kernel or X server without worrying about compatibility; you only need to run one app. You can strip some things down and customize others.

      • Got a trial of the beta version earlier this year, and it needed work, so I’ll at least give this a second look. Everything new has i’ts detractors, but I think this might be worth a shot.

    • Right… If this news is reliable then it is big.. Let us see how Google takes on Windows and OS-X. Waiting for it impatiently.

    • I want to have Chrome OS run on my $80 ARM9 based laptop that I just reviewed at: http://techvide...nq-easypc-e790/

      This is where Chrome OS will shine, running on sub $100 laptops, basically bringing a fully usable full desktop browser experience to the absolute lowest hardware requirements, since Chrome is so good at utilizing all the hardware ressources. They could store Tabs in storage and quickly within milliseconds render it in full screen, thus it would feel just like normal browsing even on a $80 ARM powered laptop with only 64mb of ram.

      • I think it will be just a try and go OS. People will try it because of it’s hype and will let it go away from their PC after sometime..

        Regards
        http://www.smartbloggerz.com
        Typhoon a.k.a Sushant

      • Oh, if only it would run on that. Sadly, I think it’ll only be running on x86 PCs at the start… and drivers for that thing? Forget it. Later on, I could see this happening… if more manufacturers start making ARM-based laptops.

        Even so, I like the look of that laptop… maybe I should get one for myself since it’s going to run Android.

        But hold on, only 64 MB of RAM? That’s low even for a phone… not sure how well that would run.

        • ARM, lol. You better have the lightest weight OS on the planet. Tegra, Medfield (Atom) and soon Bobcat will have that market on lockdown. Actually Atom already does…

          • Huh? Tegra is an ARM processor. ARM pretty much owns the entire market right up to MIDs (virtually every cell/smart phone from the iPhone to the Palm Pre use ARM processors). The Nintendo GBA through DS use ARM processors.

            x86 only really gets any traction once you move all the way up to netbooks, and even then ARM is making inroads; Atom can’t really touch ARM for power/performance ratio yet. ARM’s chips (particularly the Cortex A9, the sucessor to the Cortex A8 used in the iPhone, Palm Pre, and current nVidia Tegra) can out-perform low and mid range Atom chips, can give high-end Atom chips a run for their money, and cost a fraction as much.

            x86 isn’t going to be pushing down into MIDs or lower any time soon, and ARM is looking like they have a pretty good chance of pushing into low-end netbooks. They’ll probably run Linux, but Microsoft has an ARM port of Windows in the forms of Windows CE and Windows Mobile. They might try pushing those out to netbooks if they want to run on ARM-based products.

      • Is this supposed to be funny? More like annoying. This ‘review’ is um… terrible. And Windows CE?

    • pffft just going to be the next M$ windows clone

    • Not sure about you guys but, I’m not taking this news very seriously. =) Can’t afford to be another laughing stock in the end. This is the compiled version of that story
      http://bit.ly/C...S-the-real-deal

    • Okay guys. Hold your horses just yet. Like us we are happy for this release but this could be another fake propaganda like what we have a couple of months ago.

      As for now, google is still not releasing any updates for the release. If it’s next week, they will release a pre-announcement, ayt?

      http://bit.ly/c...e-release-again

      kudus to all who waited

    • wow, another useless linux…

      If it had compatability with microsoft apps and programs, we would be talking, but so far, it doesn’t look too promising with those “cloud” apps.

  • yay, a gimped OS that cant do a fraction what windows can do. but zomg its by google. it must be good. like orkut, the myspace killer. or picasa, the photobucket killer.

    • MySpace is working hard to kill itself – and pretty successful in doing so.
      Picasa is much much better than Photobucket which is mostly famous for its “too much bandwidth used” pictures which I see more often the actual picture that I was expecting.

      So try again!

      PS: It doesn’t help that Windows can do much more if the stuff that it does is:
      - not reliably done
      - slow or requires a monster of a machine
      - hard to use
      and that the os in general closed and therefore of debatable security.

      • Thoralf:

        See, you *almost* had me. The first paragraph is a very valid statement. Totally agree with you there. However, you just had to throw the PS bullet list in there proving you didn’t have a clue, didn’t you? In case you’ve not been following the tech news here in 2009, Windows is kicking it just fine with underpowered netbooks and old machines now, and includes a host of features that are in fact reliable and easy to use.

        That said, I’m looking forward to giving Chrome a shot to see what’s up.

        • Yea, after Windows 7 came out and replaced a certain 8 year old OS that was the only supported version of Windows that could run on small hardware.

        • you ever tried windows 7 on an netbook?

          Have fun…

          • I have.. just installed the 32bit on my msi wind u210… works like a charm.. only problem i had was with the built in webcam.. but in the end all i had to do was re-download the utility and it worked perfectly

          • Uh, yeah, actually I’m using Win7 on an Aspire One 8.9″ netbook to type this. I replaced the factory XP install with it, and I think it runs even better than XP did.

            Everything worked great, except the advanced trackpad features, and that just took a driver download to unlock the multi-touch goodness.

            I’m a linux fan, but I have no qualms saying that Microsoft did Windows 7 right. Even for netbooks.

          • why would I ever want a netbook? I through away my magnifying glass when I got that 30 inch monitor …

    • “We expect Google will be careful with messaging around the launch, and endorse a small set of devices for installation. EEE PC netbooks, for example, may be one set of devices that Google will say are ready to use Chrome OS. There will likely be others as well, but don’t expect to be able to install it on whatever laptop or desktop machine you have from day one.”

      Can you imagine the reaction that would have come out if “Google” and “Chrome OS” were replaced last month with “Microsoft” and “Windows 7″? Holy cow, the words “total fail” and “epic fail” would have flooded the Internet.

      But you’re right – it’s Google, so it _must_ be good, ’cause they do no evil. Slow and steady wins the race, after all. They are looking out for the consumer…

      I don’t get the “Google is goodness” belief system that seems rampant. And this is from a guy who bought the DROID on its release day.

  • Should be interesting. The reaction to this alpha/beta release will finally show whether or not people are ready to move all their data and applications to the web.

  • Right, time to dig out that old useless Dell machine I’m got lying around at wipe for now geeky new OS fun…

    • Problem is that there will probably be no graphics drivers for those old machines but you never know .

      Most Linux Distros usually run Ok right out of the box on my old computer but windows needs the Intel 80812 graphics driver .

  • Crunchpad in two weeks?

  • Wow really? Can’t wait for it.

  • How many years for business users to adopt, 3 5, 10?

    • its google’s product, so maybe it took much sooner~

    • Don’t kid yourself. Google Chrome OS is not for business users – at least certainly not for knowledge workers.

      There is still much resistance to putting all of a company’s data in the cloud. Yes companies like Salesforce.com are doing well, but that doesn’t mean there’s a mass migration happening. There’s still a lot of uncertainty amongst enterprises of all sizes, and no one’s going to be conquering so much fear in 3-5 years.

      10 years is possible, but it would still require a huge shift in the security of hosted/SaaS providers and standardization of the various platforms. There’s far too many desktop apps still running that aren’t available via a web interface to let a huge shift happen anytime soon.

      • Why would I ever do that – put my data someplace else? I am quite happy with it here, in my local storage. And it’s very secure when I am not here – since I turn the power off when I leave.

  • If it’s based on the Linux kernel, how’s that there are no drivers yet? Linux already runs on many netbooks today. Am I missing something?

    • You’re right for wondering that. If it is based on a vanilla Linux kernel, then it’ll be fine for nearly everything except graphics cards. Graphics are mostly handled by X under Linux. Chrome is doing away with X altogether and writing their own windowing system from scratch.

      This might be the long-term-right-thing to do (X goes back to 1984, and it’s creaky and everyone knows it). But it does mean they won’t be able to leverage (did I really just use that word) the vast numbers of graphics drivers available for X.org right now.

      On the other hand, they’re probably not doing 3D, which is the real MF when doing drivers, so I don’t expect it will take them long to get that fixed. And I suspect that, given the target market for Chrome OS (weaktops), a generic VESA driver will work just fine across the board once it’s written.

      Nicely timed on Google’s part anyway. I ordered myself an Acer One just a few days ago. Feels good man.

  • I wonder if it would really be reliable. I hope it doesn’t conflict with Windows.

  • They had most of the pieces together already so a fall release is not so surprising. I suspect an early release will also give people a head start to start building drivers for it. Good move.

  • Huh. Already? Well, if this is true… no news for a while, and then we get this.

    I hope it’s true. Wow.

  • so we have the OS coming out this soon? I agree with Amit on this, the early release might just boost the task of developing drivers faster.

  • That’s great news for Mac users.
    Chrome is by far the best browser – simple and super fast.
    I just wonder whether the speed will be lost on mac laptop users with their tiny keyboards and annoying mouse pad ;)

  • Chrome OS is not an OS in itself. As per details earlier when google announced chrome OS, it will be a windowing system (kind of virtual machine) on top of Linux. I do not understand why there is a need for new drivers. Existing Linux Driver should work. Google should be creating data passing mechanism between virtual machine and actual hardware drivers.
    May be I am missing something important.

    AFAIK architecture will similart to Android which basically run on Linux.

  • Exciting. Yay for ending the anticipation that’s been fueling the “leaked screenshots!” craze.

  • I like the “not so convincing” screenshots more than the “convincing” screenshots. The “convincing” ones look like Chrome browser in Linux. Nothing more.

  • Looking For that Hungry…. Cool Google The Great… I am using Google Chrome. they are best

  • Thats great, But seems so soon.
    Anyway! i’m excited to use it.

  • As A Former Google Employee (2007) Google Has Already Dominated The Desktop It’s Only A Matter Of Time, This Isn’t The Only Thing They Have Many Many More Surprises Bet On Google Like U Bet On My Coffee :D They Will Deliver c|_|

  • Wow how exciting, Just what I was waiting for.

    I’ll stick to Windows 7

  • I like competition, but outside of search I just don’t get excited about Google.

    But I know Tech crunch is a PR firm, so I expect nothing less than subjective cheer leading from Mike and MG.

    • Have you never used Google Maps, GMail, Picasa?
      Google Chrome is not a bad browser at all.
      Google Reader is the best RSS reader I’ve ever used.

      Lots of Google products are simply fantastic. There have been plenty of duds, but you take risks in developing innovative products. To only churn out successful products means you axed a lot prematurely… Who knows if something’s going to be successful or not?

      So here we have Chrome OS. I have no doubt Google is capable of a great product, and I have no doubt linux is capable of delivering great performance and handling beautiful visuals of user interface, so I’m at least doing to keep a huge eye out for Chrome OS.

      Cheerleading? Maybe, but when you’re cheering for a good team, maybe you’ll be cheering for the winner come the end of the season. :/

      • Ehh, wait a sec, we don’t have Chrome OS yet. All we have is the hype. A successful product must bring more to the market than a nice interface. Mac OS is nice-looking according to some people and it’s also sort of successful, I mean Apple seems to be making money on it (which is really the only measure of success – or you believe they are actually out to please you?). So far I have not heard anything like – Chrome OS brings this new thing, one does not get this anywhere else and we really need it. If not, then – what’s all the excitement about?

        • The excitement is about all these other successful Google products. Google has brought just as many unsuccessful projects to the table as well, though, and has often resorted to buying services (e.g. YouTube). However, perhaps this OS and the environment it brings will hit the mark? I personally love Android so far, so maybe this will be as nice? I’m not going to buy a netbook any time soon, but I definitely might try the Chrome OS user interface out anyway if I can run its browser on Ubuntu given there was a leak of a primitive build of Chrome OS’s browser that ran on Debian, I’m going to guess I will be able to).

  • Is there any way to retrofit a virtual layer (e.g., VMWare) between the metal and the OS so that I can run both my current Windows and any other OS, like the prospective Chrome OS?

    And just to preempt any comments… no, I do not have a clue….

  • early launch means developer community can help write drivers and applications to flesh out the OS. do I get a cut of Google’s profit if I develop something which helps them out? layoffs are looming in IT where I work…

  • If there’s any truth to your comments about the Drivers Mike that should be a serious warning sign for Google. They need to look no further than the Company that they dislike the most, Microsoft and how the “driver” issue tilted the entire Company with regards to Vista.

  • So Google Chrome OS Beta will arrive in November 2009.

    It should come out of beta in… what… 2014? :)

  • It took Windows how many versions to get something stable and workable – also how many iterations has it taken OS X to get to where it’s at – so to compare Chrome-OS to these is a false comparison.

    Now to think Chrome OS, albeit from mighty Google, who btw doesn’t know jack about OS, can come up with something that is comparable to most Linux distribs, let along Win7 and OS X, is too much to ask for. A lean OS with enough power to run online apps is all you’ll get – clean UI, low footprint and quick to load is what all you’ll get.

    • Android is an OS, and Google has had their own internal flavor of Ubuntu since the start… Not to mention has hardcore developers, you’d think they’d know a thing or do about OS development.

      “albeit from mighty Google, who btw doesn’t know jack about OS”

      Hurp Derp Baseless FUD :V
      Amazing.

      But let’s continue, here.

      “It took Windows how many versions to get something stable and workable – also how many iterations has it taken OS X to get to where it’s at”

      One you get the kernel down, which linux has had at least as many iterations as Windows NT and OS X, then you start to add system software on top of that. If Chrome-OS is debian-based, as I’ve read, for instance, then they already have a stable, working OS to build upon. If they’re using a modified version of their browser, then they’ve got a browser which has been i development for at least over a year.

      I wouldn’t put it past Google to turn out a successful operating system. The fact that it and Android are linux based is just pushing linux harder and harder just exposes it to more hardware, and proves itself again and again, which I think will definitely lead it to wider use by more people, and more support by more corporations and developers. I can only guess, though.

      • Could you explain to me why would I need a different OS? Why should I be excited about OS? It’s not like they invented a better Excel or a much better Nero.

        • You don’t need a different OS. :/ Most people don’t change the OS on their machines, they just buy new machines with a new OS.

          That said, why should you buy a Chrome OS machine? Maybe you want some super inexpensive yet light and quick machine because all you use is the internet?

          It’s not hard to see the benefits of such an OS (cloud-based, light, meant to run a browser and that’s about it). It’s just, are those benefits what you want? You? (who mentions excel or Nero), probably not, especially since netbooks don’t even have CD drives.

          But for some, specifically those who just use it on train rides, on the go, etc. or use it as a note-taking device in class or quick access to email, maybe it’s for them. Why run a full Windows environment (and pay the price for Windows) when you could be using only what you need, and for free?

  • hmm, what i’m getting from all these articles is a web connected OS / computer. google is first in virtual (or cloud) personal computing. win.

    • I think the words “personal” and “cloud” are fairly conflicting. I don’t see anything personal in something I can’t touch – or turn off.

  • This is huge. Kind of earlier than I had expected.

  • Yet another failed Google idea. Hey look! It’s Linux (again) with some “cloudiness”…not much new to see here.

    • I will wait to make that conclusion. I haven’t seen Chrome OS yet so I don’t have any idea about what they have done with it. I will hope that it isn’t just Ubuntu with the Chrome browser installed by default, that would be lame.

    • It won’t be like the rest of the linux distros, for at least the reason that it totally re-does the graphics subsystem rather than sticking with X, GTK, GNOME, KDE, QT

  • What’s wrong with Ubuntu, Fedora, Centos etc.?

    • No pretty Google logo.

      • Don’t underestimate the logo, consumers love it, notice all the MP3 logos you see on consumer devices? Expect to see almost every consumer device on the planet to have a Google Chrome/Android logo people will love it and trust it, Google will make a fortune on licencing. I will use it on my Eeepc (currently use easypeasy), but I will stick to Ubuntu for serious work (running lots of Google cloud apps of course). I wouldn’t be surprised if Google FORCES all manufactures to open source their drivers before they can get to display the Google ChromeOS/Android brand. That’s what I would do anyway.

    • yeah, what’s wrong with

      CentOS
      Debian
      Fedora
      Gentoo
      Knoppix
      Kubuntu
      Linspire
      Mandriva
      openSUSE
      PCLinuxOS
      RHEL
      Slackware
      Turbo
      Ubuntu
      Xandros
      Xubuntu
      .
      .
      .

      • nothing linux is awesome

        • Can I edit my AVCHD on any of them? I am just curious.

          • No, but you can set up a web server for free with like 3 clicks, you can run your applications and full GUI over a network with SSH and an x-windows client with little to no effort.

            Linux is probably not for you. However, it’s definitely for a lot of us. You’re obviously not the target market. Go back to your video editing. As for me, I’ll enjoy all my free software, 800 hour uptime, and fast, snappy, beautiful user interface of my choosing.

            Some people stick with default UIs, some people don’t mind rebooting every few days, some people like a lot of proprietary software, especially video editing software and games. Sometimes we have to realize that the platforms are different and meant for different tasks and for different users.

      • They all are basically the same. Kernel + X + Gnome or KDE with tons of other apps. Google’s redoing the interface, not just by replacing Gnome/Kde, but at the level of the windowing system.

  • Anyone know if it works on VirtualBox? http://www.virtualbox.org/ That would make it very attractive for using as a virtutalized os.

  • I guess if one company can finally convince people to use Linux that’s the ubiquitous Google.

    It’s just a little scary for one company to grab a hold of so much.

    Not only they own search and ads, they’re taking over cellphones and voice communications.

    Now not only they want to have their own browser (and they already own Firefox for they pay several million dollars a year to Firefox that go tax free for its a fundation, nice tax shelter), but they also want to propose a new protocol to replace HTTP

    And now Chrome on your CPU

    Not to mention all of what it must own on markets, real state, political influence.

    Amazing how one company can take over the whole internet and keep everybody smiling.

    I hope eventually people start seeing how scary this is. I refuse to live on a google owned internet. Let’s hope more players start fighting against this giant, it’s becoming way too big to compete against it.

    • Google hardly owns the internet. There are viable alternatives for all of Google’s products. If you are paranoid about Google you must be shitting your pants about Microsoft. Look at how many things they have their tentacles in: Windows, XBox 360, Zune, keyboards, mice, Windows Live (hotmail, etc), Windows CE, Windows Mobile, Office, video game publishing, MS SQL, IIS, Silverlight, .NET.

      I’m sure I forgot a few.

      • Not only what Spencer said, but most of a lot of what Google does is Open Source. So they aren’t the only ones with access to the technology, compare that to Microsoft.

        The reason most tech people smile at all of the things Google does is because it moves the industry forward. Who else has been willing to invest resources in basic web stuff and then open it up for everyone without royalties?

    • Chrome OS will be open-source. If there is any code that has stuff like DRM and Google controlling all of your data, you can remove it.

  • I like Google search more than other Google products like chrome browser. I don’t think many will be attracted towards Chrome OS as there is a better choice of Windows 7 available….

    But let us hope for its success..

  • Ahhh. Prepare for the torrent of FUD and hand-wringing articles about Apple now that Google is going to ship.

    I think this is good for the market.
    I do want to own my own properties however.
    I do not totally trust the cloud, or Google.
    I do feel a little more free with OS X. At least it’s not tracking everything I do.

  • Is Chrome OS going to be free?

  • Wow finally. I remember seeing screen shots and wondering what will be with Google OS.

  • I have hope & illness OS. It because I am jp. I want to language of jp. MS2K is best OS. But it is very old. I think over slow dictionary & font jp. Speed laguage OS, Are you babe of hope ? I used red hat 6 linux. It was all english. good by everybody.

  • … will google then record, store and analyze every letter I typed and all movements I made with my mouse?

    • yeah they will, but only you since you’re the only person they’re interested in. they have a whole room filled with things you’ve thrown away and they’re storing your DNA, and even have a clone of you in stasis. you’re very important to Google, so they want to watch you SPECIFICALLY because you really matter that much.

  • I think I’ll be downloading this, check it out.

  • I can’t wait…another Linux distribution! Yeah! Will it work with iTunes? What about Office? Oh…nevermind.

    • You would only ever remotely consider using iTunes if you’re locked into it because you bought an Apple device. Otherwise there’s not only no reason to use iTunes, but at least on Windows, it’s a huge install, runs several services (not at your option) and otherwise hurts system performance. Why would you subject yourself to that when you can use, well, any alternative? (WMP, WinAMP, Songbird, etc.etc.etc.).

      Also, Office is only necessary if you’re locked into Microsoft’s proprietary format, for instance, OpenOffice 3.1 refuses the run insecure and terrible VB macros in docx’s (so I’ve heard from a friend, can’t confirm), but it does have its own version of visual-style like macros, and has pretty much feature-parity with Microsoft Office, at least for how at least 90% of users use Office.

      I think Office and iTunes are the absolute worst arguments for using a non-Linux OS. You could have brought up games, like Fallout 3 or Modern Warfare 2, but guess what? Those don’t even run on netbooks. :V

      Also… “another Linux distribution!” …
      That’s like saying “Hooray, more competition and more reason for distros to work even amongst themselves to create a better and better product.” I’m trying to determine how more and more choice is a bad things.

      Oh…nevermind.

      • Well, let’s see, what do I do on my home PC that’s most intensive – right, AVCHD. Can I do that on Linux? Work-related – does Origin run on Linux? Now, not intensive, but hardware-oriented – can I expect to plug my cell phone, or my camcorder into a Linux box and have it recognized right away without the need to search the net for drivers and what not? See, the OS is only as good as the apps you are running on it and you run the apps you need, not the ones compatible with that cool OS you decided to download.

        • I made a comment above about video editing. The machines Chrome OS goes on would likely not be the best hardware to do video editing on anyway. Video editing is probably linux’s greatest weakness, probably, and it’s a legitimate argument for using another platform.

          Oblivion and Fallout 3 work well for me, as well as Source games like Half Life 2 and Portal. Granted, it’s not a gaming platform. I can’t run Dragon Age Origins (yet, anyway). Obviously you shouldn’t buy an X-box 360 expecting it to run Metal Gear Solid 4. If you’re a gamer, buy what you need, which would be a gaming box with Windows. :/
          Personally, if I was going to drop money on a good gaming machine, the Windows license price would be the least of my worries.

          “can I expect to plug my cell phone, or my camcorder into a Linux box and have it recognized right away”
          I’ve never had a problem, but again, it depends.

          You say it yourself, “the OS is only as good as the apps you are running on it and you run the apps you need.”
          What’s compelling about linux? It’s free, it runs what someone like me needs, which is a browser, a word processor, and at least for me, some decent Windows games. It’s also a great platform for emulation, but I won’t get into that. Lots of people seem to be satisfied with linux. If you aren’t, well, linux is all about choice, and if it’s not the right choice, then go with whatever choice fits you.

          Here’s an example. I know a bunch of friends with Windows desktops and Windows laptops. They do gaming, video editing, etc. on the Windows desktop. On the laptop… they don’t. That could easily be a Linux machine, even for a person who needs Windows for video editing, gaming, etc.

          No system is the end-all solution for everything. If there was one, it would be obvious and at least I’d be using it exclusively (and I current don’t use anything exclusively). ;P

    • Applications are written for Operating Systems, not the other way around. It’s not very bright to expect google to base their OS on iTunes, or office for that matter.

      Rather ask, will iTunes be ported to Chrome? Office will definitely not.

      But there are alternatives out there.

  • I have one question…if I build an app for Android will it work on Chrome OS? No? Oh…that’s odd. Google has been in the OS business for a little more than a year and they have two incompatible operating systems.

    • Ubuntu is currently working on letting Android apps run natively. Ubuntu is Debian-based, and so, I remember reading somewhere (not sure though) is Chrome OS.

      It’s not only possible, but soon to be a reality that you can indeed run Android apps on Debian, and therefore eventually Chrome OS.

      :V :V :V :V

      Nice FUD tho.

    • “if I build an app for Android Linux will it work on Chrome OS Linux?”
      Most likely. I wouldn’t put it past Google to make an official Android Market platform for Chrome OS.

  • Just another Linux Distro. Yippee! Will probably as successful as Chrome browser. With a good Windows OS and a good OS X both just released.
    What makes Google believe that these user’s will go to a Google OS?

    • With Chrome O/S, Google is aiming to become either the No 1 Web O/S Player, the No1 Webtop O/S King, or the No1 Mobile Web O/S Ruler.

      Maybe it wants to be all three. But a Chrome O/S on a Android Smartphone could be pretty big.

  • http://www.busi...unchpad-2009-11

    Last paragraph infers that CrunchPad might be released alongside ChromeOS.

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