According to the information posted on the website the netbook will have a 10.1 inch 1,280 x 720 multi-touch display, 2 Gigabytes of computer memory, a 64 Gigabyte solid state drive and extensive connectivity features such as Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth and Ethernet ports.

The emphasize on connectivity options makes sense considering that the operating system requires an active Internet connection for most of its features and options.

The netbook will be equipped with an ARM cpu and makes use of Nvidia’s Tegra chipset that combines audio and video capabilities that promise better performance than comparable solutions.

The Google Chrome OS netbook is said to launch for next year’s holiday season and will most likely be made available for a sub-300 Dollar price tag. The netbook will be sold by Google directly and (likely) in some countries by tele-communication carriers like AT&T.

The impact of the launch is hard to estimate at this point. Will Google be able to get a sizable chunk of market share out of the netbook market or will the Chrome OS netbook remain a niche product that geeks will love but most users do not even know about?

Chrome OS will be minimalistic which has the advantages that it will boot fast. Several security concepts like sandboxing processes or verifying core systems during startup make it harder to attack and less likely to spread.

There is one premise though that users have to understand. Chrome OS is not aiming for the same market that Microsoft is targeting with Windows or Apple is targeting with Mac OS. At least not in the years to come. Why? Because it is to limited. Here are a few examples:

• Cloud based data storage means that an Internet connection is required to access the data. Google probably plans to make it possible to store data on the local computer system (Google Gears?) so that it can be accessed without Internet connection. This does however mean that a fast connection is required to be able to upload, download and sync the data. It could on the other hand be the perfect system for users who want to use it for very specific operations, i.e. banking, chatting or social networking to name a few.
• Entertainment: If you want to play that 10 Gigabyte ultra-HD video sitting on your desktop you can do so by clicking on it. How will this work if the video is in the cloud? What about an audio collection? This could become really problematic if data cannot be stored offline, especially for users with slow Internet connections. But then again, who says that this is one of the applications of the OS?
• Games are another area where Chrome OS will not cut it. You can play browser games sure but that’s it for now.

There are however some advantages. This (likely) includes lower hardware requirements to run the operating system (not only cpu or memory but also hard drive space, optical drives), data backups that are taken care of or a possible lower battery usage for the system.

Chrome OS will be a very specialized operating system in my opinion and not the Microsoft Windows killer that many users hope it to become.

But what’s so special about Chrome OS? The Google blog mentions three aspects that distinguish it from other operating systems:

First, it’s all about the web. All apps are web apps. The entire experience takes place within the browser and there are no conventional desktop applications. This means users do not have to deal with installing, managing and updating programs.

This means that Chrome OS is storing all data in the cloud. Many web applications handle data in this fashion already, think about Gmail, blogs or photo hosting websites for example. Privacy advocates on the other hand might find this problematic depending on the privacy and security regulations.

Second, because all apps live within the browser, there are significant benefits to security. Unlike traditional operating systems, Chrome OS doesn’t trust the applications you run. Each app is contained within a security sandbox making it harder for malware and viruses to infect your computer. Furthermore, Chrome OS barely trusts itself. Every time you restart your computer the operating system verifies the integrity of its code. If your system has been compromised, it is designed to fix itself with a reboot. While no computer can be made completely secure, we’re going to make life much harder (and less profitable) for the bad guys. If you dig security, read the Chrome OS Security Overview or watch the video.

Chrome OS implements some security features like sandboxing to secure the operating system and data from taking harm. The operating system is also checking its code on every startup to verify the integrity. Would be interesting to know how this affects boot time. Most of this is already available in today’s operating systems or by using third party software like Sandboxie.

Most of all, we are obsessed with speed. We are taking out every unnecessary process, optimizing many operations and running everything possible in parallel. This means you can go from turning on the computer to surfing the web in a few seconds. Our obsession with speed goes all the way down to the metal. We are specifying reference hardware components to create the fastest experience for Google Chrome OS.

This does sound interesting but there are already other options to boot a computer in a significantly lower time than today’s average (a Phoenix bios showcased a much faster boot time a few months ago).

It will nevertheless be interesting how this turns out. According to the blog posts first consumer releases can be expected at the end of 2010. Here is a short – well done – video about Chrome OS.

What’s your first impression of Chrome OS?

Fake videos showcasing the new Google Chrome OS have been making their rounds on the Internet in the last months. There have not been on the other hand lots of attempts to turn an existing Linux distribution into something that resembles the Google Chrome OS.

Chrome OS is one of the first attempts. It is offered as a Live CD and virtual image currently. Chrome OS uses a GNOME 2.24 desktop environment with the Google Chrome 4.0.207 web browser integrated. Several other programs like Open Office or Flash Player have also been integrated into the distribution.

To be 100% clear here. This is a custom Linux distribution and not the official Google Chrome OS. It still resembles the operating system and can be used as a Live CD to run the Google Chrome web browser on Linux. Interested users can download the Live CD or the virtual image from the Chrome OS Linux website.

According to this blog post the Google Chrome OS is “an open source, lightweight operating system” targeted initially at netbooks. Google will publish the code as open source and netbooks running the operating system will be available int he second half of 2010. The operating system is designed to boot up and display the web in a few seconds with a minimal user interface and most of the user experience taking place on the web. Google Chrome OS is compatible with today’s chipsets and uses a “windowing system on top of a Linux kernel”.

Journalists create a Microsoft Windows killer out of these information. It should be noted that Google is initially targeting the netbook market which has risen in popularity in the past years. Netbooks currently have a market share of about 20% of the mobile PC market which is predicted to increase further in 2010. The concentration on netbooks on the other hand dismisses the rest of the mobile PC market and the complete desktop PC market. It is impossible to become a Microsoft Windows killer with such a narrow focus.

Google probably has plans to offer their operating system to manufacturers of laptops and desktop computer systems as well although no announcement has been made so far.A cloud operating system could confuse and irritate customers as they might be buying a PC only to find out that they need Internet and cannot play the latest games or run Microsoft Office on it.

Talking about PC gaming and software programs. It is very likely that PC games will not run on the Google operating system and that game developers will not develop games for the operating system until it has a market penetration that makes developing worth their while. Web browser games are surely going to work but they usually cannot match the quality of desktop PC games. It is possible that PC games will use a netbook with the Google Chrome Os as a secondary PC but it is very likely that they stick with a PC running Windows in the near future.

The same is true for software programs. Many users are used to certain software programs which they do not want to change. A switch to a cloud based operating system would mean that these users have to learn new interfaces and programs. Tech savvy users on the other hand are used to these web applications and are therefor the most likely to give the Google Chrome OS a chance.

Businesses on the other hand are also not likely to switch to a cloud based operating system as it would raise security and privacy concerns but also mean intensive training of their staff.

Here is a prediction: Google Chrome Os will be a niche product in the next five years. It will not be a Microsoft Windows killer and it will mostly be used by tech savvy users who use the Internet all the time.

What’s your take on the new Google OS? Will it be able to compete with Windows 7 in the netbook market or be a niche product just like the Google Chrome browser and Google Android?

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.

Google Chrome OS is basically Google Chrome running inside a new windowing system and Linux kernel that is compatible with both x86 and ARM chips. Applications for it can be written using web technologies which has the advantage that they are also working in other standard web browsers even if they run on operating systems like Microsoft Windows, Linux or Mac.

On the differences between Android and Google Chrome OS:

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.

The operating system will obviously require an Internet connection to work. Even if many web applications can be run locally there is still the need to run some that cannot. That’s a bummer for users with no Internet connection and those with slow Internet connections. What happens if the Internet connection becomes unavailable. Google will have to answer many questions like these in the near future.

What’s your opinion on the matter? via Google Blog