Google first created the Chrome browser and is now releasing the Chrome OS to the open source community. Meant to have a beta launch in 2010, the release of the current work in progress version to open source has meant that you can now download and install a very basic version. ( Click here for a post from tech crunch that I used to find out how to install a virtual software to run a version of the Chrome OS)
Screen shot of the applications tab ( lets call it the desktop !!) of Chrome OS
Google are doing this because they believe that users primarily use their browser to access the Web to access web applications so why shouldn't your OS not also just be a portal to the Web.. where all your applications, data and settings are based.
If you think about it Google are right in this most basic of premise. The first icon one clicks when the OS has loaded is generally the internet browser in order to access online profiles.
The applications people then use are web based applications ( applications where the data is stored online and not on your hardisk) which is the motivation for Cloud computing. In fact in its essence most people are already cloud computing - using web mail, social network sites, saving photos on Flickr, movies on Youtube etc etc .
However, where the Cloud computing falls down is that people still generally revert to their desktop when they want to write a word document or create a spreadsheet, they click from the browser and open up a suite of applications based on your desktop ( residing on your computer harddisk).
The aim of the Google Chrome OS is to keep the user within the Chrome Browser - in essence the OS, and do all your work and store it within your profile on Google servers.
It does not sound like a major shift. But it means that your profile is your relationship with your data.. the computer you use is not important anymore. You can use any computer in the world with Google Chrome OS running on it and you can access your data and work with it, until it feels like you are on your own computer. ( to understand this.. think about how when you log on to Facebook.. there are all your settings, data etc etc.. the computer does not matter.. your facebook profile is the important part.well imagine that your OS was the same except you have access to everything from word documents, photos, movies, your browser to all your data files) This is important. This changes the way that home users will interact with their data. the computer you use simply becomes a portal to your profile.
Chrome OS is being built , as the Chrome browser was, with a triumvirate of objectives. Speed, Security and simplicity.
Speed... the open souce not quite beta versions of Chrome OS will, if you are running it on your local machine, take only about 10 seconds from turning on the computer to using applications. 7 seconds to go from turning on the computer to the login screen and a further 3 seconds to access the Chrome Browser.. which is the desktop of the Chrome OS. T
his has been accomplished using lots of hardware configuration etc. But for the basic user it can be understood by the fact that the wee jobs a normal computer must do when starting up have been stripped down to nothing.. As Matt Papakipos, Engineering Director of the project states " we removed the service that looks for a floppy disk.. I mean does anyone actually have a floppy disk player anymore"
Security.. There are many facets to this. Updates will be handled by Google for all your add ins and OS patches etc. The fact that you are on Google servers makes your data securer..OK well from the rest of the world if not from Privileged users within Google. The basic reason why it is more secure is that on your PC, applications run locally on the drive and user data is generally stored locally as well. Such interaction between OS and applications mean that the OS is changed by every install.. such minor changes can then be exploited. Then you find yourself in the extended perpetual cycle of always having to update your application to keep them secure, and then having to keep updating your OS to keep it secure from holes created by applications and by, well, bugs inherent in the OS.
Google Chrome OS will not allow applications to install locally or make changes to the operating system. The holes are closed and centrally managed. But one particularly clever part of the process is that when you log onto Chrome OS.. it checks the OS coding to make sure it has not changed.. which it should not have.. and if changes are noted.. for instance if malware had amended settings for insidious reasons.. Chrome OS will instantly re-image the disk from a pure copy from Google. Because all your data is on your off site profile the re-image will not delete your data. For me this simple idea is the brilliance of the idea.. It is like having a strong secure system administrator sorting out all your basic security concerns for you, for free.
Simplicity. This is the idea that you are online in 10 seconds and everything you want is there, everything you use is already online so you don't need to install software like adobe etc.
I have installed it, running on a Sun Virtual box, running an image of the Chrome OS from a torrent file I downloaded. It is basic at this moment, and it will change ( see a video from Google below) but I can already see how great, fast and usefull it would be. I believe it will make Netbooks, ones with long lasting batteries, the major tool for most users.
