Google Announces Google Chrome OS

FYI-Google announces that they are developing a new light weight operating system for netbooks.

Introducing 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.

Dell Inspiron Mini 9

Earlier this week I had alerted you to the imminent release of Dell's Inspiron Mini 9 their fray into the netbook market. Some of the early reviews are in and most have been very favorable. The base Dell Inspiron Mini 9 ships with the 1.6-GHz Intel Atom processor, and a tailored version of Ubuntu, starting out at $349 dollars. The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 can be customized and built to order on the Dell website which includes having Windows XP installed, adding a larger hard drive and more memory. The introductory price with XP installed is around $399. The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 has a glossy 8.9-inch, 1024 x 600-pixel resolution screen which will provide high quality viewing and can be configured with a webcam. Two speakers are located at the bottom of the screen. The Dell Inspiron Mini 9, features three USB 2.0, VGA, and Ethernet, as well as a headphone and a microphone jack. It also has a 4-in-1 memory card reader. According to the reviews the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 measures 9.1 x 6.8 x 1.3 inches and weighing just 2.3 pounds and is one of the lightest netbooks on the market. One of the factors to consider with the netbooks is that the keyboards are smaller which may not be that much of a problem for students but could be a hindrance for adults. From the pictures that I have seen the charging unit is on the small side which should not add much extra weight to the total package. It sports a 4 cell battery which should give users about 3 hours of use. Based on what I have read the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 could be an ideal netbook for students who need access to a computer that they can comfortably carry between home and school.

Dell Inspiron 910 netbook to be launched this week

Rumor has it that Dell will finally release the Dell Inspiron 910/Mini Inspiron later this week. There has been a lot of talk about this netbook since the spring. It will finally be nice to see the specs when it is released. Some sites on the web are reporting that it will have at least an 8.9 inch screen and use the 1.66 Intel Atom processor. The only thing we haven't yet heard is the pricing. Stay tuned to find out more once it is released.

Acer Aspire Netbook Now Available

While I attended NECC 2008 the theme was smallness and portability. In this tradition Acer just recently released the Acer Aspire Netbook computer a 2.2 lb. ultra-portable net computer with the following specifications-see below. Looking at the newspaper circulars Circuit City has it on sale for $379 dollars. I'm holding off purchasing one for the work that I do until I see what Dell has up their sleeves. I would still prefer to have a netbook running Windows XP. These can certainly be ideal tools for some of the students that I work with who need a computer for note taking and organization. Click here for a review.

• 1.6GHz Atom N270 Processor
• 8GB solid state hard drive, 512MB DDR2 SDRAM (expandable)
• 802.11b/g, Ethernet, three USB 2.0, VGA, and 3.5mm audio out
• 1.3 megapixel camera, SDHC and multi-format media readers
• Linpus Linux Lite operating system

Check out this early video review of the Acer Aspire from JkontheRun