Google on Thursday announced the release of Chrome OS as open
source code and invited developers to join the company in creating
a new paradigm for computing.
In a media event at Google's Mountain View, Calif. headquarters,
Sundar Pichai, VP of product management, and Matt Papakipos,
engineering director on Chrome OS, outlined Google's plans for the
company's browser-based operating system.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin joined the event after the
presentation to answer questions.
While developers now have access to the Chrome OS code, general
availability is planned for a year from now, the 2010 holiday
season.
"What we are trying to offer is a fundamentally different model of
computing," said Pichai.
Chrome OS will run initially on netbooks from a set of undisclosed
partners, machines that will store data in solid-state flash
memory. There will be no hard drives and all data will be stored in
the cloud, apart from local data caches for speed and apps that
support HTML5's local data capabilities. There will be no software
installation.
Pichai expects that Chrome OS netbooks will be purchased to
complement existing computers rather than replace them, at least
initially.
Pichai said Google was aware of usability issues surrounding
netbooks and that improved designs with larger screens and
full-sized keyboards can be expected next year.
Chrome OS consists of custom firmware, an optimized Linux kernel,
and the Chrome Web browser. The user experience is planned to be
essentially a browser that boots when the user starts the machine.
The only applications it will run will be Web apps.
"Internally, we joke around, Chrome [the browser] is Chrome OS,"
said Pichai, who also noted that Mac and Linux versions of the
Chrome browser are almost ready.
Such apparently simply ambitions represent an attempt to address
modern computing problems: slow boot times, security problems, the
burden of operating system and application management, usability,
and data availability.
Google's goal with Chrome OS to make computing fast, secure, and
maintenance free.
"We want Chrome OS to be blazingly fast," said Pichai. "We want it
to be like a TV."
In a demonstration, Chrome OS booted to the login screen in seven
seconds and took three more to load the browser. Pichai said that
Google's engineers are working to make the start-up process even
faster.
Chrome OS will update itself, and its components and extensions
will be cryptographically signed, so that if malware is detected,
the system will automatically re-image itself and restore data from
the cloud.
Brin insists that Chrome OS isn't about taking on Microsoft.
Google, he said, is focused on users.
"Call us dumb businessmen, but we really focus on user needs rather
than focus on strategies like other companies," he said.
"We just want computers to be delightful and work," said Pichai.