Google Announces Chrome OS

It has been a long time in the running, but Google used their "big event" earlier today to finally announce that the Chrome OS is on its way. There was a very early version of chrome OS in its alpha state back in June/July of this year which gave users the opportunity to test out what Google was originally proposing. This was a very interesting proposition and I still have the .iso file installed, what had been built was an entirely web-based operating system. Google had built in many of its own applications and software such as Google documents, Gmail and Google calendar. This gave for a very speedy operating system, since everything was based online. This is an operating system I would very much recommend for users who require to be online very very quickly after booting up. Google are mainly focussing upon the idea that putting everything online will make it faster, simpler and secure.

Fast-forward to today and you have Google all set up in San Francisco ahead of their "big event". It is now being said that Google are aiming for a mid-2011 launch date saying that the operating system is not quite ready for mainstream but its nearly there. A bit of exciting news though is that samsung and acer have signed up to be the first OEM (Original equipment manufacturer) partners ahead of the launch. Some of the features expected in the mainstream launch are the use of Google's cloud print giving users the opportunity to print to any printer, anywhere. They are also boasting that it takes less than a minute to boot up and be online. An opportunity for profile sharing meaning that users can enter a guest profile on another chrome OS device and get all their information up that they require. A pretty neat feature is that Google have partnered with Verizon to offer 3G services, but this is the best bit, there are no contracts or activation fees!

Google have started by offering a pilot service to qualified users, developers, schools and businesses to allow for testing to ensure there are no problems ahead of the launch. It has been announced that the notebooks being offered as part of the pilot are black with no branding or logos. They all have a 12.1 inch screen, full-sized keyboards and touch-pads and already come with the necessary technology to allow for 3G services.

This is exciting news from Google and I am sure will be well anticipated within the online community. All we know is that Chrome OS is on its way and it is going to be brilliant.

Twitter