Digital Home Thoughts: Google Announces Chrome OS

"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."

The Web is buzzing with the news this morning: Google's long-awaited "Google OS", something that people have been talking about for several years, is finally becoming a reality. Dubbed Google Chrome OS, this is a Linux-based operating system that will run on x86 and ARM processors. It won't be a reality in the consumer market until the second half of 2010, so don't get too excited yet. Will this be compelling enough to win consumers over to Linux? Most people want Windows on their netbooks, because while the browser is important, apps are still important to many people. It will be interesting to see how Google does in this market, and more importantly, how they're going to make money. Check out the Google blog post for more details.