The BIG Day is Here! Chrome OS to be announced today. Get it LIVE!
Posted on | November 19, 2009 | 5 Comments
Finally, the day for Google to open up its cards in front of mainstream media has come. Google is to announce much hyped Chrome OS and let all of us know the expectations we should keep from them. As promised earlier, this event will be kind of a tech preview of the operating system and will detail further plans of its launch.
According to rumor mill, Google would release Beta version of Google Chrome OS today but our guess is that the beta launch will take some more time to happen. Lets see what’s in Google store today.
We’re going to LIVE BLOG the event scheduled for today, 10 am at Google HQ so come back right here for Chrome OS event details.
- Sorry folks but there is going to be no beta today. The actual Google Chrome OS is still 12 months away from its mainstream launch.
- Sundar Pichai is now talking about Google Chrome’s achievements in terms of radical growth(over 40 million users within an year), high browsing speed and regular bug fixes. Chrome for Mac and Linux are in the pipeline, he says.
- Google Chrome OS team is figuring out a secure way for Web based applications to take advantage of the desktop OS in the same way that desktop applications do, says Sundar Pichai.
- As expected, every application on Chrome OS will be a web application(NO DESKTOP APPS). The emphasis will remain on providing high level of security, lightening speed and 100% fidelity. By fidelity, he refers to an instance that If someone loses his Chrome machine, he should go buy a new chrome machine and that’s it ! My computing experience would remain exactly the same it was earlier.”
- Chrome OS is basically Chrome browser with everything else on the cloud. All applications open in tabs and there are ‘panels’(described as persistent light windows) as well.
- Quick demo of Chrome OS UI is shown to us..It seems just fine…cool and lightweight.
- Speed, simplicity and security are the three main points Chrome OS will be based on.
- Sundar Pichai is done with his introductory speech and handing over the next part to Matt Papakipos
- Chrome OS eliminates the need of booting up. The browser gets auto-launched the moment we switch on the machine. The OS will self-update itself to stay aware of any security patches available and does the job by itself.
- From firmware to the OS kernel, things remain protected with a cryptographic signature ensuring a secure bootup. Malware detection and removal are automated.
- The existing system allows same level of system privileges to apps as given to users. This is entirely different when we talk about web based OS. The apps are web based and hence the privileges to web apps are never system based, which makes everything much secure and controlled in web based OS environment.
- Chrome OS’s file system is pretty much locked as it’s a read-only root file system. All user data is encrypted and synced to the cloud. PC would be utilized for caching your data but the ultimate stuff remains cloud based.
- It won’t be that easy to download and install Chrome OS on just about any machine. The hardware specs are an issue and Google is very much in talks with hardware manufacturers to settle down with a min. hardware requirements for Chrome OS. Chrome OS is expected to be ready by the fall of 2010.
- Q&A session starts..some interesting questions coming up….you catch the video embedded below :
Google to host ‘Chrome OS Event’ Coming Thursday. Stay Excited!
Posted on | November 18, 2009 | 1 Comment
Finally, the prime time has come. Google has finally decided on the date for the early preview launch of Chrome OS this thursday. This preview will include
- Development progress on Chrome OS
- Complete Chrome OS overview
- Future plans on official OS launch
- Scope and scalability
The complete event will be conducted by Sundar Pichai, VP of Product Management and Matthew Papakipos, Google Engineering Director for Google Chrome OS. The event will end with a Q&A session and our guess is that the Q&A will be most interesting to look out for.
Finally, it seems that Google Chrome OS is about to go mainstream by early next year so its great for us that we will have more to write about the stuff our website is all about.
Stay tuned…we will bring you byte-by-byte event details as they happen on thursday.
ChromeOS to launch within a week! Rumor Or Truth?
Posted on | November 13, 2009 | No Comments
We have been occasionally writing about the stealth OS from Google, the Chrome OS and have been trying to sneak into every possible information we can bring out about it. Now, it seems, this stealth OS will no more remain a secret as according to a recent rumor, Google Chrome OS will publicly launch within a week or so.
This rumor has emerged from TechCrunch, a popular silicon valley tech blog. As there is no official statement from Google itself, we can’t really call it a news but the rumor seems to be true.
It’s hardly been half a month since Windows 7 launch and Google OS is making the news again. It might be a long term strategy from Google to start rooting its OS as early as possible, especially when Windows 7 is getting a great response from the customers.
Starting early might serve positively to Google but we’re hoping it’s not way too early. Our anticipation is that Google OS is nearing its launch but a very limited launch and that too in a month or two(not in 5-7 days). We might be wrong but this anticipation seems more sensible and Google does believe in doing things sensibly.
Buried ‘Chrome OS’ traces found…But, what do they mean ?
Posted on | September 3, 2009 | 1 Comment
Google Chrome OS is back in buzz again. And we’ve something critical to talk about. Although, there hasn’t been any official word about Chrome OS for quite sometime now, the web diggers (aka geeks, bloggers) were right on their job, trying to dig out any possible traces of Chrome OS and they’ve somehow found one out.
The clue belongs to Chromium web repository, the Open source project that serves as a backbone for Google Chrome browser development. DownloadSquad spotted out a mention of Chrome OS login manager, somewhere buried in the open source code of Chromium web repository.
As Chrome OS is supposed to be a Browser based OS, a general interpretation of the term Chrome OS login manager would mean an OS that operates on Single Sign-On (SSO) cookie, working for all Google services.
In simpler words, you will be required to login with your Google Account when you will boot up your Chrome OS machine. Once you login with your Google account credentials into Chrome OS, you will get access to all the Google web services(Gmail, Google Docs, Picasa, Reader, Blogger, Friends Connect……)
It sounds pretty cool and absolutely perfect for a company like Google, probably the only internet company in tech industry that has in-house web based alternative to all major desktop applications and software needs. It also means that you just need to login with your Google account to any machine(home, office, friend’s) and you have your custom OS ready to be served. As all the services belong to Google, the overall compatibility will be immensely smooth.
But this presumption (which is most likely to turn true) that one must have a Google account to make an access to Chrome OS and use Google Chrome as the primary web browser for using any web service on Chrome OS has raised a lot of questions over the freedom of choice.
If somebody is not interested to work on Google Chrome(the supposed backbone of Chrome OS) but Firefox or IE or whatever else then ? Or if somebody doesn’t want to use Google Docs or Picasa but instead, want to use some other alternative software from a third party developer, then ??
Will Google allow other competitive software or services to get replaced as primary service in Chrome OS ? It’s a question that’s still to be answered by Google but we’re guessing that Google will choose to stay competitive than playing resistive.
Even when any user downloads and installs Google Chrome on Windows OS, Chrome first asks the user to choose a default search engine (in-built into URL address bar) and doesn’t just impose Google search on new Chrome user. It’s a competitive ideology that Google has always followed (so far) and we expect that for Chrome OS as well.
Chrome OS leaked Screenshots ?? Yet Another Stupid Gimmick !!
Posted on | August 31, 2009 | 1 Comment
After the web crowd went abuzzed with the news of Google’s very own Operating System, the Chrome OS, everyone started talking about Google’s possibilities of taking on Microsoft in its homeground.
Ever since, this news broke out, tech bloggers and journalists started speculating over various aspects that are closely associated with Chrome OS and its possible success or failure in largely monopolised OS market.
Although there’s just one article written on Official Google Blog about Chrome OS, tech journalist and blogging fraternity just can’t stop buzzing about Chrome OS, be it data security concerns or Google-Microsoft rivalry.
But something that’s been completely baseless about Chrome OS are those leaked screenshots rumors, that keep surfacing every now and then.(atleast for now)
First when the news broke out, a fake graphic designer showed off his photoshopping skills and cooked up a fake story, which eventually managed to make thousands of folks believe on the Fake Chrome OS Screenshots.
Quiet recently, another claimed screenshot (obviously fake!) of Chrome OS surfaced out, gathering thousands of eyeballs, once more.
Can you guess, how long will such leaked rumors keep rolling out ??
Until Google itself rolls the real ones out !
And the day is not far(probably by the end of this year) when we would get you the REAL Chrome OS screenshots and detailed specifications about the next generation OS.
Stay tuned !!
‘Chrome OS’ Success May Cause Multi-dimensional damages to Microsoft
Posted on | July 28, 2009 | 2 Comments
It’s clear that Microsoft has got its biggest possible challenger in the name of Google Chrome OS, but the impact of ‘Chrome OS’ may not be limited to Operating System industry only. If ‘Chrome OS’ succeeds in securing OS market share of even 15-20% within a span of 5 years from its launch, it may result in magnified losses to Microsoft in many regards. Here’s how…
It’s not just Windows OS but many other Microsoft products that critically account for Microsoft’s revenue stream such as
- Microsoft Office application suite
- Web browser: Internet Explorer
- Search Engine: Bing.com (earlier Live.com)
All of the three Microsoft properties mentioned above have a straight competition from Google’s product line. For Microsoft Office applications suite, Cloud based Google Docs is the toughest challenger. Against Internet Explorer, Google Chrome is gripping up the roots fast and against Bing.com, Google Search is already holding the hugely dominant position.
Now, all of the three Microsoft weapons have somehow been riding the huge success of Microsoft Windows. Here are the reasons…
- Office applications suite became hugely popular only because it was bundled with Microsoft Windows OS and now considered an integral part of Windows Operating system.
- The only reason behind huge domination of ill-famed Internet explorer in web browser space (IE6+IE7+IE8) is its bundling with Microsoft Windows OS.
- Bing.com has been taking advantage of Internet Explorer’s popularity. As spotted earlier by SearchEngineLand , Bing’s early peak(when it leapfrogged Yahoo!) was a result of an IE6 bug and for general cases, Internet explorer’s default search engine is set to be Bing.com. This has given big boost to Bing’s early growth.
In a scenario where Google Chrome OS, bundled with Google Docs, Google Chrome and Google Search as the default utilities takes over roughly 20% of the OS market share, it would not only be just Microsoft Windows but MS Office, Internet Explorer and Bing.com as well, which are bound to bear the proportional losses.
The same scenario holds for Google as well. If Chrome OS becomes a sustainable success in OS industry , Google’s other major products such as Google Docs, Google Chrome and (already successful) Google Search are bound to enjoy the fruit of success.
10 Most Asked Questions about ‘Chrome OS’
Posted on | July 23, 2009 | 1 Comment
Chrome OS, the under-development operating system from Google has been under speculation for quite a while, just because there’s hardly any information about it from the actual sources(Google). Everyone is looking interested to know more about Chrome OS, only because it can be a game-changer for the huge and monopolised OS industry.
As the Google OS information is quite scarce, many people are still in doubts about Chrome OS and its future prospects. Here we have listed 10 most asked questions about Chrome OS, with appropriate answers to each of the questions.
What is Google Chrome OS ?
Google Chrome OS is a cloud based open source Operating System by Google, which is built on top on Linux kernel and puts Google Chrome(web browser) at the centre of entire OS architecture.
Is Google Chrome OS a Windows killer ?
May be. Google Chrome OS is a concept that belongs to the future of computing, Cloud Computing. Google’s possibility of making a huge impact on deep rooted Windows OS, is certainly a tough nut to crack but the possibilties are very much there. The more plausible scenario is that Google may significantly hurt Microsoft Windows, in a time frame of around 5-6 years.
Where can i get Chrome OS ?
Chrome OS is unavailable at the moment. It is expected to be made available in conjunction with Netbooks by late 2010.
How much would it cost ?
Google Chrome OS is an open source project and hence would be available for use at free of cost.
Will it be secure to work on a cloud based OS ?
Chrome OS has been carved out with security and malware resistance as one of the major preferences. It will rather be more secure than being the opposite case. Here is an in-depth answer to this.
What about Android’s future, existing Google’s baby ? Is it doomed ?
Not at all. As explained by us earlier, Android Mobile OS will continue to exist and flourish. The only difference will be its limited domain. Initially planned to serve as an OS, for both Mobile phones and desktops, it will now serve mobile phones only.
Will Chrome OS only be for Netbooks ?
Chrome OS is suitable for low capability Netbooks, laptops and desktops. It’s only a strategic move by Google to start delivering Chrome OS with Netbooks first, moving further to laptops and desktop PCs.
Will it run on any computer ?
Most probably YES. Chrome OS will work fine with most of the existing computer machines, whether the configuration is way too old. The fact that Chrome OS uses the existing Linux kernel and keeps Google Chrome browser at the centre of OS functonality, the possibility of hardware conflicts are very less.
Which Netbook manufacturers are going to produce Chrome OS powered Netbooks ?
With regard to Netbook production, Google is working closely with major OEMs namely Acer, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard(HP), Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Toshiba and Adobe but no official announcement has yet been done by Google.
I’m a developer. Can i code stuff for Chrome OS ?
Of course, yes. Chrome OS is an Open source OS and will be available for open source community later this year.
If you have got any other doubts regarding Chrome OS, do ask in comments. They will be immediately answered.
Actual Reason Behind ‘Chrome OS Security’ Uproar: ‘Anti-Virus Industry’ Afraid of Going Out of Business
Posted on | July 17, 2009 | 6 Comments
Google execs have been keeping sharp silence since the Chrome OS news broke out but the blogosphere is reacting just the opposite. Bloggers and news journalists are fantasizing everything they can, just to keep the Chrome OS buzz alive, whether the concerns being raised are relevant or not.
And right now, Google’s statement of building fool-proof security standards in Google Chrome OS is getting over-exaggerated to a large extent by the online media.
The security pundits are whole-heartedly questioning Google’s claims of building a Malware-free Operating System. Few of the logical justifications of security experts are somewhat true but still, the actual statement has been largely mis-interpreted, making a mountain of a molehill.
This is the statement that’s causing the uproar…
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.
Media has gone absurdly far that it has started relating Twitter security breach with vulnerability of Google Chrome OS. It’s fine that many of the official Twitter documents which were recently hacked, were hosted on cloud based Google docs service, but we reckon the skeptics missed out a point made pretty clear by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone saying
This attack had nothing to do with any vulnerability in Google Apps which we continue to use.
We do agree that no operating system can be 100% malware-free. We also agree that there may be even more challenges for Google while carving out a Web based Operating system, which is bound to be more open and would heavily rely on cloud based applications. But this doesn’t mean that Google’s statement about Chrome OS Security standards is waguely wrong.
One can better interpret the questionable Google statement as “implementation of never-before and highly resistent security standards within Google Chrome OS”.
Now, imagine an operating system, which is not completely fool-proof but has very rare chances of malware attacks and least vulnerability to viruses. Won’t you love such an OS ? That’s exactly what Google is eyeing for.
But there’s another hidden reason behind all these objections, being raised majorly by Security experts and Anti-virus companies. Suppose, if Google actually succeeds in building a Fool-proof Operating System then it will be one of the major highlights of Chrome OS in competing against Microsoft Windows.
And if, Google starts hurting long lived Windows dynasty of Microsoft badly, then it won’t be just Microsoft but countless of Anti-virus firms and computer security companies, who will be at the risk of going out of business.
The possibility is quite easy to realize. If Malware-free Google Chrome OS succeeds in stealing some 30-40% of OS market share from Microsoft within a span of, say 4-5 years from its launch then it will mean that only 55-65% market will actually require security experts or anti-virus softwares for staying Malware-free. This may jeopardise Anti-virus industry to a large extent.
It is analogous to a situation when everybody becomes healthy on earth and there’s a rare possibility of any disease to spread across, meaning no need of medicines ever. Won’t that cause whole Medical industry to go out of business.
This same sort of feeling is one major reason behind the whole controversy around the Google statement on Chrome OS security plans.
What Bill Gates & Steve Ballmer have to say about ‘Chrome OS’
Posted on | July 15, 2009 | 2 Comments
The two popular Microsoft faces, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer when questioned about Google’s Chrome OS announcement, answered in their own predictable ways.
Ballmer as always, downplayed the new Windows competitor, Google Chrome OS, criticizing not one but many of Google’s strategies. First, he criticized Google’s strategy of building two operating systems for serving kind of similar purposes(Netbook industry), with a huge overlap amongst each other. He quoted..
“The last time I checked you don’t need two client operating systems. We tried it before. Windows 95 and Windows NT. It’s good to have one. So I can’t — I don’t really know what’s up at Google.”
He went further, indirectly criticizing Google’s point to making Web as the main operating platform by making web browser(chrome) at the heart of their Web oriented OS(Chrome OS). He argued that most people spend half their time on computer, not using a web browser. He quoted..
“There’s good data that says 50 percent of the time that someone’s on their PC, they’re not doing something with the Web browser”
He ignored any future possibility of Microsoft taking Windows, the Google way and expressed his intentions of staying conventional in near future. He quoted..
Let me comment, though, about our own situation. What we really do understand is that the model for the future brings together the best of today’s rich client Windows-style applications and some of the things that people consider the best of the web. … So as we talk about where we’re going, we don’t need a new operating system. What we need to do is evolve Windows, Windows applications, IE, the way IE works in totality with Windows, and how we build applications like Office, like the stuff we showed here, and we need to make sure we can bring our customers and partners with us.”
Bill Gates commented on ‘Google Chrome OS’ in his pet way, by simply ignoring to even considering Chrome OS as something new. He quoted…
“There’s many, many forms of Linux operating systems out there and packaged in different ways and booted in different ways. In some ways I am surprised people are acting like there’s something new. I mean, you’ve got Android running on Netbooks. It’s got a browser in it.”
Gates further quoted…
“It just shows the word “browser” has become a meaningless word. “Tell me What’s a browser? What’s not a browser? If you’re playing a movie, would you call it a browser or not ? If you’re making notes, would you call that a browser? If you’re editing text, is that a browser or not ? In large part, it’s more an abuse of terminology than a real change.”
In the end, Ballmer highlighted that there’s barely anything disclosed about Chrome OS by Google and it’s tough to really judge at the moment how threatening and realistic it can be for MS. He quoted …
“Microsoft really doesn’t know what Chrome OS will look like. Who knows what this thing is ?”
While we have already clarified that there may be an overlap between the two Google Operating systems, still Chrome OS and Android have hardly any conflict of interests.
It has been an old bad habit of Microsoft: Ignoring the underdogs and staying away from thinking Out-of-the-box. The difference here is that this time, the underdog is Google Chrome OS and this makes things more serious than usual.
Anyways, everyone would agree that this underdog(Chrome OS) has the killer jaws to tear off Windows like no other.
I soon expect some Google exec. to clarify the floating rumors and talk-in-depth about Chrome OS, shedding more light on their future strategy and prospects.
Why Google Is Onto ‘Chrome OS’ Inspite of Having ‘Android’ In Hand
Posted on | July 13, 2009 | 2 Comments
On the basis on a recent piece of information published on Digitimes where the speculated launch of Acer’s first Dual OS(Windows XP/Android) Netbook is being written about, many tech pundits are talking skeptic over the strategy that Google is following, concerned with their Windows killer Operating System.
Most of the speculations are circling around the reason for creating two different Google Operating Systems, competing against each other in Netbook sector. Few are arguing…
Knowing the fact that both Android and Chrome OS are built on top of Linux ,why couldn’t Google extend Android into Desktop OS market. Why Google want to recreate an OS after putting in so much of efforts into Android since late 2007 ?
There is nothing exciting in knowing that Android will be booting Netbooks as well. We reckon, it was a part of a long term planning by Google, much before Google Chrome OS was even conceptualised. Google’s Android Mobile OS was supposedly planned to be a Universal OS, which would start off with Mobile handsets and extend upto desktops and laptops.
But Google might just realized that building an Universal OS (single OS for Handsets, laptops, netbooks, desktops) won’t be a realistic approach to cracking a monopolised Desktop OS industry. Android could well be a killer Mobile OS but building an OS for Desktops and Netbooks may require an enormous & dedicated efforts with tons of innovation from Google.
Not to forget what many android developers had been constantly admitting
Android platform has many known flaws and pitfalls as a Desktop OS and competing with Windows will almost be like a rock-climbing task without a rope for Android.
From another end, Google had started enjoying the huge and promising success of Google Chrome (it’s just over nine months since Google Chrome’s launch and there are already over 30 million loyal Chrome users), and the idea of Web as operating platform, complimented by nascent but futuristic concepts such as Cloud computing and core Web based applications could have given birth to Google’s idea of building a Web browser centric OS.
This might be the reason why Google carved out Chrome centric OS, the Google Chrome OS, inspite of leading the development of Open source Mobile OS, Android.
Although Acer is scheduled to come up with a Dual OS Netbook carrying Android next month, it’s more than intuitive that Google will keep Android’s focus into Mobile OS sector only and take the tougher challenge of competing with Windows 7 with Google Chrome OS, starting from the Netbook industry.
Tags: chrome os vs android > reason for chrome os development