Nov
19
Google Chrome OS: Light Recap of the Update from Mountain View
Google hosted a press event this morning at its Mountain View headquarters to give updates about the Google Chrome OS. If you weren’t able to catch the live stream of Google VP Sundar Pichai and Engineering Director Matthew Papakipos, here’s a light overview.
- Google Chrome OS is open-source.
- There is no target price set yet.
- As a “companion device,” Sundar says, “If you’re a lawyer and you spend your whole day editing docs back and forth, this is not the machine for you. Not yet. “
- Chrome OS will print; an innovative solution is in the works for this.
Google Chrome OS focuses on three things:
- speed | Sundar says, “We want Chrome OS to be blazingly fast.”
- simplicity | “Almost everyone knows how to use a browser. So, we want it to feel that way.”
- security| “Verified boot”: every component is signed and checked on boot
Highlights from the demo:
- Seven-second boot time and three seconds to log-on.
- Looks like Chrome with extra “application” tabs. These tabs can be customized to open your favorite applications.
- An “app menu” that functions like a Windows Start Menu.
- Applications open as “panels” that can be minimized. Think similar to the windows on your task bar (in Windows).
- Sundar demonstrates a chess game viewable through Flash illustrating what he says earlier, “Every app on Chrome OS is a Web app. No installing.”
Or view the demo:
The entire concept seems pretty neat. It’s true, most of my computer work is done on the internet: browsing, researching, reading, watching, listening, blogging… blogging… did I say blogging? Anyway, I’m still not sure I want my computer operation to be completely internet-based. Sometimes it’s nice to hit the other items on my task bar to see a window that isn’t Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer. It’s almost like an escape, you know? Perhaps I’m just not prepared for the inevitable future (where Google has succeeded in Pinky and the Brain‘s plan to conquer the world). What are your thoughts? Hit that comment button and share them with us!
