The Chromebook FAQ
One of the big announcements at Google's I/O developer conference is the release of notebooks running the search giant's Chrome OS.
One of the big announcements at Google's I/O developer conference is the release of notebooks running the search giant's Chrome OS.
Google's I/O developer conference, held 10-11 May in San Francisco, has already been the site of a swathe of announcements by the search giant and its partners.
Though Google is pitching it as an operating system for netbooks and lightweight notebooks, Chrome OS is essentially the Chrome Web browser bolted on top of a bare minimum version of Linux. The following extensions can improve the user experience of Chrome (OS or browser) to give you some of the functionality found in a traditional operating system.
Computers and their software today are too complicated, and users are increasingly looking at iPads and cloud-based services such as Google Docs to handle the basics that most of us stick to: document editing, photo management, emailing, Web browsing, and the like. Running Office on a PC or Mac is beyond overkill for most people. Google proposes we do away with the PC altogether, at least part of the time, and replace it with Google's cloud-based laptop -- an appliance in which the Chrome browser serves as operating system. With the Chrome OS, all actions occur in the browser and the cloud.
Google's prototype Chrome OS laptops do not yet support Java, and support for Flash Player 10.1 is being called a "work in progress."
Google's Chrome OS is moving closer to reality, but does Google's new operating system pose any threat to Windows?
It's been a year since Google first said it would deliver a browser-only operating system for laptops called Chrome OS. Today, Google previewed the real thing at a time the iPad slate concept has already gained remarkable traction by businesses and users alike. (InfoWorld.com is covering this event live. Return to this story to get the latest updates.)
Google opened its Web application store for Chrome browser users on Tuesday, offering highly interactive, graphically rich applications from a variety of sources, including National Public Radio, Amazon.com, Electronic Arts and Sports Illustrated.
Google is being somewhat circumspect about whether Android or Chrome will run on future tablet computers, with two top executives hinting recently at different possible directions. Analysts also disagree in their predictions.
The latest beta of Chrome 6 is out, and its menus have been optimized for touch--complete with buttons for copying, pasting, as well as zooming in on a page. Could this be a taste of what the rumored Chrome OS tablet will be like? Maybe.
Well, there's little doubt that tablets running Google's Chrome operating system are coming soon--the only question is when.
Remember Chrome OS, Google's stripped-to-the-browser operating system? It's reportedly ready for prime time, with Chrome OS devices from Acer leading the way.
Google has released the source code for Chrome OS and promised that devices will be shipping in about a year, in time for the 2010 holiday season. Chrome OS will run only on devices specifically manufactured for it and Google is dictating to manufacturers the hardware specifications. For instance, Chrome OS devices will be netbooks, will not include a hard drive, will have only solid state disks, will rely on specified WiFi chipsets/adapters for connectivity and must have full-sized keyboards, says Sundar Pichai, Google's vice president of product management.
Google released its Chrome operating system to the open-source community on Thursday and said it has designed the netbook OS to be faster, simpler and more secure than existing ones.
Amid the fanfare of last week's Chrome OS announcement, Google quietly released an open source NX server, dubbed Neatx, for remote desktop display.