Google Chrome OS Cometh

Yesterday, Google provided the public with a big reveal of its Chrome OS. While the OS won’t actually launch for another year, and even the beta is a ways off, it’s the first look that a hungry public has gotten at the upcoming OS.

Unlike the traditional Microsoft and Apple operating systems that have dominated our computer screens for decades, Chrome is set-up in browser fashion and runs only Web applications with no downloading or updating necessary for the user. All those programs  that you’re used to running from your hard drive will now exist online. As such, the OS is extremely fast, booting within seconds. It maintains the image of a browser, with a series of tabs at the top.

On the downside, Chrome will require completely new, Google-approved hardware and will intitially be designed solely for netbooks. The new OS also won’t support hard drives and will only work with solid state drives.

You can take a look at the video Google put together, for a slow and steady handling of exactly how they’ve redesigned the OS. [via Gizmodo and LA Times]