Google reveals beta operating system that functions with web

GOOGLE PRESENTED its much-anticipated Chrome OS software this week at an event in San Francisco. Installed on specially manufactured notebooks, the new operating system is available as a beta-release and is being distributed free to 60,000 US members of Google’s pilot programme.

Google describes Chrome OS as “nothing but the web”. It promises a secure browsing system that boots to the internet in only 10 seconds. The user-experience is based on Google’s popular Chrome web browser and all computing operations are performed in the cloud.

These are applications you access via your web connection to allow you to perform almost any task that a desktop system can perform such as multimedia, spreadsheets, word processing and chat using just your browser.

Dubbed the Cr-48, the trial notebooks sport a minimalist and unbranded design where the caps lock key has been replaced by a search button.

While the operating system goes head to head with Apple and Microsoft, Google is not expected to become a hardware provider.

Chrome OS-powered notebooks are due in mid-2011 from Acer and Samsung and will be offered as an option at retail.

At the same time, Google unveiled the Google App Store. Aimed at existing users of the popular Google Chrome browser, it mirrors the offering from Apple’s App store for iPad and iPhone devices.

Users can install a wide range of free and paid applications. Multimedia (Aviary), shopping (eBay) social media (Tweetdeck) and news (NY Times) applications integrate smoothly with the Chrome browser.

Other app categories include games, education, productivity and utilities.

At the enterprise level, Google announced an updated web toolkit for their existing Google Apps for business platform.

One third-party developer demonstrated an application that allowed employers to integrate payslips with the popular Google calendar and Gmail applications.

There are not that many companies with the resources to hand out 60,000 free computers loaded with a new operating system.

Not only does Google have a cash pile to invest, it is also integrating its platform, search and content strategies.

With the growth of web-enabled “smart TVs”, smartphones and tablet computers, a solid operating system will be crucial to deliver interoperability between devices to consumers.

Google is aiming to create a seamless experience as Google Books, Music and other offerings come on stream.

The strategy complements its core internet advertising business by allowing Google to develop a more complete understanding of the consumer in the era of ubiquitous computing for more targeted ads.