Although it's been suspected for a while, Google have confirmed that they are developing an operating system. Initially aimed at netbooks, Google say that "We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds," said the blog post written by Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management, and Google's engineering director Linus Upson.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8139711.stm

Do we really need another OS?

I mean, MS has everything pretty much zipped up in terms of it being everything you need, program compatibility etc, and if you want something a bit more bespoke (eg small and fast, for netbooks), then there's a million flavours of linux to choose from. It's not like there's a gap in the market that needs filling!
Oh, and of course, there's that other one. SOX or something?

Still, interesting news.

so we will have the Google OS+ Google apps+Google browser+Google search... big monopoly questions to shortly follow.

Google "we will be the next MS only we will do no evil... honest guvnor, we will respect your rights (unless a government asks us to give all the information we hold about you)."

A few things we can guess about Google Chrome OS before release:

1 - it will be blue. Google seems to spend a lot of time working out the best shade of blue to use to the point to making train spotters look like they have only a passing interest in railway vehicles.

2 - It will carry the Beta flag for at least 5 years.

3 - It will be cloud computing based, I presume that it will have a fall back for those whose net connections are sporadic. If not, your netbook could be junk

4 - Another bloody platform for web designers to test against. At least it will be free, as long as it can be virtualised.

5 - It will use the content of your documents/emails etc. to push advertising at you.

ooooh fancy! I look forward to giving it a whirl. As a permanent OS though, I'm rather struck on OS X.

I can't remember if I heard it here, or back at Sun, but I seem to recall hearing that Google are using Linux as a basis for their OS, this could be their OS they use on their servers though...
I would almost be surprised if they didn't use something like Linux, they like code reuse (e.g. they didn't make a new rendering engine, they used WebKit for Chrome), using Linux they could strip out a lot, and make it their own.

I wonder...
A firm like Google are in a good position to make Linux more popular. I admit, my knowledge of Linux is limited, but it's struck me that one of the obstacles for wide spread acceptance is the way it appears to be a very fractured beast. You have Linux? Which kind? Redhat, Ubuntu, Suse? Using KDE, Gnome or.. ok, I'm out of other examples now, but I hope you follow me.
However, if a firm like Google can retain the spirit of Linux and give it a broader appeal, who knows?

I'll wait to hear from the Linux fans for more, but on the face of it, this could be the boon Linux needs to further adoption.

Much like Apple made UNIX more accessible to everyday folk Prof?

I guess so - 10 years ago, if you'd told me that UNIX was a popular choice for a home OS, I wouldn't have believed you.

I like the idea of Google trying but I don't think we'll get a reaction from Microsoft if they are only to do a light OS.

And I am also sceptical when it comes to a market penetration. Just look at Chrome browser, hardly anybody uses that. Also, from what I read I understand that Linux distros failed to capture netbook market. Why should Google OS do any better? How is going to be better than Linux?

And cloud computing sounds great but not if we are talking about Google Docs

It is, allegedly, a small Linux Kernel which loads the Chrome browser... And all apps are in the cloud.

No internet access, nothing to do... It is supposed to be 100% cloud reliant - although I guess it will have Google Gears to allow Google Apps etc. to work sort of offline.

I'd never buy it for a desktop or full laptop (i want games and my print server to work), but if I ever bought a netbook, I'd be interested.

I guess Chrome itself is almost an OS, with it's own process management etc..

Maybe when access to the internet is universal and not just in major cities and town centres, with open wifi connections and and blanket coverage from the majority of suppliers - at the moment some places have cloud access, others are with T-mobile etc...Maybe then it'll have a chance, but right now, especially where I live, offline apps are key because wifi access is at home, with maybe a handful of open connections scattered around the city.

It would probably be a good idea to have it on netbooks with integrated 3G connections.

Not sure how that might work if you want to switch providers etc, but I think I'd want one if I were to buy a chrome OS netbook (if it does depend on an internet connection of course).