Google Chrome OS unveiled

Google has announced full details of its Chrome OS, although admitted that the operating system is still a year away from launch.

The Chrome OS effectively turns a netbook into a thin client. All applications will be web apps, all data will be stored in the cloud and the operating system will be booted from Flash - no hard disks will be supported.
"We want Chrome OS to be blazingly fast," said Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management at Google. "We want it to be like a TV - turn it on and you're in your web application."

Google demonstrated the OS booting on an Eee PC in around seven seconds. "We're working very, very, very hard to make this time shorter," Pichai said. "We want it to be like a TV - turn it on and you're in your web application.

"Every application is a web app - there are no conventional desktop programs," Pichai added. "It's very simple to use, there's nothing to maintain. It should just work."

The interface of the operating system is effectively the Chrome browser. Applications are each given their own tab, and users can shift between different windows each with their own group of tabs. So, for example, you could have a "productivity apps" window with tabs for Gmail, Google Docs and Spreadsheet, and another window devoted to Web browsing.