Chrome OS info

[Wraith]

CNET chrome OS press event live blog (http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10401524-265.htm)

About a year away from release.
Code is fully open source (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/releasing-chromium-os-open-source.html)
Every app on Chrome OS is a web app.
Improves speed, security - no installs.
Chrome OS UI very much the same as Chrome browser.
Idea: make Chrome-based laptop like TV - one click and it's on.
No boot loader. Optimized kernel. Services don't load until they're needed.
Verifies legitimate web apps. If malware encountered, reboots from clean image.
Data backed up in the cloud.
Netbooks:

Only available for netbooks sold with and optimized for Chrome OS.
Google-specified hardware requirements.
Requires SSDs (no HDDs).
Hopefully available holiday 2010.
Not tiny netbooks. Full-size keyboards, bigger touch pads.
No exact price announcements yet, but similar to costs of current netbooks.

Plans to have some offline capability, but primarily for online use.
Support X86 and ARM chips.
Won't support running native applications.

[Ink Asylum]

So it's not even going to be available for the home PC market? Or even full-sized laptops?

If all they want to do is make an OS designed and optimized for the netbook market, more power to them but that officially ends my interest in the product. I think it'll be cool for people to be able to buy a Chrome Netbook, but it's not something I would ever need.

[Wraith]

http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/12821_large_googlechromeos_security.jpg

Another article:

Built Around the Browser, Google's Chrome OS Launches, Reinvents the Operating System (http://www.dailytech.com/Built+Around+the+Browser+Googles+Chrome+OS+Launche s+Reinvents+the+Operating+System/article16883.htm) (DailyTech)

[Wraith]

So it's not even going to be available for the home PC market? Or even full-sized laptops?Not sure on that - maybe these restrictions are only for the Netbook market, and desktops and notebooks are fair game?

[J Arcane]

So, in other words, they're trying to make a PC that behaves like a cell phone. Who wants to take the easy guess as to who'll control the means of distribution of these "web apps"?

The sad part is I'm sure it'll work.

Count me out.

[Wraith]

Google's Chrome OS revealed -- with video! (http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/19/googles-chrome-os-revealed/) (Engadget)

[Wraith]

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/11/sdres_0001_app-menu.png

[roboninja]

Interesting. If they have a relatively open marketplace for apps this could work.

[Wraith]

Google Chrome OS: full details unveiled (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/353458/google-chrome-os-full-details-unveiled) (PC Pro)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.Google said consumers won't be able to download the operating system - it will only be available on hardware that meets Google's specifications. Hard disks are banned, for instance, while Google said it will also specify factors such as screen sizes and display resolutions.

Google said it's currently concentrating on the clamshell netbook form-factor, but wouldn't rule out moving to full-scale laptops and desktop PCs over time.

"We're working with partners to specify the components at the hardware level," Pichai said. "We really want the software to understand the underlying hardware. We're specifying the underlying hardware components."

[Adam Blue]

I'm disappointed I can't download it to a current machine of mine. But, I'm sure their reasoning is to evolve computer hardware. It's time to move away from harddrives. Google is just taking a hold of the task on their own. They are pretty much admitting to being badasses.

Also, Google just released their Google Music app for linux. It's fast as hell, but looks like Netscape from 1995.

[J Arcane]

I'm disappointed I can't download it to a current machine of mine. But, I'm sure their reasoning is to evolve computer hardware. It's time to move away from harddrives. Google is just taking a hold of the task on their own. They are pretty much admitting to being badasses.

Also, Google just released their Google Music app for linux. It's fast as hell, but looks like Netscape from 1995.
If computer hardware evolves to a point where the OS and capabilities are as restricted as this, then I will give up on computing entirely and move to the woods with my old PC.

[total]

But, I'm sure their reasoning is to evolve computer hardware. It's time to move away from harddrives.

Any reason why? I mean, I know they've been around forever and all that...but there is a reason for that.

[Spectre-7]

Google reinvents the thin client. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_Client) News at 11:00.

I kid. Sort of. ;)

[total]

Google reinvents the thin client. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_Client) News at 11:00.

I kid. Sort of. ;)

Honestly that is about the sum of it. Everyone is talking about cloud computing as if it something new. There is nothing new here. This is just a bigger network than we've used in the past.

[Acidpoptart]

HDDs are incredibly slow and the bottleneck in I/O intensive applications. Technology for non-volatile storage (aka solid state drives) has been around for a while, but was always too costly. Prices are finally coming down and they perform much faster than HDD, as there is no need for mechanical seeks.

This transition was going to happen sooner or later. Google is probably requiring SSD so the file system will be written from the ground up to be optimal for such drives... No need to store data in memory to reduce the number of disk accesses if disk access can be assumed to be quick.

[J Arcane]

I got nothing against dumb terminals, they're a great way to cheaply expand the number of workstations, when the price is effective. but they also died because, frankly, the price wasn't effective anymore when you could buy a full PC for the same price, and that's still more or less the case, so any attempt to try and push it as some kind of new standard for user computing is liable to be met with hostility from guys like me who want todo whatever the hell they want with their hardware.

I'm a PC gamer at my core, not a console gamer, for that same reason.

And really, taking control out of the hands of the user is exactly what all this "cloud computing" and "web app" stuff is all about. Making you beholden to their servers to do anything on your computer. And I don't acept that. At all.

[Ink Asylum]

It's time to move away from harddrives.

No it's not.

There's no way I'm trusting all of my important data completely to the reliability and whims of the cloud, accessible only when I'm able to have an open internet connection. I have a hard drive in my PC, a hard drive in my laptop, a backup external hard drive, use my old 30gig iPod as a portable hard drive for my most important data, and will probably invest in online storage soon.

Anyone who thinks it's time to put all of their important data solely on remote servers is a fool. Internet access is nowhere near free enough, fast enough, accessible enough or dependable enough. As a graphic designer I often work on files that are over a gig in size. So everytime I want to manipulate that file I'll have to download it from a remote server or open it remotely? Hell no.

[Wraith]

As a graphic designer I often work on files that are over a gig in size. So everytime I want to manipulate that file I'll have to download it from a remote server or open it remotely? Hell no.They're very clear that Chrome OS isn't going to work for a lot of tasks (they mentioned a lawyer editing contracts) that aren't really doable in a web environment at this point. It's for a secondary machine, which is what netbooks usually are, that can do most of the tasks that people do on a daily basis (web, e-mail, music, videos, "games" (browser based, I guess), chat, etc.).

[total]

HDDs are incredibly slow and the bottleneck in I/O intensive applications. Technology for non-volatile storage (aka solid state drives) has been around for a while, but was always too costly. Prices are finally coming down and they perform much faster than HDD, as there is no need for mechanical seeks.

This transition was going to happen sooner or later. Google is probably requiring SSD so the file system will be written from the ground up to be optimal for such drives... No need to store data in memory to reduce the number of disk accesses if disk access can be assumed to be quick.

Capacity is still (and will continue to be for quite some time) a huge issue for a SSD. This is Google pushing people away from internal storage onto their (ad-infested) cloud. The only bottleneck the HDD is going to introduce on a device like this is one that doesn't put money in Google's pockets.

[TrackZero]

I'm disappointed I can't download it to a current machine of mine. But, I'm sure their reasoning is to evolve computer hardware. It's time to move away from harddrives. Google is just taking a hold of the task on their own. They are pretty much admitting to being badasses.

No, they're limiting the platforms due to driver support. That's so obvious it's sad I have to point it out.

[Ink Asylum]

No, they're limiting the platforms due to driver support. That's so obvious it's sad I have to point it out.

I don't dispute that, which is why I said earlier that it's not for me. I'm objecting to Adam Blue's claim that it's time to move beyond hard drives. If he means just HDDs and towards SSDs, I can buy that, but away from personal physical storage? Never.

Not until the internet is free, not controlled by telecoms, accessible everywhere in the world, and so close to 100% dependable that it's irrelevant. And even then I'll still probably want copies of important data on a physical drive in my possession.

[Acidpoptart]

Capacity is still (and will continue to be for quite some time) a huge issue for a SSD. This is Google pushing people away from internal storage onto their (ad-infested) cloud. The only bottleneck the HDD is going to introduce on a device like this is one that doesn't put money in Google's pockets.

You are right that HDD capacity is far greater than that of a SSD right now. Eventually SSD will catch up a bit. For these Chrome netbooks, capacity is a non-issue so quick SSD will let them boot up super quickly and then market it as a feature: "Look! We boot up so quick! Suck it Windows!"

Also: I completely agree with Ink Asylum:
"Not until the internet is free, not controlled by telecoms, accessible everywhere in the world, and so close to 100% dependable that it's irrelevant. And even then I'll still probably want copies of important data on a physical drive in my possession."

[J Arcane]

I also can't help but find humor in Google trying to control the hardware the way Apple does, but expecting everyone else to build it for them.

I'm wondering how well that'll really be accepted. I think it'd depend on how well the OEMs can get in on the money from the inevitable "web app store", like they already do on Android.

[Acidpoptart]

My take on Chrome OS:

This is only useful on VERY low power machines. That is why they are targeting only Netbooks.
You wouldn't want this on your desktop anyway. By placing all computation on back end servers, you are dependent on the back end workload and not on what your system can do. Your new bottleneck will be how loaded their servers are and network capacity. And considering how shady telecoms are... This might be pretty terrible.
To all the journalists writing that this changes everthing....blah blah... is so original... blah blah: It's not and Chome OS (atleast in its current form) does not change ANYTHING about desktop computing for the everyday user. This was basically done twenty years ago by several different groups... The first to come to mind is the V Kernel out of Stanford in the early 1980s. Look up "The Distributed V Kernel and its Performance for Diskless Workstations" if you want to know more about that. A much more awesome and interesting system is the Sprite Operating System that came out of Berkeley in the late 1980s.


In short: It is designed to be quick and eat up few resources. In the process, you are severely limited in what you can do, as it does not allow native applications. They will just claim this is for added security.

The hype is not warranted.

[Ink Asylum]

The hype is not warranted.

Pretty much my reaction, a big shrug. So they hit "Maximize Window" on Chrome, pretty much.

I love a lot of Google's applications. I use Google Documents/Tasks/Calendar/Maps/Reader, Gmail, and Gchat. They excel at creating user interfaces and searching through huge amounts of data to provide useful results for the user, but beyond that they don't wow me.

[TrackZero]

I don't dispute that, which is why I said earlier that it's not for me. I'm objecting to Adam Blue's claim that it's time to move beyond hard drives. If he means just HDDs and towards SSDs, I can buy that, but away from personal physical storage? Never.

Not until the internet is free, not controlled by telecoms, accessible everywhere in the world, and so close to 100% dependable that it's irrelevant. And even then I'll still probably want copies of important data on a physical drive in my possession.

Sure, uhh...I wasn't replying to you, but sure. ;)

[Adam Blue]

I don't dispute that, which is why I said earlier that it's not for me. I'm objecting to Adam Blue's claim that it's time to move beyond hard drives. If he means just HDDs and towards SSDs, I can buy that, but away from personal physical storage? Never.

Yeah I mean to SSD's. I won't trust anything but personal, physical storage. I was disappointed at first, but it makes sense. It's kinda like Windows and its kernel, as much as I think I understand, moving away from x86. ...which Chrome will still work with.

So in regards to my clarification, I don't see how anyone would object.

EDIT: I'm no expert, but a programmer buddy of mine is going to mess with it and try to get it on his netbook. I'm also wondering if an SD card would be recognized by the installation (however that works) as a drive it can use.

[Adam Blue]

I also can't help but find humor in Google trying to control the hardware the way Apple does, but expecting everyone else to build it for them.

It might seem as such, but really they are saying, "hey, it's time to move on, so we'll start by making our product only available on these limited specs". This hardware just happens to be sold at Walmart and costs very little. Once that ground is gained, then bigger things can happen.

In the meantime, anyone can make the OS run on anything, since the code is there.

[Voodoo]

This OS and announcement is quite simple. If there is an identifiable market for this, it will be successful. If not, this will be quite the memory. Either way, it doesn't have much effect on how I do my computing professionally or personally. At the very least I find the move to be intriguing.

Personally, I had hoped they were going with what was rumored years ago - a fully peer to peer computing environment where unused CPU cycles, memory and HDD space can be shared among computers on a LAN.

...but that's been done before too. :)

[Wraith]

Download Chrome OS for Free With VMWare (http://www.tomshardware.com/news/chrome-os-google-vmware-download,9124.html) (Tom's Hardware)

gdgt (http://gdgt.com/google/chrome-os/download/) has a compiled version of Chrome OS/Chromium available for use with VMWare Player (http://www.vmware.com/products/player/), VMWare Fusion (http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/) (Mac) or VirtualBox (http://www.virtualbox.org/).

*Edit* And TechCrunch (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/19/guide-install-google-chrome-os/) has step-by-step instructions for getting it up and running under VirtualBox.

[Lance Uppercut]

I have an Eee that I use solely for internet, so this OS greatly appeals to me.

Would I want this on my main computer? Of course not, that's not what it was designed for.

[Shadowstorm]

hardware. It's time to move away from harddrives.

I am interested in your reasoning for taking this position (cloud computing? Do not want).

[jeffbax]

Beaten to the punch somewhat by http://litl.com/

And while I do think that most people (including many in this very thread - see whoever made the application marketplace comment HELLO) do not "get" Chrome OS (the Q/A was laughably bad) - don't forget Google's projects that bring native code execution to the browser and 3D hardware access.

In a long time, this may be quite a model for many people to use as their primary machine where they never have to worry about anything but shitty Flash websites crashing their window ;)

[Slack3r78]

Anybody surprised about what this turned out to be haven't been paying attention. The only thing I found mildly surprising was the SSD requirement, but even that isn't exactly shocking.

[Slack3r78]

Capacity is still (and will continue to be for quite some time) a huge issue for a SSD. This is Google pushing people away from internal storage onto their (ad-infested) cloud. The only bottleneck the HDD is going to introduce on a device like this is one that doesn't put money in Google's pockets.

There's still internal storage. It's primarily a cache, though. Hard drives make very, very little sense for the class of device Chrome OS is aimed at. You don't need the amount of storage provided by hard drives when weighed against the huge reliability hit you're going to take.

[SonofSeth]

So, how far are we from 4G?