Google announced the main features of its Chrome OS

This new OS focuses on speed, simplicity and security and will be available next year

It is 19:00 CET and I am consciously waiting for the Google Chrome OS Conference in Mountain View, CA, USA to begin. I expect a new, better, and revolutionary if you want, operating system to be revealed today.  Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management for Google walked in and... said they are not announcing the release of their new OS today.

Apparently, I was feeling a bit under the weather for a moment but then it all begun. Google said its Chrome OS is about a year from release, that it is an open source OS and a demonstration of the basic features will be provided during the press conference.

According to Google, over 40 million people are using Chrome web browser and that a Mac version is coming soon. In addition, it is fast and secure. Basically, as Pichai said, “Chrome is a Chrome OS”. Nevertheless, many new features were added.

Based on the latest trends of mobile phones getting bigger and starting to look like computers and notebooks getting smaller (netbooks, smartbooks) and looking more like phones Google intended to create an OS which will meet the needs of users. Reportedly, what inspired them were the incredible netbook sales, even at a time of global recession, cloud computing and what I have already mentioned – latest technology trends.

Chrome OS focuses on three things – speed, simplicity and security. As Sundar Pichai said, they wanted to make an OS that is very, very fast. According to the company, the boot time of the system is around 7 seconds and additional 3 are needed for the user to log-in. Chrome web browser will also be faster on Chrome OS.

So what is Chrome OS?

All applications are going to be web applications and customers will not have to install anything. In addition, Pichai said that nothing is going to be stored on the computer. Apps are actually links or urls arranged into small tabs on top of the browser window. They are allegedly easy to access and use. There are also panels or as Google calls them “light weight windows” that appear on the bottom of the Chrome window. If a user inserts an USB drive, its content will load in one of these panels. Moreover, if there is a video file on it, one can play the video directly within the panel.  Currently, Google works on the extensions which are supposed to be based on html and javascipt. What is more, the company revealed that they want to make online experience very much the same as the offline one. For instance, users should be able to play 3D games online with the application having direct access to the GPU.  Furthermore, HTML5 support will be present.

Everything a user does is in the cloud and can be accessed from any Chrome OS enabled device, once a user logs-in with their username and password. Nevertheless, one of the main focuses of the OS is security and user data is always encrypted, so customers should not worry about losing their system. Customers will not have to update their OS as it will do this automatically.

Allegedly, Chrome OS will not support mechanical hard drives, only SSD. In addition, Google said that users will not be able to use this new software product on their current systems. They have to go out and buy a Chrome OS device. Reportedly, Google aims for the OS to “know” the hardware which will enable it to work faster.

It was revealed that it wasn’t so much about creating a new software product as it was about delivering a much improved user experience. Now we have to wait and see what Chrome OS will really offer in a year.

Video Demo of Chrome OS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr>v=0QRO3gKj3qw&feature=player_<wbr>embedded