It’s been a long time in the rumour mill but Google has finally come clean and annouced that gOS is a reality. Google Chrome OS is going to be available on netbooks come second half of 2010 but it won’t stop there. GCOS will be available for both x86 and ARM processor architecture meaning that you might see it on ARM based MIDs (you know the Internet Devices that no one really wants) and other low power, long battery life ARM equiped devices. Google also said that the OS would be suitable for the most basic computers such as netbooks all the way up to fully fledged desktop computers. The ethos behind Chrome OS is fast, efficient and safe access to the internet. To this end Google is boasting the OS will be virus free thanks in part to the linux kernel and an entirely new security architecture. Google will also be leveraging it’s online/offline webapps including Google Docs, Gmail and Gcal and is looking to get developers on board with apps built on web standards.

So what does Google’s open source, lightweight operating system mean for the competition? Well Windows might finally lose it’s strangle hold on the netbook market, even with Windows 7 coming soon. Ubuntu and other linux distros should also be quaking in their boots for their consumer sides, as linux with the power and household name of Google behind it might just take their market shares away from them. You might even find that Mac OSX might suffer a little, but it has the die hard fans in it’s court so I don’t personally think it’ll make much impact on Apple’s OS. Leverage familiar styles and names as well as tools that you might find on a windows machine, Chrome OS might just make in-roads against Windows in the near future, especially at the bottom end of the market where a pre-loaded consumer friendly and free OS, removes the windows tax taking a fair chunk out of the cost of a machine.

So should you be excited? Well if you’re in the space for a light-weight user friendly OS, then Google Chrome OS might just do it for you. So yes, I know I’m itching to have a play with it.

[Via Official Google Blog]