For those who’ve been hiding under a rock for the last month, Google showed off a preview of it’s Chrome OS to the ever expectant tech world. They also made available some developer releases of the OS and detailed what it can and more importantly can’t run on.

So, what’s Chrome OS (COS) all about? Well you’ve seen the big G’s Chrome web browser, it’s quick, it’s slick and it’s minimalist. Guess what? Chrome OS is basically more of the same. It’s Chrome the browser stretched into an OS front end that’s built on top of Linux, where everything including accessing files is done through the browser. OK, sounds interesting, but what about apps? Well, COS relies on web apps, which have been integrated into the browser using persistent app tabs. Applications like Hulu, Gmail, Gdocs, Twitter and Facebook are all up there ready for when you need them. Applications that typically run in the background, like Gtalk, have application windows that can be minimised to ‘panels’ down at the bottom of the screen keeping them out of the way till you need them. Google’s also built a pretty good notification system into the OS that pulls in notifications for new email, pushed updates from IM, calendar and Twitter, replicating some of the best features from many of today’s mobile phone OS. The ethos of the OS is just like that of the browser, get out of your way and do it fast.

Chrome OS Apps

COS is built on Linux, but don’t be fooled, you’re not going to be able to just download an ISO and load it up on anything and everything. When it’s launched sometime towards the end of next year, to get it from Google you’re probably going to have to buy a Chrome OS branded device. At the moment Google isn’t supporting HDDs for instance, only SSDs, but it is supporting both ARM and x86 CPU lines, meaning we’re likely to see a bit of range when devices hit the streets. Having said that, like most things Google, COS is open-source, meaning if Google won’t give it to you on a device you fancy, chances are after a little community hacking (here’s looking at you Dell) you’ll probably be able to get it running in some sort of fashion on your choice of hardware.

One thing that might limit it’s appeal to no more than a novelty, is the fact that you don’t have any locally held files. Local storage is only used to speed up the access times and operation, but nothing is stored permanently on the machine, it’s all in the cloud. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t access files on a flash drive for instance, but I can see accessing large files regularly something of a chore. Unless you’re on a fast and reliable internet connection, you’re simply not going to be able to work in the same way as you might now on a COS device.

One could say that’s a problem, but that is the very essence of what Google is trying to do here, change the way we use computing devices like netbooks. The idea is that you login to the machine and you have all the files and everything you need available from the cloud regardless of whether it’s your machine, a mates, or a kiosk. I guess you could think of it as a return to the thin-client, mainframe computing systems where everything is accessed from a local server, the terminal you use is just a front end. The only difference this time is that the server isn’t local and can be accessed from anywhere. It’s not that far a stretch to think this is the way computing is going. Looking at most corporate networks, you have a login and password that essentially pulls your roaming profile down from a server as you logon to your PC. OK, currently that information is cached on the PCs hard drive, but if you had massive bandwidth and were constantly connected then why would it have to be? Perhaps then, this is where Google’s plan for COS falls apart, not in the product itself but in the weakness of todays infrastructure. We talk about being ‘always on’ and constantly connected, but we’ve all been there, when you can’t get a signal or aren’t near a network connection. Cellular data connections are getting more and more common for small computers and smartphones, but the data speed that you can currently, reliably get is nowhere near the kind of speed where you’re not going to have to wait tediously long for files to transfer before you can use them.

Chrome Notification Tray

Another question springs to mind when I look at what Google is trying to do here with Chrome OS, is it even aimed at people like me? Probably not is the conclusion I come to. It’s more of a limited, light user platform, certainly not a power user OS with it’s extremely limited local app support. So who is it aimed at? Well again I’m not sure here, it might be aimed at people like my parents, who when they use a netbook, do a little light browsing and check their email. Problem is they’re not going to like it. They’re used to the Windows, local system of computing and giving them something that’s just a browser is sure to put them off. Maybe it’s aimed at the kids, the ones who’ve grown up with Facebook and iPhones, but I have a feeling they’re going to want more out of a computer than to just run web apps, because no matter how good they are, currently you still can’t do everything with a webapp, and if you think we’re demanding now, wait till the kids grow up and expect the world.

Google might be on the right track with COS, but in my view they’re miles ahead of where we are feasibly at the moment and therefore COS is just a novelty to me right now, it’s certainly not something I would want to rely on. One to watch perhaps, but don’t just take my word for it, head on over to Gdgt to download a VMware image of Chrome OS or download Dell’s Mini 10 optimised version and see for yourself, it’s an early build but you might just like it.