A notebook that runs Google Chrome OS has Web surfers excited. (Photo Credit: CC BY-ND/99c Blog)

By mid-2011, Google’s Chrome operating system is projected to make its debut in the Cr-48 Chrome Notebook, reports Mashable. While this doesn’t necessarily help shoppers who are looking to bring home some new Google hardware this holiday season, it does provide Google fans with dream material. When the time comes, Microsoft and Apple may have some serious competition.

Cr-48 Chrome Notebook currently in beta testing

In order to work out the kinks in the Cr-48 Chrome OS Notebook, Google has launched an exclusive pilot program. While Google says the program is currently open to certain individuals, businesses, schools, non-profits and developers in the U.S., the truth is that beta testers will each receive a Cr-48 notebook, so the numbers will likely be somewhat low. Applicants but be at least 18 years of age.

Participants will be expected to send regular, detailed feedback to Google as part of the program. Google warns in the official Cr-48 Chrome Notebook beta testing notice that the platform is Web-based and does not run “any legacy PC software,” and that “the pilot program is not for the faint of heart,” in that there may be serious bugs in the system.

Vital stats for the Cr-48 Chrome Notebook

According to Mashable’s sources, few details of the Cr-48 Chrome Notebook are known. However, the following have reportedly been confirmed:

12-inch LCD display

Built-in Wi-Fi and 3G by Verizon

Full-sized keyboard without caps-lock or function keys

Large touch-pad interface

Weighs 3.8 pounds (more than 3 pounds heavier than Macbook Air)

Solid state hard drive (quieter with no moving parts, faster than standard drive)

Eight hours active use with a full charge, a week of standby power

For the Web ranger in all of us

The Cr-48 Chrome Notebook is apparently not designed to be a portable gaming rig, but that likely wasn’t Google’s target. As most of us spend our computer time online with Web browsers, social media and various other cloud-based elements, a Chrome OS notebook could be just what most consumers ordered.

Sources

Mashable

Wikipedia entry for Chrome OS

Google’s official Chrome notebook promo

Google employees are given the option of running Linux, Mac or Chrome operating systems. Windows? Not available. Image from Flickr.

At the California Googleplex and around the world, concerns over security have led to Google officially giving Windows the boot. Partially a lead-up to the Google Chrome OS and partially a reaction to Windows security breaks, this move has attracted international attention. Google employees will no longer be allowed to use Windows, but they will still be offered an option of operating systems.

Google dumps Windows officially

The official policy of Google on Windows has been, until now, more flexible. Google employees were offered the option of Windows, Linux or Mac operating systems. Now, if Google employees want to keep Windows as an operating system, they have to get CIO approval. At the same time that Windows use has been officially limited, Google’s Chrome OS is being pushed as an alternative option. This move was hastened by the recent hacking of Google’s China channels.

Google cites Windows security concerns

About 80 percent of the computers in use today use the Windows operating system — everything from offices to credit counseling offices. This homogeneity across the system makes Windows an easy target for hackers and computer viruses. At Google, the security concerns surrounding Windows have been the reason for a general move to Mac and Linux computer systems. Because Google’s dedicated developers design programs for wide use, they are able to avoid many of the downfalls of Windows security holes.

Google banning Windows a publicity stunt?

Some wonder whether Google’s banning of Windows is more of a publicity stunt than a security move. Google has been working on Chrome OS, a competitor to Windows. Chrome OS will be based on the Google Chrome web browser. The Google Chrome OS is an open-source operating system — an operating system that can be edited and improved by any user. People used to assume that open-source operating systems were less secure, but experience with Linux and other large open-source projects have proved this theory incorrect. Yes, Google will be introducing a competitor to the Windows operating system — but that is not the only reason Windows has been banned from the Google corporate operating system.

Since you’re here, I can assume at least one of these things:

1. You are intrigued by the Google Operating System.
2. You need a payday loan (or payday loans) to help with a short-term budget snafu.
3. You look to Personal Money Market for news and views on finance, politics, entertainment and the generally bizarre.
4. You wish to be a member of Tarlow’s Army, a club I’m starting… right… now.

Tarlow’s Army?

More on the Army thing later. What I want to know is this: If you are a faithful Windows OS user, whether it be XP or Vista, will you automatically stick with Windows 7 after it is officially released later this year, or will you consider switching to the newly announced Google OS (aka the Chrome OS). People are making a lot of noise about Google’s latest plan to control your computing experience, and I’m curious as to whether the trip will be one I’ll want to undertake.

Open source pricing

Saul Hansell blogs for the New York Times that by the second half of 2010, netbooks on the shelves of your favorite computer store will be sporting the new Google operating system, called the Chrome OS. This will be entirely separate from the Android OS found in T-Mobile and other cell phones (and coincidentally on some netbooks). The new OS will be based upon Ubuntu Linux. And like that open source OS, the Google OS for PC will also be free.

Microsoft’s Windows 7 is far from free

Weight that with Microsoft’s Windows 7 cost of at least $45 per netbook, writes Hansell. Even if netbooks retain the older Windows XP OS (Vista is too fat to work in netbooks), that cost is still $25. The Google operating system will have it beat hands down on price.

What about performance?

According to Hansell, Chrome OS is claimed to be faster-starting, simpler and riddled with fewer security holes than Windows 7. There have been no official side-by-side tests thus far, so that could just be marketing hype. Considering that the Google operating system is based on Linux, it may not be as big a hit with the casual user as Google would like, considering that installing software or making system changes on Linux is more involved than it is with Windows or even Mac OS. Netbooks appear to be all about on-the-go convenience, and it remains to be seen if Google has tamed Ubuntu to fit in that small box.

Raring to go…

When it comes to World Wide Web access, however, Chrome OS is raring to go. Reading E-mail, writing documents and playing browser-based games are all things the average computer Joe wants to do, and this Google operating system is geared up to run.

Here’s how Google describes it

The user experience, as Google sees it, should be as follows:

People want to get to their e-mail instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don’t want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates.

There is a tiny little downside here: no local software. Browsers don’t yet do everything, and there are two decades of Windows applications that have been written, performing functions that can’t yet be replicated in a browser. If you want to load music onto your iPod, for example, you need a computer that runs iTunes. Web sites often require programs to run alongside the browser, like Adobe’s Acrobat viewer. Even Google writes Windows programs for its Picasa photo editing product and Google Earth 3-D mapping system.

But over time, more and more functions can be moved onto Web sites.

When will the browser-based revolution fully arrive?

If all the third-party software developers have anything to say about it, never. Well, that’s not right. Almost never. But let’s step back and look at the big computing picture. On convenience and software compatibility alone, a Windows 7 netbook could have the upper hand over the Linux-based Google operating system. But many Windows users are really fans of how “Windoze” works. It’s bloated, it’s insecure and it dumbs down too many features power users want. Windows 7 appears to address at least the first two of those problems, but I can’t say for certain, as I wasn’t one of the beta testers.

My choice

What I do know is that the only reason I’d buy a netbook is to have a portable Internet tool that’s more powerful than my iPhone. Considering that once the Flash for iPhone matter is fully taken care of, the browsing experience there will be rather seamless and enjoyable. If I did buy a netbook, I wouldn’t want to hassle with Linux-style installations much. If I used Linux more often, perhaps I’d be singing a different tune. Yet as it stands, I’ll go with Windows 7, even if it means I would need a payday loan or payday loans to finance the purchase.

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