Earlier today, Google announced that it will start, or has started, developing an operating system dubbed Chrome OS. The web giant finally confirmed the rumors that have been floating around for a long time.

Last September of 2008, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch stated that Google Chrome, the browser, is going to be the future of the operating system and that it will be a Windows killer. I agreed with his statement, but not entirely, since an operating is more than just software, or in this case, a browser, running on a computer.

But still, it quite made sense, especially when Google introduced Android, the operating system for mobile phones. Android ports for MIDs, netbooks, and other devices started popping up everywhere on the web. I thought to myself that Google has done it without everyone noticing that they released their operating system for computers. One can only imagine how I felt when I read the announcement in Google’s blog of Google Chrome OS.

The announcement indicated that the new operating system will be fast, lightweight, and secure. That, in any case, is the holy trinity of what makes a great operating system.

Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. (SOURCE)

First off, let’s differentiate Android with Google Chrome OS. Android was developed with mobile phones in mind. Chrome OS is going to be developed for computers, netbooks, AND smartbooks. If a netbook, with low processing power and a single core, can boot up a Linux distro in 10 seconds, how would a Core i7 computer fare with the same distro? I. KNOW. RIGHT?

This made me wonder how I would develop Chrome OS if I was given the chance. An operating system, to my understanding, consists of two parts: a kernel, and applications. There is no doubt that a Linux kernel will be used, since it is one of the most readily available kernels going around. First part of the OS: DONE. As for the applications, one that would allow me to run Chrome without any hitches, I would then need a robust, yet lightweight GUI or window manager. There are a number of options here: xfce, fluxbox, blackbox, window maker, etc. GNOME and KDE are out of the question since both window managers are a lot heavier than the previously mentioned WMs. Xubuntu comes to mind, since it is Ubuntu using xfce as the window manager instead of GNOME.

Anyway, another factor that should be considered is how to make Chrome, the browser, work in Linux. Pre-alpha and Alpha releases of the browser are showing a lot of promise with regards to speed and stability. I’ve tested the Pre-alpha of Chrome in Linux and it simply is fast. Making Chrome work in Linux is one thing. Making Chrome work WITH PLUGINS is another. So far, Chrome for Linux still doesn’t have support for Flash, nor Silverlight. And with rich Internet applications relying heavily on one of those two plugins, it’s going to be one heck of an obstacle. And Chrome, the browser, has to be updated for HTML 5 support, to be able to do what Firefox 3.5 is capable of. To make it future-ready, in other words.

A question that bugged me was if the new operating system will support external devices, such as cameras, external drives, and mp3 players, or simply put, “will it be able to detect, support, and give me options to sync my iPod/iPhone?” Maybe not initially, since Google will be focusing first on netbooks and devices that rely more on cloud services. I respectfully think that they should, and I sincerely hope they would. And it maybe sooner than I might think, since Debian, as far as I know, is including support for installing and running Android apps.

All in all, Google’s operating system, Chrome OS, has been a long time coming. And based on the company’s track record for releasing quality products, it’s going to be one heck of a wait that is well worth it.

Other worthwhile reads:
Google Chrome: Redefining The Operating System [TechCrunch: Michael Arrington]
Google Drops A Nuclear Bomb On Microsoft. And It’s Made of Chrome. [TechCrunch: MG Siegler]
Google Releasing Chrome Operating System [Lifehacker: Kevin Purdy]
Google announces Chrome OS, coming to netbooks second half of 2010 [Engadget: Ross Miller]