Chrome OS prototype

Google Inc’s Chrome OS, the highly awaited upcoming open source operating system designed by Google to work exclusively with web applications including Google TV will be launching officially in the last quarter of this year. Google’s VP of product management, Sundar Pichai, made this announcement at the COMPUTEX technology forums event .

Chrome OS, announced by Google  last July, is a lightweight, open source operating system designed for netbooks and will also be running Google TV. Netbook manufacturers are readying Chrome OS based devices. Companies developing hardware for the operating system include Hewlett-Packard, Acer, Adobe, Asus, Lenovo, Texas Instruments, Freescale, Intel and Qualcomm. Like its namesake Chrome browser that’s steadily gaining market share, Google’s new OS is built for speed. Startup times, including access to the Web, should take seconds rather than the minute or longer that most Windows users endure. The cloud-based design should provide quick access to Google’s suite of online applications too.

The successive introductions of Android which is also found on Tablet PCs apart from Mobile Phones and Google Chrome OS which has been specifically designed for netbooks are  both open source, client-based operating systems,and this could lead to some confusion for the potential users, especially with Android’s growing success, Google has a huge task ahead in terms of differentiating and marketing both the Operating Systems differently.