Apple dominated the news on the last week of January with the arrival of iPad – Tablet Computing. Now entering this Tablet Computing race is Google. Often known for its Internet dominance, Google looks to put a big foot on the hardware section with the future computing – Tablet PC. Last week, Google gave a glimpse of projected hand held tablet device. The tablet device of Google will use Google Chrome OS.
What It Offers?
* On Screen Keyboard
* Zooming Functionality
* Creating multiple browsers on screen using a launcher
* Multi-tasking
Though this Google Tablet looks like it would end Apple’s dominance, it remains to be seen whether Google actually has more to offer.
It seems no surprise about Google’s entry into Tablet PCs. With Microsoft and Apple being its competitors, already established well, Google would have to bring something out of the box features to make it impressive.
With a small video clip shown in the chromium blog, Google has now focused more on advanced technology which people are not used to it.
Click here to download a Preview video of the Tablet
Acer is aiming to be the first manufacturer to offer a Google Chrome OS netbook, according to chairman JT Wang. Acer have announced they have been devolping the netbook since 2009 and are planning to release it something within the next 6 months.
This is good news for google having a large computer manufacture onside… who knows google my actually make a big impact on ther operating system market and take good share from it.
For today’s post we have decided to show you a video done by Glen Murphy of the Google team, he walks you through some of the basic features of the Operating system and how it can be used to suit your needs.
If you own a Dell Mini 10V, then you could have yourself a working copy of Google Chrome OS. Doug Anson from Dell managed to compile the code and hack the code so it was able to run on the Dell Mini 10V.
But how do i get started?
Well the first you need is the compiled OS file from Dell the file itself is about 8GB in total so make sure you have a nice strong connection before attempting download. Once you have downloaded the file you need to put the file on a USB Drive and boot from it.
Google finally released the beta version of its Chrome browser for Mac on Tuesday. As expected, the new browser is lacking some features that its Windows counterpart has, such as bookmark sync, a bookmark manager, and offline capability.
I’ve been using the developer version of Chrome for Mac for several weeks, and have been fairly impressed with how the browser has performed. This first beta version fixes some annoying bugs that had plagued earlier versions of the browser, and overall stability is much better. However, this is still a beta version of Chrome so be prepared for a few unexpected hiccups and snags along the way.
Here are a few observations about Google’s new beta version.
No Extra Goodies
Although there have been rumors for several weeks saying Chrome for Mac would lack features like bookmark sync, I was hoping those reports would be proven wrong. Unfortunately the rumors were dead on, and all that fun stuff like Chrome extensions, bookmark sync, and offline capabilities for Google applications like Gmail and Google Docs are not available for Mac users.
Google has said that HTML 5 specifications will be replacing its offline features that currently use the Google Gears browser add-on, so offline access should be coming to Google Chrome’s Mac users in the future. As for the other extras like bookmark sync and extensions, I would bet they’ll be coming sooner rather than later.
Bookmark Tricks
Chrome for Mac allows you to import and export your bookmarks from Safari and Firefox, but the browser lacks a bookmark manager, which makes it very difficult to keep new bookmarks organized. However, there are a few tricks you can use to get at least some control over your pages.
If you want to delete a particular bookmark, you just open that Web page, and then click on ‘Bookmark This Page’ or press ‘command + D’. This will open a small pop-up window where you can click on “remove” to erase the page from your bookmarks.
You can also use this trick to create a new folder on your bookmarks bar. When the pop-up window appears click on ‘Edit’ and that will take you to another window where you can create a now folder. However, every folder you create will be pinned to your bookmarks bar, you don’t have the option to create a folder that appears only in the bookmarks menu.
Tip: If you don’t want to see your bookmarks bar while you’re browsing, open a new tab and click ‘command+shift+B.’ This will remove your bookmarks from the browsing window, and pin the bar to the start screen that you see when you open an empty tab.
Loopy Tabs
I found that, from time to time, a new tab can get stuck and won’t render the Web page you’ve asked for. If this happens, you can try to refresh the tab or just close the tab down and try again. In my tests, I also found that Gmail was sometimes slow to open. If that happens to you, wait until you can click on Gmail’s “try reloading this page” link, and that should clear it up.
Video is good, but not great
While Chrome doesn’t usually have a problem with video, you might run into a snag from time to time. For example, I wasn’t able to see CBS News videos with Chrome, but had no problem viewing those same videos with Firefox. Chrome also had a problem with an online premium video service I subscribe to, so be prepared for the odd snag like this from time to time.
Stuff to Love
Chrome is pretty fast, although I wasn’t particularly blown away with its speed as some others are reporting. In fact, Chrome is a little bit slower than Safari but twice as fast as Firefox, according to Computerworld.
One of the top features of Chrome is that you never have to worry about waiting for your browser to install an update. Chrome handles all updates in the background and these changes never once interrupted my Web browsing. In fact, you will probably never notice when the browser updates unless some new features suddenly appear. But if you ever want to check that your version of Chrome is up to date just click on the ‘Chrome’ menu item and click on ‘About Chrome.’
Chrome is all about search
If you’re new to Chrome, a great little feature you might like is the ability to quickly search select sites and use any search engine you want without adjusting your preferences. Just start typing the URL for the desired search engine or Website into the address bar (Google calls it the Omnibox), and, once auto complete fills in the complete address, press the tab button. This will bring up a prompt to let you know you are using the alternate search engine instead of Google. You can use this function to search Amazon, Ask, Bing, eBay, YouTube, Wikipedia (to trigger Wikipedia I had to type in en.wikipedia.com), and more. If the search trick doesn’t work, watch the auto complete bar below the Omnibox, Chrome should give you an option to search the specific site you’re looking for.
Although it’s is missing some key features, overall, Chrome is a great browser and well worth checking out.
Chrome OS is Google’s a direct attack against bitter rival Microsoft, but this time it may have bitten off more than it can chew.
It’s been a week now since Google demonstrated its Chrome operating system and a good time to consider whether Google’s latest product has the legs to unseat Microsoft’s Windows. Of course, when it comes to Google, it’s hard to imagine how it could fail. Remember the muffled laughter when Google said it was going to build a mobile phone operating system? Most commentators thought it ludicrous that a company such as Google wanted to suddenly enter the mobile market and challenge the status quo. Now analysts such as Gartner are predicting that Android will be the second most popular operating system within the next two years. Perhaps we shouldn’t be too flippant about Google’s plans to challenge the desktop operating system market.
Having said that, there are some key differences between rolling out a mobile phone operating system and a desktop one. One of those is that mobile phone users don’t really care about the operating system on their phone. They’re just interested in what the phone does and whether it does it well. In fact, most mobile phone users probably don’t even see the features of the phone as being a function of the operating system but rather of the hardware they use. On the desktop it is a different story altogether. Users care more than they would probably like to about which operating system they run. Having a good piece of hardware is only as good as the operating system it is running. So, what chance is their that Google’s Chrome IS can break into the desktop market?
According to Google’s recent demonstration of Chrome OS, the system is a Linux-based, cloud-focused operating system that seems likely to be more at home on ultra-small netbooks than on high-end desktop PCs. Essentially Google is re-visiting the idea of thin clients, except that in Chrome’s case users will store their data online, on Google’s servers of course. Not everyone is going to be happy handing over their data to Google, no matter what Google says about not being evil, but many will. The one downside of storing all your data online is that access to it is broadband-dependent. Not having a decent Internet connection when you need a crucial document is not a situation any of us wants to be in. On the other hand, online data means that information can be accessed from practically any device, be it a mobile phone, desktop PC or a netbook.
The Linux millstone
Microsoft is not going to take Google’s entry into the operating system market lightly. Initially the Redmond software giant will no doubt talk of how it welcomes competition and how much it wants to work with Google on this. And then, shortly after, the FUD – fear, uncertainty, doubt – propaganda will begin. The most obvious line of attack will be to repeatedly point out that Google’s Chrome OS is just Linux in disguise.
Microsoft’s experience in the netbook market has shown that users are indeed put off by the Linux tag and ultimately prefer to stick with something that they know. When the first netbooks were released most ran their own version of Linux. Microsoft had completely missed the boat and was phasing out XP while Vista was much to cumbersome for the lightweight netbooks. The result was that Linux netbook sales spiked for the first few months. But, soon enough, Microsoft shelved plans to scrap XP and quickly arranged for almost all netbook makers to offer a Windows version. The result: Linux netbook sales dropped and Windows ones took over the mantle.
It’s the same on desktop PCs. No matter how good Linux is as a desktop operating system Windows’ barrier to entry is far lower. It’s only the hardcore that insist on running Linux desktops. Which, ironically, makes Linux a very powerful tool in Microsoft’s arsenal against Google. If it can label Google Chrome OS as “Linux” then most users are likely to be put off.
Chrome OS won’t kill Windows but it may create a new category of user. Over the years Windows has faced countless attempts to unseat it as the dominant software maker. Everyone from Apple to Linux to IBM have tried their level best to knock Microsoft down, with no luck. Grabbing a majority share of the desktop software market will take enormous effort, too much even for Google. Rather it will most likely have to settle for a niche share of the market, just like Apple and Linux have had to do. But what it will probably do is create a new class of user.
Chrome OS will run on the more affordable ARM-based PCs, which Windows doesn’t. Which potentially means that instead of playing head-to-head with Microsoft, Chrome OS will be a low-cost alternative PC for users that don’t require high-end applications but just something that is small, fast and affordable. Perhaps it will find a home in the developing world … except that the online connectivity requirements will be a major stumbling block.
Only a fool would bet against Google’s ability to turn almost everything it touches into gold but Chrome OS has a number of big obstacles to overcome if it is to become a major player in the operating system market. Only time will tell.
While Chrome won’t be shipping for a year, it was the first opportunity to see what Google’s vision for a next-generation operating system looks like. The company stated that its three goals with Chrome are speed, security and simplicity.
The idea of native applications that run on a specific platform such as Windows and Mac OS X are out the window. In their place are Web applications that run in the browser. It’s a good thing Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs are available for this new platform.
Given that the new OS shares the name with Google’s existing Web browser, it’s no surprise that Chrome OS is centered entirely around the Web. In fact, the entire user interface of Chrome is just a Web browser.
Along the top of the user interface is a set of tabs for frequently used applications and new browser instances. There also is an application launcher that lets you store links to your most frequently used applications: basically, bookmarks to other Web pages.
Chrome OS is designed to run exclusively on solid state drives (SSD) like you would find in an iPod or digital camera rather than traditional, platter-based hard drives. SSDs are the future because of their lack of moving parts and incredibly fast performance. Their caveat presently is price and the minimal amount of storage as compared to their platter-based counterparts.
Chrome OS won’t require much storage because all of the user’s user and application data will be stored in the cloud, most likely associated with a Google account. For example, once you plug in your digital camera, it automatically will upload the photos to the Web where you can manage and manipulate them.
I’m certainly not in the camp that believes Web applications are the future and that Windows or the Mac are doomed in the long term. We are nowhere near a point where the Web can offer anywhere as seamless an experience as software developed natively for your OS of choice.
That said, I’d certainly love a low-maintenance, secure netbook computer running something like Chrome OS to take on the road or just keep near the couch for quick reference. It also sounds like a great computer for those who don’t need the full desktop experience and instead just want something to get on the Web and have an e-mail address.
It’s far too early to give any opinion on Chrome OS as a product in its current state, but I am intrigued by the project and look forward to buying a device running the operating system sometime in 2010. If you’re interested in seeing a demo of Chrome OS, there is an 11-minute presentation on YouTube that offers a far more advanced glimpse than you will get downloading an early copy of the operating system from the Web.
Chrome OS looks very much like Chrome. There’s an extra pinned tab on the left-hand side to open web applications. When you open up a web application, up pops a “mole” (because it comes from underground) that’s a persistent small window. These “moles” are expected to be called “panels” in the external release. The panels persist as you move between tabs and can be minimized down to the bottom right or they can be closed.
You can also have different windows or workspaces, so you could have a set of tabs for some work and a set of tabs for blog post and switch between them easily. You can drag and drop tabs just like with Chrome.
You can plug in a phone and browse pictures or video files. Then from there you could upload stuff to the web. They showed Flash working. Everything is web-based, e.g. they took a Excel file and loaded it into SkyDrive and viewed it using a Microsoft web app for viewing Excel files.
I want this OS, like now. Matt Papakipos, an engineering director at Google, just announced that they’re releasing the Chrome OS. They’re also releasing a bunch of design docs, not just code. Everything is flash-memory-based–no hard drive.
Matt Papakipos is talking about verified boot. It looks like the Chrome OS team is working hard to verify that code is secure via cryptographic signatures. If you get typical malware, you just reboot–seven seconds later, you’re clean again. Chrome OS does a lot of work behind the scenes to make sure that from the firmware upwards, everything is secure and has the latest patches. The application security model changes in Chrome OS. Instead of running with the privileges of “you” (e.g. administrator capabilities). Under Chrome OS, web applications can’t change your underlying hardware settings, so things are safely sandboxed (chroot, namespaces, stack protection, toolchain). The root partitiion in file system is read-only, including the Chrome executable, which is unusual.
User data is encrypted on a Chrome OS machine. If you lose your laptop, the attacker gets nothing of value. Aside: what will people call these machines? Netbook? Chromebook? Webbook? Webtop? Chrometop? I don’t know what people will decide to call these machines. I like “chromebook.” User data and settings are synced to the cloud. So if you have a wifi network you’ve configured, that data is stored in the cloud. If you dunk your “Chromebook” in a pool or lose it, it sounds like you can pick a new one off the shelf, log in, and it will be as if you never lose your machine.
You can’t download Chrome OS and be guaranteed it will work on a random machine. Target time is end of next year. Google will work to ensure that these machines will be a good experience (good keyboard, resolution). They want compelling devices.
Google is going to be good open-source citizens and contribute code upstream (e.g. to Linux, Ubuntu, Moblin).
With Google’s Chrome system now somewhat publicly available (through the source code of the latest development stage), it’s continuing to make headlines. Here’s our run-down of the latest news and rumors about the system.
Chrome is, of course, still in development, but is available in a form that can at least partially be tested through virtualization (running it via dedicated software in another operating system). Those who’ve tried it out report that, as expected, it’s really little more than a browser with access to web-based applications and some basic operating system tasks. Surprisingly one report said it really needs 1GB of RAM to work smoothly, though this may not reflect how the finished, standalone system will work.
The director of mobile computing at chipmaker ARM, Bob Morris, has publicly praised Chrome. He gives the thumbs up to the lack of ties to hardware and the open source nature of the system’s development. Of course, there’s more than just principles in question here: Chrome netbooks could prove a valuable market for ARM’s processors.
Canonical, the firm which distributes Ubuntu (arguably the most Windows-like Linux system) has revealed it is working with Google on Chrome. The partnership involves sharing engineering and Canonical says the idea is to avoid any unnecessary duplication or re-invention of coding. That’s a common goal in open source projects. The firm says it doesn’t see Chrome as a rival to Ubuntu as the two fulfill different roles.
There’s some good news for Google with a forecast by Jeff Orr of ABI research that Linux-based netbooks will outsell Windows-models by 2014. That seems a little questionable to me and appears to be based on the logic that Linux will continue to increase its market share at the current rate rather than find a natural limit. Still, if Linux can get even a healthy minority share, you wouldn’t bet against Google being the firm to take the most advantage of it: if nothing else, “Google” is a much more marketable brand than “Linux”.
Meanwhile Randall Kennedy of Infoworld has an interesting conspiracy theory: he believes Microsoft will loudly welcome the arrival of Chrome, then undermine it by playing up its Linux roots and then unleashing a cheap or even free version of Windows for netbooks.
Google Chrome OS is an open source operating system designed by Google to work exclusively with web applications. It is set to be released in the second half of 2010 and is designed to be used on netbooks.
User data and settings are synced to the cloud. So if you have a wifi network you’ve configured, that data is stored in the cloud. If you dunk your “Chromebook” in a pool or lose it, it sounds like you can pick a new one off the shelf, log in, and it will be as if you never lose your machine.