Chrome OS

It's been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we're already talking to partners about the project, and we'll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

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. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.

Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.

We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear — computers need to get better. People want to get to their email 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. And any time our users have a better computing experience, Google benefits as well by having happier users who are more likely to spend time on the Internet.

We have a lot of work to do, and we're definitely going to need a lot of help from the open source community to accomplish this vision. We're excited for what's to come and we hope you are too. Stay tuned for more updates in the fall and have a great summer.

Difícilmente, allá por septiembre de 1998, en Microsoft hayan imaginado que ese buscador de sitios webs que fundaban Larry Page y Sergey Brin, dos estudiantes de la Universidad de Stanford, iba a pelearle palmo a palmo el control de Internet poco más de una década después. Se trata, claro, de Google, que hoy confirmó los rumores que circularon en las últimas horas al anunciar que tiene "emocionantes noticias" para compartir. Se descuenta que se debe a la presentación en sociedad de su primer sistema operativo: el Chrome OS.

El anuncio, anticipado por el sitio especializado Engadget.com, se hará el próximo martes en una conferencia de prensa en San Francisco. De esta manera, Google cumplirá con el gran anhelo de lanzar un competidor a Microsoft Windows, que desde 1981 mantiene su hegemonía.

En principio, se estima que Google pondría en el mercado una versión beta de Chrome OS y cerca de 65 mil unidades, gratuitas, destinadas a un círculo exclusivo de personas especialmente seleccionadas. Y, además, sería solamente utilizado en Netbooks y Smartbooks bajo la marca Google. Al menos inicialmente, no estará disponible para PC. Mientras que a los celulares y las tablets, Google los seguirá asistiendo con el Android.

Si bien, tal como suelen hacer la mayoría de empresas ante el lanzamiento de productos importantes, no hay demasiadas certezas sobre las características del sistema operativo, trascendió que Chrome Os privilegiará la rapidez a la seguridad, aunque sin descuidarla, claro. Acaso advertido por la experiencia –y el dolor de cabeza- que le trajo a Microsoft el Windows Vista.

Al menos eso se desprende de lo que Daniel Helft, gerente de Google, le explicó a Clarín allá por 2009, cuando la empresa anunció que se iba a encomendar al proyecto Chrome OS: "Velocidad, simplicidad y seguridad son los aspectos destacados del sistema operativo. La idea es estar conectado en pocos pasos y que se pueda iniciar en unos pocos segundos".

Como característica principal, Chrome OS será de código abierto, con kernel Linux y base en Debian, con un gestor de ventanas de Google.

Una nueva batalla virtual, entonces, se acerca. Más atrás quedó el intento de Microsoft de mermar la penetración de Google con el lanzamiento del buscador Bing. También el golpe que buscó dar Google para debilitar el liderazgo de Explorer entre los navegadores lanzando el Chrome. Hubo más, por supuesto. La lucha se dio –y da- en todos los frentes. Es que estos dos gigantes del mundo informático parecen estar dispuestos a no darse tregua.

UNA HERRAMIENTA PARA CUIDAR EL MEDIOAMBIENTE
Entre tanta incertidumbre por la confirmación de la salida del Chrome Os, ayer se anunció el lanzamiento del Google Earth Engine, un buscador que permite consultar imágenes vía satélite y bancos de datos históricos obtenidos en los últimos 25 años para monitorear y medir los cambios climáticos.
“Muchas de las imágenes jamás han sido vistas, mucho menos analizadas”, destacó mediante un comunicado Rebecca Moore, ingeniera jefe del proyecto.

Fuente: clarin.com - http://googleblog.blogspot.com