After a few years development Google has released Google Chrome OS for netbooks and other small computers. There has been a beta version available before for testing called Chromium and when I tested that version about a year ago I really saw a need for that OS for small computers.
For netbooks Windows feels like overkill so a small OS could be a good idea. The downside with Chrome is that almost everything is saved in the cloud (Google Apps for example) and has to be loaded using some sort of Internet connection, so if you don’t have access to Internet you could get problems accessing your work 🙁
A few of the highlights from Googles release:
The computer boots up in just ten seconds
Since Chrome OS is not as complex and large as Windows is not needed as long load time when your computer starts up. From power-saving mode starts your computer almost instantly.
All applications, settings and files stored in the cloud
A simplified explanation is to work with the servers/files and documents on the internet instead of locally on your computer. This means that everything on the computer is securely saved if something happens to your computer. The downside is if you don’t have access to the Internet at the time when you need access to your documents.
The operating system is updated automatically
Each time an update is released it will automatically install on your netbook 🙂 . This removes the security risks to users forget to update their computer. It is a proven technology that has proven very effective, just look at the WordPress updating system for example.
All applications and tabs in the browser is run separately from each other in a sandbox
To prevent applications and tabs from crashing the computer all tabs are running separately in protected environments. This is called a sandbox and everything that happens in it stays there. It also means that dangerous code that tries to reach the system from the browser never gets there.
Safe booting of the computer
When the computer starts up the operating system controls if the system files have been modified, and resets itself to a previous version if necessary. Therefore, dangerous code can’t run at startup and the OS becomes self-repairing 🙂
Let’s see if anyone releases a cool netbook soon hopefully before the Summer this year 😀 . This OS should make the netbooks cheaper since you don’t have to pay for a Windows license 😀
