Google Chrome OS
Encyclopedia
Google Chrome OS is a Linux
-based operating system
designed by Google
to work exclusively with web application
s. Google announced the operating system on July 7, 2009 and made it an open source
project, called Chromium OS
, that November.
Unlike Chromium OS, which can be compiled from the downloaded source code
, Chrome OS only ships on specific hardware from Google's manufacturing partners. The user interface takes a minimalist approach, resembling that of the Chrome web browser
. Since Google Chrome OS is aimed at users who spend most of their computer time on the Internet, the only application on the device is a browser incorporating a media player and a file manager
.
The expected launch date for retail hardware featuring Chrome OS slipped after Google first announced the operating system: from an initial forecast date in late 2010 to June 15, 2011, when "Chromebook
s" from Samsung (and then Acer in July) actually shipped.
s and the focus of these small laptops on Internet access. To ascertain marketing requirements for an operating system focused on netbook Web transactions, the company did not do the usual demographic research generally associated with a large software development project. Instead, engineers relied on more informal metrics, including monitoring the usage patterns of some 200 Chrome OS machines used by Google employees. Developers also noted their own usage patterns. Matthew Papakipos, former engineering director for the Chrome OS project, put three machines in his house and found himself logging in for brief sessions: to make a single search query or send a short email.
On November 19, 2009, Google released Chrome OS's source code
as the Chromium OS
project. As with other open source projects, developers are modifying code from Chromium OS and building their own versions, whereas Google Chrome OS code will only be supported by Google and its partners, and will only run on hardware designed for the purpose. Unlike Chromium OS, Chrome OS will be automatically updated to the latest version. InformationWeek
reviewer Serdar Yegulalp wrote that Chrome OS will be a product, developed to "a level of polish and a degree of integration with its host hardware that Chromium OS does not have by default," whereas Chromium OS is a project, "a common baseline from which the finished work is derived" as well as a pool for derivative works. The product and project will be developed in parallel and borrow from each other.
At a November 19, 2009 news conference, Sundar Pichai
, the Google vice president overseeing Chrome, demonstrated an early version of the operating system. He previewed a desktop which looked very similar to the Chrome browser, and in addition to the regular browser tabs also had application tabs, which take less space and can be pinned for easier access. At the conference, the operating system booted
up in seven seconds, a time Google said it would work to reduce.
Also on November 19, 2009, Chris Kenyon, vice president of OEM services at Canonical Ltd announced that Canonical "is contributing engineering to Google [Chrome OS] under contract. In our discussions, Sundar Pichai and Linus Upson made it clear that they want, wherever feasible, to build on existing components and tools from the open source community without unnecessary re-invention. This clear focus should benefit a wide variety of existing projects and we welcome it."
On January 25, 2010, Google posted notes, images and a video of a conceptual design showing how a Chrome OS user interface might look on a tablet PC
with a 5–10 inch screen. The design would include the same basic layout as on netbooks, but with a touch interface; an onscreen qwerty
keyboard in different layouts; large, square icons placed above the tabs; and panels placed along the bottom edge that could be opened with an upward dragging motion. The posting was made two days before Apple
announced the iPad
tablet. On March 16, 2011, several changes to Chromium OS were made which indicate the development of a tablet version of Google Chrome OS.
In March 2010, Google indicated that consideration is being given to developing two versions of the operating system, a consumer version and an enterprise version.
to test the Chrome OS operating system. Chromium-48
is one of the most unstable isotopes of the metallic element chromium. The laptop's design broke convention by replacing the Caps lock
key with a dedicated search key.
The Cr-48 was intended for testing only, not retail sales.
Google addressed complaints that the operating system offers little functionality when the host device is not connected to the Internet. The company demonstrated an offline version of Google Docs running on Chrome OS and announced a 3G
plan that would give Chrome OS users 100 MB of free data each month, with additional paid plans available from Verizon.
About 60,000 Cr-48s were distributed to testers and reviewers in early December 2010. Reviews of Chrome OS running on the Cr-48 in mid-December 2010 indicated that while the project held promise, it still had some distance to go before being ready for market.
On March 8, 2011, Google Product Management vice president Sundar Pichai stated that the last of the 60,000 Cr-48s had been shipped.
The Cr-48 notebooks have additional unused hardware components for implementation at a future date, including a Bluetooth 2.1 controller. The USB port
only acts as a keyboard
, mouse
, ethernet adapter, or USB storage port and will not work as a printer port as there is no print stack
on the operating system. Adding further hardware outside of the previously mentioned items will likely cause problems with the operating system's "self knowing" security model. Users are encouraged to use a secure service called Google Cloud Print
to print to legacy printers connected to their desktop computers, or connect an HP ePrint
printer to the Google Cloud Print service for a "cloud aware" printer connection.
, Asus, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard
, Lenovo, Qualcomm
, Texas Instruments
, Toshiba
, Intel, Samsung
, and Dell.
On May 11, 2011 at its Google I/O
developer conference, Google announced that the first two commercially available laptops incorporating Chrome OS would be manufactured by Acer Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., with a retail price beginning at $349. The ship date was June 15 for the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Spain. The Chromebook
s are sold in the United States through Amazon and Best Buy; internationally through "leading retailers". Google claimed an eight-second bootup time and eight-hour operation on one battery charge, and said that the chromebooks would require no virus protection. Models equipped with 3G connectivity receive 100 megabytes of wireless data per month, free for two years, with an additional gigabyte at $20 per month. Google is also working on a Chrome OS desktop machine.
Google also announced a monthly payment scheme for business and education customers at $28 and $20 per user, per month, respectively for a three-year contract, including replacements and upgrades.
, both directly to Microsoft Windows
and indirectly the company's word processing
and spreadsheet
applications—the latter through Chrome OS's reliance on cloud computing
. But Chrome OS engineering director Matthew Papakipos argued that the two operating systems would not fully overlap in functionality because Chrome OS hosted is intended for netbooks, which lack the computational power to run a resource-intensive program like Photoshop.
Some observers claimed that other operating systems already fill the niche that Chrome OS is aiming for, with the added advantage of supporting native applications in addition to a browser. Tony Bradley of PC World
wrote in November 2009: "We can already do most, if not all, of what Chrome OS promises to deliver. Using a Windows 7 or Linux-based netbook, users can simply not install anything but a web browser and connect to the vast array of Google products and other web-based services and applications. Netbooks have been successful at capturing the low-end PC market, and they provide a web-centric computing experience today. I am not sure why we should get excited that a year from now we'll be able to do the same thing, but locked into doing it from the fourth-place web browser."
A year later, Ryan Paul of Ars Technica
came to similar conclusions. He wrote that Google's Cr-48 prototype "met the basic requirements for Web surfing, gaming, and personal productivity, but falls short for more intensive tasks." He praised Google's approach to security, but wondered whether mainstream computer users would accept an operating system whose only application is a browser. "In its current form, I think that the operating system could appeal to some niche audiences, like regular consumers users who really just need browsing or office productivity workers at companies that have gone Google or only use intranet apps. It's decidedly not a full-fledged alternative to the general purpose computing environments that currently ship on netbooks." Paul wrote that most of Chrome OS's advantages "can be found in other software environments without having to sacrifice native applications."
In reviewing the Cr-48 on December 29, 2010, Kurt Bakke of Conceivably Tech said: "in my household the Chromebook has turned into a family appliance and the most frequented computer in our household. Its 15 second startup time and dedicated Google user accounts made it the go-to device for quick searches, email as well as YouTube and Facebook activities. It has not turned into a device that can rival the appeal of any of our other notebooks – we have one gaming laptop, two mainstream notebooks and two netbooks in our household with five kids. The biggest complaint I heard was its lack of performance in Flash applications."
In ongoing testing, Wolfgang Gruener, also writing in Conceivably Tech, said that cloud computing at cellular data speeds is unacceptable and that the lack of offline capability turns the Cr-48 "into a useless brick" when not connected. "It's difficult to use the Chromebook as an everyday device and give up what you are used to on a Mac/Windows PC, while you surely enjoy the dedicated cloud computing capabilities occasionally." He praised a March 2011 update that included new trackpad control features, scrolling support, power improvements and a large number of bug fixes.
CEO Steve Ballmer
accused Google of not being able to make up its mind. Google has suggested that the two operating systems address different markets, mobile and personal computing, which remain distinct despite the growing convergence of the devices. Co-founder Sergey Brin
suggested that the two systems "will likely converge over time."
Steven Levy
wrote that "the dissonance between the two systems was apparent" at the 2011 Google I/O developer conference. "Each day of the event featured a keynote devoted to one system followed by a press briefing where each team leader (Android's Andy Rubin and Chrome's Sundar Pichai) unconvincingly tried to explain why the systems weren't competitive. Co-founder Sergey Brin addressed the question by saying that owning two promising OS's was a problem that most companies would love to face".
services.
or by first connecting to a host machine by using RDP or VNC.". Initial roll-outs of Chrome-OS laptops (Chromebooks) indicate an interest in enabling users to access virtual desktops.
-based processor. While Chrome OS will support hard disk drives, Google has requested that its hardware partners use solid-state drives "for performance and reliability reasons" as well as the lower capacity requirements inherent in an operating system that accesses applications and most user data on remote servers. In November 2009 Matthew Papakipos, engineering director for the Google Chrome OS claimed that the Chrome OS consumes one-sixtieth as much drive space as Windows 7.
Chrome OS also includes an integrated file manager
resembling those found on other operating systems, with the ability to display folders and their associated files, as well as preview and manage file contents using a variety of Web applications, including Google Docs and Box.net
.
is Google's proposed solution to help any application on any device to print on any printer. While the cloud provides virtually any connected device with information access, the task of "developing and maintaining print subsystems for every combination of hardware and operating system – from desktops to netbooks to mobile devices – simply isn't feasible." However, the cloud service would entail installing a piece of software, called a proxy
, as part of Chrome OS. The proxy would register the printer with the service, manage the print jobs, provide the printer driver functionality, and give status alerts for each job.
, Gview, or a previewing utility? The project director at that time, Matthew Papakipos, noted that Windows developers have faced the same fundamental problem: "Quicktime
is fighting with Windows Media Player
, which is fighting with Chrome." As the number of Web applications increases, the same problem arises.
features that will reduce malware exposure. He said that Chrome OS netbooks will be shipped with Trusted Platform Module
, and include both a "trusted bootpath" and a physical switch under the battery compartment that actuates a developer mode. That mode drops some specialized security functions but increases developer flexibility. Drewry also emphasized that the open source nature of the operating system will contribute greatly to its security by allowing constant developer feedback.
At a December 2010 press conference, Google claimed that Chrome OS would be the most secure consumer operating system due in part to a verified boot capability, in which the initial boot code, stored in read-only memory
, checks for system compromises.
capabilities. In developer mode, a full-featured Bash shell can be opened via VT
-2, and is also accessible via the crosh command
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
-based operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
designed by Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
to work exclusively with web application
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
s. Google announced the operating system on July 7, 2009 and made it an open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
project, called Chromium OS
Chromium OS
Chromium OS is the open source development version of Google Chrome OS.Chrome OS's source code was released on November 19, 2009 under the same BSD license as Chromium OS.-User interface:...
, that November.
Unlike Chromium OS, which can be compiled from the downloaded source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
, Chrome OS only ships on specific hardware from Google's manufacturing partners. The user interface takes a minimalist approach, resembling that of the Chrome web browser
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or...
. Since Google Chrome OS is aimed at users who spend most of their computer time on the Internet, the only application on the device is a browser incorporating a media player and a file manager
File manager
A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to work with file systems. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files are: create, open, edit, view, print, play, rename, move, copy, delete, search/find, and modify file attributes, properties...
.
The expected launch date for retail hardware featuring Chrome OS slipped after Google first announced the operating system: from an initial forecast date in late 2010 to June 15, 2011, when "Chromebook
Chromebook
A Chromebook is a personal computer running Google Chrome OS. The devices comprise a distinct class of personal computer falling between a pure cloud client and traditional laptop.The first devices for sale, by Acer Inc...
s" from Samsung (and then Acer in July) actually shipped.
History
Google developers began coding the operating system in 2009, inspired by the growing popularity and lower power consumption of netbookNetbook
Netbooks are a category of small, lightweight, legacy-free, and inexpensive laptop computers.At their inception in late 2007 as smaller notebooks optimized for low weight and low cost — netbooks omitted certain features , featured smaller screens and keyboards, and offered reduced computing...
s and the focus of these small laptops on Internet access. To ascertain marketing requirements for an operating system focused on netbook Web transactions, the company did not do the usual demographic research generally associated with a large software development project. Instead, engineers relied on more informal metrics, including monitoring the usage patterns of some 200 Chrome OS machines used by Google employees. Developers also noted their own usage patterns. Matthew Papakipos, former engineering director for the Chrome OS project, put three machines in his house and found himself logging in for brief sessions: to make a single search query or send a short email.
On November 19, 2009, Google released Chrome OS's source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
as the Chromium OS
Chromium OS
Chromium OS is the open source development version of Google Chrome OS.Chrome OS's source code was released on November 19, 2009 under the same BSD license as Chromium OS.-User interface:...
project. As with other open source projects, developers are modifying code from Chromium OS and building their own versions, whereas Google Chrome OS code will only be supported by Google and its partners, and will only run on hardware designed for the purpose. Unlike Chromium OS, Chrome OS will be automatically updated to the latest version. InformationWeek
InformationWeek
InformationWeek is a weekly print magazine, an online site with corresponding face-to-face and virtual events, and research. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California and was first published in 1979 by CMP Media, later called CMP Technology. On February 29, 2008, CMP Technology was...
reviewer Serdar Yegulalp wrote that Chrome OS will be a product, developed to "a level of polish and a degree of integration with its host hardware that Chromium OS does not have by default," whereas Chromium OS is a project, "a common baseline from which the finished work is derived" as well as a pool for derivative works. The product and project will be developed in parallel and borrow from each other.
At a November 19, 2009 news conference, Sundar Pichai
Sundar Pichai
Sundar Pichai is an Indian American computer engineer. He is currently the senior vice president of Chrome at Google Inc..-Early life:Sundar Pichai received a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and was awarded an Institute Silver Medal. He was a resident of Nehru Hall in the...
, the Google vice president overseeing Chrome, demonstrated an early version of the operating system. He previewed a desktop which looked very similar to the Chrome browser, and in addition to the regular browser tabs also had application tabs, which take less space and can be pinned for easier access. At the conference, the operating system booted
Booting
In computing, booting is a process that begins when a user turns on a computer system and prepares the computer to perform its normal operations. On modern computers, this typically involves loading and starting an operating system. The boot sequence is the initial set of operations that the...
up in seven seconds, a time Google said it would work to reduce.
Also on November 19, 2009, Chris Kenyon, vice president of OEM services at Canonical Ltd announced that Canonical "is contributing engineering to Google [Chrome OS] under contract. In our discussions, Sundar Pichai and Linus Upson made it clear that they want, wherever feasible, to build on existing components and tools from the open source community without unnecessary re-invention. This clear focus should benefit a wide variety of existing projects and we welcome it."
On January 25, 2010, Google posted notes, images and a video of a conceptual design showing how a Chrome OS user interface might look on a tablet PC
Tablet computer
A tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a complete mobile computer, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen...
with a 5–10 inch screen. The design would include the same basic layout as on netbooks, but with a touch interface; an onscreen qwerty
QWERTY
QWERTY is the most common modern-day keyboard layout. The name comes from the first six letters appearing in the topleft letter row of the keyboard, read left to right: Q-W-E-R-T-Y. The QWERTY design is based on a layout created for the Sholes and Glidden typewriter and sold to Remington in the...
keyboard in different layouts; large, square icons placed above the tabs; and panels placed along the bottom edge that could be opened with an upward dragging motion. The posting was made two days before Apple
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
announced the iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
tablet. On March 16, 2011, several changes to Chromium OS were made which indicate the development of a tablet version of Google Chrome OS.
In March 2010, Google indicated that consideration is being given to developing two versions of the operating system, a consumer version and an enterprise version.
Cr-48 prototype hardware
At a December 7, 2010 press briefing, Google announced the Cr-48 laptop, a reference hardware designReference design
Reference design refers to a technical blueprint of a system that is intended for others to copy. It contains the essential elements of the system; however, third parties may enhance or modify the design as required....
to test the Chrome OS operating system. Chromium-48
Isotopes of chromium
Naturally occurring chromium is composed of four stable isotopes; 50Cr, 52Cr, 53Cr, and 54Cr with 52Cr being the most abundant . 50Cr is suspected of decaying by β+β+ to 50Ti with a half-life of 1.8x1017 years...
is one of the most unstable isotopes of the metallic element chromium. The laptop's design broke convention by replacing the Caps lock
Caps lock
Caps lock is a key on many computer keyboards. Pressing it sets an input mode in which typed letters are uppercase by default. The keyboard remains in caps lock mode until the key is pressed again...
key with a dedicated search key.
The Cr-48 was intended for testing only, not retail sales.
Google addressed complaints that the operating system offers little functionality when the host device is not connected to the Internet. The company demonstrated an offline version of Google Docs running on Chrome OS and announced a 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
plan that would give Chrome OS users 100 MB of free data each month, with additional paid plans available from Verizon.
About 60,000 Cr-48s were distributed to testers and reviewers in early December 2010. Reviews of Chrome OS running on the Cr-48 in mid-December 2010 indicated that while the project held promise, it still had some distance to go before being ready for market.
On March 8, 2011, Google Product Management vice president Sundar Pichai stated that the last of the 60,000 Cr-48s had been shipped.
The Cr-48 notebooks have additional unused hardware components for implementation at a future date, including a Bluetooth 2.1 controller. The USB port
Universal Serial Bus
USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....
only acts as a keyboard
Keyboard (computing)
In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...
, mouse
Mouse (computing)
In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons...
, ethernet adapter, or USB storage port and will not work as a printer port as there is no print stack
Device driver
In computing, a device driver or software driver is a computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a hardware device....
on the operating system. Adding further hardware outside of the previously mentioned items will likely cause problems with the operating system's "self knowing" security model. Users are encouraged to use a secure service called Google Cloud Print
Google Cloud Print
Google Cloud Print is a Google service aiming to enable any application on any device in the network cloud to print to any printer – without Google having to create and maintain printing subsystems for all the hardware combinations of client devices and printers, and without the users having to...
to print to legacy printers connected to their desktop computers, or connect an HP ePrint
HP ePrint
HP ePrint is a portfolio of cloud printing solutions specifically designed for mobile computing devices like smartphones, tablets, etc. This segment of the computing industry has been rapidly growing and transforming the traditional cell phones into universal information access tools...
printer to the Google Cloud Print service for a "cloud aware" printer connection.
Commercial hardware: Chromebooks
Google initially named several development partners working on hardware for the operating system, with others named in the press, including Acer, AdobeAdobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
, Asus, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
, Lenovo, Qualcomm
Qualcomm
Qualcomm is an American global telecommunication corporation that designs, manufactures and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services based on its code division multiple access technology and other technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA...
, Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
, Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
, Intel, Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
, and Dell.
On May 11, 2011 at its Google I/O
Google I/O
Google I/O is an annual two-day developer-focused conference held by Google in San Francisco, California. Google I/O features highly technical, in-depth sessions focused on building web, mobile, and enterprise applications with Google and open web technologies such as Android, Chrome, Chrome OS,...
developer conference, Google announced that the first two commercially available laptops incorporating Chrome OS would be manufactured by Acer Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., with a retail price beginning at $349. The ship date was June 15 for the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Spain. The Chromebook
Chromebook
A Chromebook is a personal computer running Google Chrome OS. The devices comprise a distinct class of personal computer falling between a pure cloud client and traditional laptop.The first devices for sale, by Acer Inc...
s are sold in the United States through Amazon and Best Buy; internationally through "leading retailers". Google claimed an eight-second bootup time and eight-hour operation on one battery charge, and said that the chromebooks would require no virus protection. Models equipped with 3G connectivity receive 100 megabytes of wireless data per month, free for two years, with an additional gigabyte at $20 per month. Google is also working on a Chrome OS desktop machine.
Google also announced a monthly payment scheme for business and education customers at $28 and $20 per user, per month, respectively for a three-year contract, including replacements and upgrades.
Reception
Early on, Chrome OS was viewed as a competitor to MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, both directly to Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and indirectly the company's word processing
Word processing
Word processing is the creation of documents using a word processor. It can also refer to advanced shorthand techniques, sometimes used in specialized contexts with a specially modified typewriter.-External links:...
and spreadsheet
Spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper accounting worksheet. It displays multiple cells usually in a two-dimensional matrix or grid consisting of rows and columns. Each cell contains alphanumeric text, numeric values or formulas...
applications—the latter through Chrome OS's reliance on cloud computing
Cloud computing
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network ....
. But Chrome OS engineering director Matthew Papakipos argued that the two operating systems would not fully overlap in functionality because Chrome OS hosted is intended for netbooks, which lack the computational power to run a resource-intensive program like Photoshop.
Some observers claimed that other operating systems already fill the niche that Chrome OS is aiming for, with the added advantage of supporting native applications in addition to a browser. Tony Bradley of PC World
PC World (magazine)
PC World is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal-technology products and services...
wrote in November 2009: "We can already do most, if not all, of what Chrome OS promises to deliver. Using a Windows 7 or Linux-based netbook, users can simply not install anything but a web browser and connect to the vast array of Google products and other web-based services and applications. Netbooks have been successful at capturing the low-end PC market, and they provide a web-centric computing experience today. I am not sure why we should get excited that a year from now we'll be able to do the same thing, but locked into doing it from the fourth-place web browser."
A year later, Ryan Paul of Ars Technica
Ars Technica
Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...
came to similar conclusions. He wrote that Google's Cr-48 prototype "met the basic requirements for Web surfing, gaming, and personal productivity, but falls short for more intensive tasks." He praised Google's approach to security, but wondered whether mainstream computer users would accept an operating system whose only application is a browser. "In its current form, I think that the operating system could appeal to some niche audiences, like regular consumers users who really just need browsing or office productivity workers at companies that have gone Google or only use intranet apps. It's decidedly not a full-fledged alternative to the general purpose computing environments that currently ship on netbooks." Paul wrote that most of Chrome OS's advantages "can be found in other software environments without having to sacrifice native applications."
In reviewing the Cr-48 on December 29, 2010, Kurt Bakke of Conceivably Tech said: "in my household the Chromebook has turned into a family appliance and the most frequented computer in our household. Its 15 second startup time and dedicated Google user accounts made it the go-to device for quick searches, email as well as YouTube and Facebook activities. It has not turned into a device that can rival the appeal of any of our other notebooks – we have one gaming laptop, two mainstream notebooks and two netbooks in our household with five kids. The biggest complaint I heard was its lack of performance in Flash applications."
In ongoing testing, Wolfgang Gruener, also writing in Conceivably Tech, said that cloud computing at cellular data speeds is unacceptable and that the lack of offline capability turns the Cr-48 "into a useless brick" when not connected. "It's difficult to use the Chromebook as an everyday device and give up what you are used to on a Mac/Windows PC, while you surely enjoy the dedicated cloud computing capabilities occasionally." He praised a March 2011 update that included new trackpad control features, scrolling support, power improvements and a large number of bug fixes.
Relationship to Android
Google's successive introduction of the popular Android and Google Chrome OS has put the company behind two open source, client-based operating systems. MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
CEO Steve Ballmer
Steve Ballmer
Steven Anthony "Steve" Ballmer is an American business magnate. He is the chief executive officer of Microsoft, having held that post since January 2000. , his personal wealth is estimated at US$13.9 billion, ranking number 19 on the Forbes 400.-Early life:Ballmer was born in Detroit, Michigan to...
accused Google of not being able to make up its mind. Google has suggested that the two operating systems address different markets, mobile and personal computing, which remain distinct despite the growing convergence of the devices. Co-founder Sergey Brin
Sergey Brin
Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin is a Russian-born American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who, with Larry Page, co-founded Google, one of the largest internet companies. , his personal wealth is estimated to be $16.7 billion....
suggested that the two systems "will likely converge over time."
Steven Levy
Steven Levy
Steven Levy is an American journalist who has written several books on computers, technology, cryptography, the Internet, cybersecurity, and privacy.-Career:...
wrote that "the dissonance between the two systems was apparent" at the 2011 Google I/O developer conference. "Each day of the event featured a keynote devoted to one system followed by a press briefing where each team leader (Android's Andy Rubin and Chrome's Sundar Pichai) unconvincingly tried to explain why the systems weren't competitive. Co-founder Sergey Brin addressed the question by saying that owning two promising OS's was a problem that most companies would love to face".
Design goals and direction
Early in the project, Google put online many details of Chrome OS's design goals and direction. But the company has not followed up with a technical description of the completed operating system.User interface
Design goals for Google Chrome OS's user interface included using minimal screen space by combining applications and standard Web pages into a single tab strip, rather than separating the two. Designers considered a reduced window management scheme that would operate only in full-screen mode. Secondary tasks would be handled with "panels": floating windows that dock to the bottom of the screen for tasks like chat and music players. Split screens were also under consideration for viewing two pieces of content side-by-side. Google Chrome OS would follow the Chrome browser's practice of leveraging HTML5's offline modes, background processing, and notifications. Designers proposed using search and pinned tabs as a way to quickly locate and access applications.Architecture
In preliminary design documents for the Chromium OS open source project, Google described a three-tier architecture: firmware, browser and window manager, and system-level software and userlandUser space
A conventional computer operating system usually segregates virtual memory into kernel space and user space. Kernel space is strictly reserved for running the kernel, kernel extensions, and most device drivers...
services.
- The firmware contributes to fast boot time by not probing for hardware, such as floppy disk drives, that are no longer common on computers, especially netbooks. The firmware also contributes to security by verifying each step in the boot process and incorporating system recovery.
- System-level software includes the Linux kernel that has been patched to improve boot performance. Userland software has been trimmed to essentials, with management by UpstartUpstartUpstart is an event-based replacement for the traditional init daemon — the method by which several Unix-like computer operating systems perform tasks when the computer is started. It was written by Scott James Remnant, a former employee of Canonical Ltd....
, which can launch services in parallel, re-spawn crashed jobs, and defer services in the interest of faster booting. - The window manager handles user interaction with multiple client windows much like other X window managers.
Remote application access and virtual desktop access
In June 2010, Google software engineer Gary Kačmarčík wrote that Chrome OS will access remote applications through a technology unofficially called "Chromoting," which would resemble Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection. The name has since been changed to "remoting," and is "probably closer to running an application via Terminal ServicesTerminal Services
Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2008 R2, formerly known as Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 and previous versions, is one of the components of Microsoft Windows that allows a user to access applications and data on a remote computer over a network, using the Remote Desktop...
or by first connecting to a host machine by using RDP or VNC.". Initial roll-outs of Chrome-OS laptops (Chromebooks) indicate an interest in enabling users to access virtual desktops.
Hardware support
Google Chrome OS is initially intended for secondary devices like netbooks, not as a user's primary PC, and will run on hardware incorporating an x86 or ARMARM architecture
ARM is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by ARM Holdings. It was named the Advanced RISC Machine, and before that, the Acorn RISC Machine. The ARM architecture is the most widely used 32-bit ISA in numbers produced...
-based processor. While Chrome OS will support hard disk drives, Google has requested that its hardware partners use solid-state drives "for performance and reliability reasons" as well as the lower capacity requirements inherent in an operating system that accesses applications and most user data on remote servers. In November 2009 Matthew Papakipos, engineering director for the Google Chrome OS claimed that the Chrome OS consumes one-sixtieth as much drive space as Windows 7.
Integrated media player, file manager
Google integrates a media player into both Chrome OS and the Chrome browser, enabling users to play back MP3s, view JPEGs, and handle other multimedia files while offline.Chrome OS also includes an integrated file manager
File manager
A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to work with file systems. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files are: create, open, edit, view, print, play, rename, move, copy, delete, search/find, and modify file attributes, properties...
resembling those found on other operating systems, with the ability to display folders and their associated files, as well as preview and manage file contents using a variety of Web applications, including Google Docs and Box.net
Box.net
Box is an online File Sharing and Cloud Content Management service for enterprise companies. The company has adopted a freemium business model, and provides 5GB of free storage for personal accounts. A mobile version of the service is available for Android, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and WebOS devices...
.
Printing
Google Cloud PrintGoogle Cloud Print
Google Cloud Print is a Google service aiming to enable any application on any device in the network cloud to print to any printer – without Google having to create and maintain printing subsystems for all the hardware combinations of client devices and printers, and without the users having to...
is Google's proposed solution to help any application on any device to print on any printer. While the cloud provides virtually any connected device with information access, the task of "developing and maintaining print subsystems for every combination of hardware and operating system – from desktops to netbooks to mobile devices – simply isn't feasible." However, the cloud service would entail installing a piece of software, called a proxy
Proxy server
In computer networks, a proxy server is a server that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource available from a different server...
, as part of Chrome OS. The proxy would register the printer with the service, manage the print jobs, provide the printer driver functionality, and give status alerts for each job.
Link handling
Chrome OS was designed with the intention of having user documents and files stored on online servers. However, both Chrome OS and the Chrome browser have unresolved decisions regarding handling specific file types offline. For example, if a JPEG is opened from a local storage device, should a specific Web application be automatically opened to view it, and if so, which one? Similarly, if a user clicks on a .doc file, which website should open: Microsoft Office LiveMicrosoft Office Live
Microsoft Office Live is a discontinued web-based service providing document sharing and website creation tools for consumers and small businesses...
, Gview, or a previewing utility? The project director at that time, Matthew Papakipos, noted that Windows developers have faced the same fundamental problem: "Quicktime
QuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
is fighting with Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
, which is fighting with Chrome." As the number of Web applications increases, the same problem arises.
Security
In March 2010, Google software security engineer Will Drewry discussed Chrome OS security. Drewry described Chrome OS as a "hardened" operating system featuring auto-updating and sandboxSandbox (computer security)
In computer security, a sandbox is a security mechanism for separating running programs. It is often used to execute untested code, or untrusted programs from unverified third-parties, suppliers, untrusted users and untrusted websites....
features that will reduce malware exposure. He said that Chrome OS netbooks will be shipped with Trusted Platform Module
Trusted Platform Module
In computing, Trusted Platform Module is both the name of a published specification detailing a secure cryptoprocessor that can store cryptographic keys that protect information, as well as the general name of implementations of that specification, often called the "TPM chip" or "TPM Security...
, and include both a "trusted bootpath" and a physical switch under the battery compartment that actuates a developer mode. That mode drops some specialized security functions but increases developer flexibility. Drewry also emphasized that the open source nature of the operating system will contribute greatly to its security by allowing constant developer feedback.
At a December 2010 press conference, Google claimed that Chrome OS would be the most secure consumer operating system due in part to a verified boot capability, in which the initial boot code, stored in read-only memory
Read-only memory
Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
, checks for system compromises.
Shell access
Chrome OS includes the Chrome Shell, or "crosh", which offers minimal functionality such as ping and ssh, but no Bash-like shellShell (computing)
A shell is a piece of software that provides an interface for users of an operating system which provides access to the services of a kernel. However, the term is also applied very loosely to applications and may include any software that is "built around" a particular component, such as web...
capabilities. In developer mode, a full-featured Bash shell can be opened via VT
Virtual terminal
In open systems, a virtual terminal is an application service that:# Allows host terminals on a multi-user network to interact with other hosts regardless of terminal type and characteristics,...
-2, and is also accessible via the crosh command
shell.