Google has been working hard on developing their own operating system, Chromium OS, for a while now and they are getting ready to launch it early next year.
At an event in Google’s Mountain View office, members of the press and some developers got their first official glimpses of the Chrome OS and an introduction to the search giant’s latest product, so that developers could start building applications to contribute to it.
Google V.P. of Product Management, Sundar Pichai, and Engineering Director for Google Chrome OS, Matthew Papakipos, were the main speakers.
Chrome (the browser), which was launched about a year ago, already has 40 million users. Chromium OS will focus mainly on 3 factors. Speed, Simplicity and Security.
While the average computer takes at least 45 seconds to start, Chrome OS is expected to start in just about 10 seconds.
Also, all applications on the Chrome OS will be Web applications. There will be no native applications. That means that most work done by a user will be saved on the Internet, instead of being saved on the computer. It will thus be possible to access all data from any computer. Even if a user loses his computer, he does not lose any of his data.
All Web apps will be stored within individual “security sandboxes”. Each tab on Chrome OS will be locked down and handled individually by the system, just as tabs in the Chrome browser are, thus making it difficult for hackers or viruses to access the user’s data and corrupt it.
Google already supports the Android OS, so it is only natural for people to wonder why they want to develop another OS, and whether it will continue to support the Android OS. Apparently it will not.
Speaking at the press conference, Google co-founder Sergey Brin said, “Call us dumb businessmen, but we really focus on user needs rather than think about strategies relative to other companies and whatnot.”
