Well apparently it is set to beta launch on Thursday (10-19-2009).

http://mybroadband.co.za/blogs...rnoon/

I am interested. Any thoughts?

Just in case any one wants Chrome's source code...

http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os

http://gizmodo.com/5408540/wha...oogle

http://gizmodo.com/5408514/goo...shots-

That's definitely different. "Cloud computing" as an OS, not to sure if this is something I would be interested in but Google hasn't yet disappointed me so we'll see. Thanks for the post MoD

RCA wrote:"Cloud computing" as an OS, not to sure if this is something I would be interested in but Google hasn't yet disappointed me so we'll see.

Pretty much exactly my thought on the matter. I'm all for playing around with alternative OSs as a geek, but the question in my mind is: what is the benefit for me?

That first video (which dumbs down the concept of the OS to such an extreme point that it ends up barely saying anything at all) answers that pretty well: Nothing.

Chrome OS is not for me. It was not designed for me. It's not intended to benefit me. Chrome OS is for the everyman. The guy who doesn't know Direct3D from RAM. It's designed to be simple and "magic" in its invisibility.And in order to do that, it features a lot of things that are advantageous to the everyman but completely counterproductive for me.

First off, I'm not "that guy" from the video. I don't spend most of my time browsing the web, and my web browser is definitely not the most important program on my computer. I use the web a lot, but it's a tool for me to enhance other tasks more than it is the primary purpose of my PC. That's reason #1 Chrome OS is not for me.

Reason #2 is cloud computing. That idea has never appealed to me. I do not want my data somewhere else, especially not somewhere else accessible by others (even if it is "secure"). I want my data right freaking here. On my PC. On my flash drives and DVDs and CDs and floppy discs (yes, my computer has a 3.5'' floppy drive). The difference between me and Everman is that I KNOW what I want to do with my data. He only knows he has it. So handing it off to Google to deal with is a benefit for him. Not for me. I trust me more than I trust Clouds. I still have 10 year old Diablo character files on floppies and know exactly where they are. I have gamesaves for tons of games, configs for HL multiplayer games. I have old school documents, reports. I have resumes dating back a decade. I don't need cloud computing to help me manage my data, keep it secure or organized or safe.

The presentation style of that first video says a lot about the target user audience of Chrome OS. The guy has a borderline douchebag voice, talks about his computer using Everyman "I don't know how it works; I just know it works" commentary, and points out pretty mundane stupid things that people who actually USE their computers wouldn't need explained.The video contrasts pretty sharply with the hour long Wave video from the Google IO dev conference I watched a few days ago. The Wave video was very technical and highly informative, and it would bore the hell out of Everyman.

Chrome's the Web Surfer's OS. It's designed for people who never (literally, NEVER) require anything more of their computer than opening Firefox or maybe, on the rare occasion, itunes. That's definitely not me. But it's definitely a LOT of people. There are a lot more Everymans than mes out there.

The Big Question in my mind is how Google is going to market/promote/distribute/pitch this product. It's not really competition for Windows. But my understanding is it is based on a Linux kernel, which means it's not natively NTFS-friendly (it can read but not write under that system), which complicates dual-booting and hurts the possibility of pitching Chrome OS as a compliment to Windows rather than an alternative.I'm curious how it'll be marketed. In boxes? Download only? Will it have a pricetag? Will it be easy enough for target Everyman to install and set up?

Hope this isn't a repost but you guys can download Google Chrome OS here: http://gdgt.com/google/chrome-os/download/

Google Chrome OS wrote:When Google finally showed off their new OS yesterday there was a lot of skepticism about working in the cloud, offline applications and many other thoughts and concerns. The good news is that if you don't want to read others hands on impressions you can now download and install the OS yourself.

A couple of things to note, firstly the download will only work in a VM environment, second, this is pre-beta software so expect crashes, bumps and a rough experience. But if you're willing to take the plunge you can follow the directions here. An engineer over at Gdgt.com has compiled the source code and the directions to install the OS are on the link above as well as a few other helpful tips.

The platform does not have a release date and will most likely be limited to certain hardware. Remember, this OS is not intended to be a replacement for Windows or OS X, but will be a compliment to both.

If you do venture down the road and try to install the OS, give us your feedback in the comments!

You can download a copy of the virtual machine to use in VMware, VirtualBox, and on a USB drive here (300MB compressed / 700MB uncompressed):

Cloud Computing Security:http://www.technologyreview.co...page1/

Google is made of 100% Virgin Pulp http://www.engadget.com/2009/1...hrome/

RCA wrote:Cloud Computing Security:http://www.technologyreview.co...page1/

Exactly.

On one hand it makes sense for me, because any information that is truly valuable I do encrypt. But knowing that PHYSICALLY my data is in my own hands gives me even greater confidence.

I like what it can be used for though. It has amazing potential for use in net books. I use my desktop 90% of the time. The other 10% that I use my net book is when I'm away from home, and guess what I use it for. It's going to be light weight, ( hopefully ) efficient and allow me to use the limited resources for other things such as video rendering etc.

As a parody to my encryption dilemma I offer this: http://xkcd.com/538/

That comic is pretty much spot on: the weakness is the human element. And that's where the "I have it in my possession" comes into play. The only person I KNOW will for sure keep my secrets is me. Anyone else is vulnerable to persuasion (whether knowingly or unknowingly). Who's to say some dipstick tech support dingus at Google won't get one put over on him by some clever guy claiming to be me? "Oh, come on, I forgot my login info and I have to have that data tomorrow!!!"

Storage space is NOT an issue anymore. You can get TERABYTES of local storage for cheap. The ONLY benefit cloud computing offers is access to materials from multiple machines.

Well I really hope that Google's OS gets better because.....DAMN its nearly trash to me. All I really see are some links put together as icons (Shortcuts). But I think Google's OS could become a contender, I really do.

Chrome's the Web Surfer's OS. It's designed for people who never (literally, NEVER) require anything more of their computer than opening Firefox or maybe, on the rare occasion, itunes.

This will prove most interesting... can't wait to test it out

gatzze wrote:Chrome's the Web Surfer's OS. It's designed for people who never (literally, NEVER) require anything more of their computer than opening Firefox or maybe, on the rare occasion, itunes.

Not really.

You can do anything on Chrome that you can do online. So you can do Word, Excel, games, etc. So yes it is a glorified internet browser, you have to realize all the things you can do from a browser.