Chrome OS

Google announced a new upcoming operating system, Chrome OS. Chrome is also the name of the Web browser that Google introduced in September 2008. Google’s ambition, reflected in the use of the name Chrome, is to create an operating system that is indistinguishable from the browser. In web jargon, in fact, “chrome” refers to the graphic framework of a navigation browser: the address bar, the “back” button, the bookmarks, the search box.

Google’s new operating system is a cloud-based OS. This means that it will do away with the normal files, directories, and applications running on the user’s computer. Instead, Chrome OS will function on Google’s cloud computing infrastructure: applications will be delivered over the internet and your files will be saved in your personal space in the cloud.





Chrome OS’ cloud computing system represents a radical new direction for personal computing. Today’s major operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, and Linux) are all based on the workstation model introduced in the 1980s. They store all the programs selected by the user and the data and files created through those programs on a user’s hard drive.

Chrome OS should take up less than a gigabyte of your computer’s hard drive, and the operating system will boot in seconds. It won’t have a “Start” button: you will essentially access the system through the Google home page, where you will be able to include links to your favorite Internet applications. After you login to Chrome OS with your Google username and password, Google Docs will be there to let you edit and store documents, and Gmail will take care of your e-mail.

The idea of cloud computing applied to personal computing has evolved with the increasing popularity of applications like Facebook, Gmail, and YouTube. When you use these applications, your data is not stored in your computer; instead, the application is provided to you over the internet and the data generated via that application is stored in the provider’s data center - it is “in the cloud.” Data is only copied to your computer’s cache memory to allow the user to access it and view it.

Google Chrome OS will use your computer’s hard drive as a cache, so you will be able to work offline for some periods of time. However, if for any reason your computer is malfunctioning, for example it is corrupted by a virus, you will not lose any work since your data is stored in the cloud.


Read more: http://technorati.com/technology/it/article/cloud-computing-what-will-we-lose/#ixzz19ZhVYijz