Google to launch Chrome OS this autumn

Google has confirmed that its upcoming lightweight, browser-centric Chrome OS operating system will launch in the late autumn. Speaking to the press at this year's Computex PC trade show in Taiwan, Google vice president of product management Sundar Pichai said, "We will be selective on how we come to market because we want to deliver a great user experience," adding that, "We're thinking on both the hardware and software levels."

The company says that the initial release of its new OS will run on x86 processor based laptop PCs and netbooks. Support for the ARM architecture is expected to follow shortly thereafter. The Chrome OS features a lightweight architecture based around a Linux kernel running a "new windowing system" which in turn runs a version of the Chrome web browser.

Discussing web-based applications Pichai notes that "Chrome OS is one of the few future operating systems for which there are already millions of applications that work," pointing out that developers don't need to redesign existing sites and services like Gmail or Facebook.

See also:

• Google's Chrome OS to include a media player, a report from The H.
• Chromium OS - Digging deeper into the open source Chrome OS, a feature from The H.
• Google releases source code for Chrome OS, a report from The H.
• Google's second open source operating system announced, a report from The H.

(crve)