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Schmidt on Chrome OS: The PC Industry is not Like the Phone Industry

Posted on 05. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Everybody’s working for the weekend, so it kind of flew under the radar last week a quote by Google CEO Eric Schmidt about the reluctance to try another Nexus One-type branded phone, or say, Chrome OS device for that matter.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Schmidt said, ”we have a reference spec for Chrome OS, we have a couple of hardware partners all lined up and the open source is all out there. It’s on schedule and it will happen later this year. Let’s see how well those partners do first. My guess is we won’t need to. The PC industry is different from the phone industry. The PC industry is used to working with Microsoft, whereas the mobile industry was not used to working with software.”

Now the mobile industry is working with software, and that software called Android sure is working out well.

What Schmidt said is really the same thing that we’ve been hearing since Computex. Acer, HP and (although not listed as an official partner) Dell are the three most likely companies at this point to put out Chrome OS devices in Q4.

Back to the topic of software. Because the fact that we’re hearing that Google is ramping up its music and news services only seems to solidify how important user experience is going to need to be to make these Chrome OS machines an ultimate success. We’ve seen a bit already of Picasa adding some cloud computing functions, and there will be no surprise that we will see more of this as we move along the third quarter.

So, in its continued fight against Apple’s massive dominance in apps, Google keeps those Chrome Apps in an ever-evolving state.

Who’s Going to Compete With Apple’s Tablet?

Posted on 22. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

The current state of the tablet market is pretty stale. And let’s not even go into the JooJoo.

I say this because when I was at Taiwan’s Computex 2010 conference less than a month ago there were some formidable competitors in terms of hardware, but the leading manufactures for these devices didn’t really offer a whole lot in terms of software.

Sure, the Acer tablet that allows one to flip the netbook-style form factor over to a table was impressive, but the touch functionality of Windows 7 for it was quite lackluster: I asked a product rep to reboot the device because there seemed to be a problem with the touch software, only to have the same problems crop up again once it started up.

Asus offered up a beautiful tablet design that had potential to compete with Apple, but they kept a product manager closely hovering over the device running a new version of Windows CE that looked surprisingly Android-like, but because of the people and Asus employees holding a close grip on the tablet, no one was really able to test the paces of Microsoft’s UI.

MSI had a winged version of a tablet running Android that seemed surprisingly comfortable in my hands, but we all know that Google’s smartphone operating system isn’t really meant for tablets – it just seemed like a supersized stock version of the OS. An MSI product manager also told me that the MSI Wind tablet was just a concept for now.

This is problematic. The reason why I say this is because since Apple has taken the world by storm plugging an already existing operating system with the iOS to a tablet form factor, that have essentially beaten the entire computer manufacturing market with the iPad. There is no one else that has an operating system that is fully compatible with touch on a tablet.

That’s not to say Android is far behind Apple’s touch-based operating system, but it is clear that unlike the iOS, there was no plan for tablets in its future. We’ve seen early on Google’s Chrome OS tablet concept, and we can only hope that Chrome OS will offer a stylishly-designed slate from the likes of HP, Dell or Acer in the coming months, hopefully something that is just as functional, open source for app developers and creatively designed mobile gadget that can compete with the iPad.

I hold out hope on this, because only one successful tablet in the market does not bode well for innovation. What do you think? Which one of these PC manufacturers has the best chance of offering a tablet running Chrome OS that can compete with Apple?

Those Repository Files Must Mean Something

Posted on 21. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Last week, DownloadSquad’s Lee Matthews discovered some public repository files that referenced three hardware manufacturers: Dell, Acer and HP. A few days later, those files were then replaced by a different listing that included some legacy hardware such as Amiga, Atari and Commodore, among others.

This has got to mean something. One thing that jumped out in my mind when Matthews first reported this story was that Dell is not on the official list of hardware partners. When I contacted a source who is working closely with some official partners on hardware about Dell, I was told that there are no new announcements for the time being.

It seems the three manufacturers and there repository files on the Chromium site point to the logical conclusion that they will be the first companies associated with official Chrome OS products. It’s a different move than the route that was taken for Android where a more upstart company, HTC, took the first leap into the mobile OS and rode that platform to the success that it is today. I really don’t see HTC having the same spotlight it now holds with smartphones if it had continued down the Windows Mobile path it was on a few years ago.

Regardless, I have a great deal of respect for Dell, Acer and HP as longstanding companies producing computer hardware. The fact that they are getting behind this project further validates to me that Chrome OS will be a strong competitor in the consumer computing market over the coming years.

thechromesource Daily: Links for 6/16/10

Posted on 16. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Remember the Chromium repository files that listed Dell, Acer and HP? They’ve been replaced by different ones now.

While Google has not launched its own storage service, it has given Memeo permission to use the “GDrive” name for Google Docs.

Social networking-focused browser Flock has replaced its Mozilla underpinnings with those of the Chromium browser.

The next version of Android will be focused on the user interface, hoping to avoid having manufactures put their own UI on devices.

Here’s a video of the the Logitech Revue, which will be a companion device for Google TV.

Dell an Official Chrome OS Partner?

Posted on 14. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Recently, DownloadSquad deftly discovered that the Chromium repository referenced three manufacturers and their private hardware builds – from Acer, HP and Dell. While the first two companies were already on the list of known partners with Google on the project, Dell was left out for some reason.

However, the Dell Linux team has periodically been releasing updated builds of Chromium OS, announcing this fact in the Chromium discussion board. It is hard to speculate at this point, but one must start to wonder if the three hardware manufacturers plan on announcing releases of their Chrome OS products at the same time. Whatever the case may be, we know to expect any release information to come directly from these manufacturers at some point in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The releases that have been put out by Dell have been aimed at their Mini series of netbooks, so it’s easy to wonder whether they will be launching a Chrome OS product that is a 10″ netbook.

It is really hard to say at this point since we have seen such a precipitous decline in the popularity of netbooks since the arrival of Apple’s tablet, so it would most likely do Dell and the other two companies well to find some middle ground on a netbook/laptop hybrid that encompasses an innovative form factor paired with performance specs to wow enthusiasts, all at a competitive price.

Sounds like a tall order. No wonder Google is letting the manufacturers do the talking on this one.

thechromesource Weekend: Links for 6/13/10

Posted on 13. Jun, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Dell, Acer and HP Chrome OS devices appear to be coming out first, based on Chromium repository info found by DownloadSquad.

Does open source software have more vulnerabilities for hackers to exploit than closed-source?

Potential Chrome OS tablet competitor WePad will come with ad-supported widgets that cannot be removed from the system.

Legal problems are still ahead in the Google wi-fi fiasco, and a class-action may be in the cards.

In order to further push Google Apps, the company has launched the Gone Google site, complete with a “cloud calculator”.

thechromesource Daily: Links for 5/17/10

Posted on 17. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Although I’ve been unable to find an official link from Acer, Engadget reports that the company will not launch a Chrome OS netbook soon.

YouTube is now five years old; it serves up more than two billion videos to users everyday.

Scroogle now has its own Scraper Extension in the Chrome directory; allowing you scraped searches anytime you want.

Could Google TV be “the biggest single change in television since it went color”, as Intel chief Paul Otellini has been quoted?

The Android Market has had its website updated a bit, possibly in anticipation of Google I/O on Wednesday.

Chrome OS Devices to be on Display at Computex

Posted on 13. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Venturebeat is reporting that Acer will show off one, or maybe even several Chrome OS-equipped devices at Computex in June. We have been reporting this for some time that a unknown Taiwan-based manufacturer would be doing this, and Venturebeat seems to substantiate this somewhat.

The fact that they are reporting this information from “multiple sources” suggests this is more than just a rumor. I will be at Computex during the first week of June and will be reporting back all news available about anything related to Chrome OS. Since Computex is one of the largest computer shows in the world and is in the center of the computer manufacturing industry, it makes sense that we would see some concrete devices at this show.

Four Chrome OS Contenders that Could Take on Apple’s iPad

Posted on 10. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

The iPad is ushering in a new era of computing device: the tablet. What’s really exciting is that this has all just begun, and we should expect to see a wide array of new tablets coming to market during the rest of this year. So here are the tablets that are expected to be launched with Chrome OS (along with an app store, we hope) as either the only platform or as an option. Without further ado, some of the contenders that will take on Apple tablet-style.

Freescale

Specs: 7-inch display, 1GHz Cortex ARM processor, WiFi, Optional 3G

Freescale Semiconductor showed off a tablet running Chrome OS at CeBIT that they said would cost only $200. Although the prototype that they displayed needed a keyboard in order to provide input, they were the first to actually show off a tablet. It’s possible they could bring something like this at a very good price to market, but the concern would be that the components at that price would not be cutting edge and therefore could have problems competing in the market.

But at the same time it’s a cheap tablet, right?

Notion Ink Adam

Specs: 10.1-inch PixelQi display with multitouch, nVidia Tegra 2 graphics and dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU, 16GB solid-state drive, Wi-Fi, 3G

Designed in India, the unknown Notion Ink Adam could be a hit, although many also thought that the Fusion Garage JooJoo tablet would be, so we shall see. Nevertheless, this device looks stunning, and with the innovative PixelQi display which can turn off the backlight this could be a great e-reader and web enabled device all in one. It’s expected to have options in terms of storage and connection options, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this tablet is priced close to the iPad. It also has features that Apple’s tablet doesn’t such as a 3.2 megapixel camera and an HDMI output port.

HTC

Specs: Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor, possibly dual-touchscreen?

HTC privately showed an Android tablet at CES a few months ago, and speculation is mounting that they will be working together with the folks at Mountain View to produce tablet which may or may not be branded as a Google tablet. Seeing as how Google and HTC have a cozy relationship with Android (Nexus One and G4 smartphones) the first Chrome OS tablet could very likely come from HTC.

The photo shown here is a prototype dual touchscreen concept that the folks at Phandroid have posted. We don’t have any other pictures, so this is the best one to ponder upon.

Asus

Specs: Unknown, likely similar to the Eee T91 (pictured here)

Asus is primarily a netbook manufacturer, but CEO Johnny Shih has been adamant about making a tablet. The company already has a hybrid netbook-tablet device called the Eee PC T91, which pairs a keyboard with a display that can be rotated and folded over to transform it into a slate. It has the same specs as your average netbook, running an Intel AtomZ520 with 1GB RAM standard, but interestingly packs a 32GB solid state drive which is a requirement by Google for Chrome OS devices to ensure speed and user interface quality.

The Others

I’ve left out a few manufacturers that I need to give mention. Acer has claimed that they will have the first Chrome OS netbook but that is not a tablet and there hasn’t been any good information even if they are working on one. We know that the Dell Linux team has been openly working on Chrome OS (April 7 build here), and it would fit on their Mini 5 line of tablets (also known as Streak) coming out but that is pure speculation.

If there are any manufacturers that I have forgotten, please let me know. In the end, we’ll see some more developments relatively soon. Computex is coming up which will be closing in on the third quarter, a period of time when Chrome OS devices are expected to surface.

Is Dual-Boot the Best Option For a Google Machine?

Posted on 06. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Last year, Acer debuted a rather intriguing device: it’s a netbook that with dual-boot capabilities. The operating systems that the Acer D250 runs is Windows and Android. With the dual-boot configuration you could jump into Android real quick and do what you need to do on the fly, like mail or a bit of info. If you require the ability to perform more intensive tasks, Windows is available:

Like most netbooks, the D250 in the video above has most of the standard specs for this type of device: Intel Atom processor, 1GB ram and 160GB hard drive.

I bring this up because Acer is planning to soon launch a new netbook called the D260 that has the same functionality but with updated hardware, Windows 7 and a newer, more sleek chasis. Electric Pig is also reporting thatthe D260’s mobile product manager Martino Mombrini says that they are “working with the guys at Google”, with a launch “likely” in Q3 or the Christmas period for a Chrome OS machine.

It make me wonder whether the D250 and D260 are placeholders for a future netbook that has both Chrome OS and Windows. Although surely Google does not want to stop manufacturers from putting Android on netbooks/laptops, it was really meant to be for smartphones with screens that are less than four inches in size. The goal is to keep displays optimized, and to allow Chrome OS to fill in the gap for gadgets that are larger than that – which would be netbooks and tablets.

Of course, a machine that dual-boots would cost slightly more because of Microsoft’s operating system licensing fees but there is no doubt that those looking for a complete all-in-one package may want to consider a dual-boot machine. Many routine tasks can be done via the web, but as the transition to cloud environments continues, it may be best for the power user to think about a machine that is capable of dual-boot functions right out of the box.

The $100 Tablet, $85 Netbook

Posted on 04. Mar, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

It hasn’t been surprising that there aren’t too many Chrome OS products on display at Germany’s CeBIT conference, which is the largest computer manufacturer meet in the world. While I had heard rumors of Chrome OS ARM devices popping up there, nothing of interest has shown up yet. The best bet is that the largely Taiwanese manufactures of netbooks such as Acer, Asus and MSI are planning to reveal some interesting things on their home turf at Taipei’s Computex, set for the first week of June.

So while we sit through this lull before the exciting developments come to fruition, there are some really cheap gadgets that are coming out of CeBIT. And both of these prototypes could possibly be loaded with Chrome OS. It’s hard to tell because the Chromium projects site doesn’t offer me too much information on minimum requirements.

The first is a tablet, set at a price point of $100. It’s the 7″ Hivision Speedpad and it comes with a ARM 11 chip by Samsung, 2GB of storage and 256 MB of RAM. Did I mention it’s loaded with Android? Based on these specs, it may be difficult to run Chrome OS on this machine, but with ever falling component prices it may not be a far flung reality:

And then there’s the $85 netbook, or perhaps best described as “mini-netbook”. Made be Coby, its dubbed the NBPC722. It has a Marvell ARM, has a 7″ display and is running Windows CE. I couldn’t get any info as of yet on storage or memory, but I’m betting because it’s running Windows CE, these specs are pretty dimunitive:

Conclusion? Expect to see more devices like this coming in the next few months. While these two are running operating systems befit for a mobile phone or the distant past, I see them simply as placeholders for a time that will soon come where we see a browser-based OS being the standard for these devices. This is because that is the core function these products will provide for users.

What would you do with one of these?

We May See a Chrome OS Netbook Mid-2010, But Not For Sale

Posted on 25. Feb, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

There has been a lot of speculation that there will be a Chrome OS netbook that will be available from Acer in the middle of this year, which would only be about four months away. I’m not sure where this kind of information is coming from, but I think that this was something that was leaked by an insider to keep Acer’s name in the news about Chrome OS. Ther reality is that yes, we will probably see something from Acer in mid-2010, but it won’t be something that we as consumers will be able to buy yet.

That’s because one of the biggest computer shows, Computex, will be convientley showing off the wares of many manufacturers in early June. Doesn’t that sound like mid-2010 to you? Plus, Computex is held in Taipei, Tawian. That means that major companies such as Asus, MSI and of Acer will be there, and they will probably be showing finished products that run on Chromium builds.

Also, in late May, Google will hold its developer conference, dubbed Google I/O. A look at the sessions that will be held has some Chrome OS topics  scheduled. There may be some news that comes out of the conference, most likely of which will be an announcement of a uniform programming language for use across Google’s platforms to help streamline development when the operating system is actually released. This will most likely be of Google’s own experimental language, called Go.

Look, anyone that has taken a look at the latest builds of Chromium by running Hexxeh’s Flow would know that while the OS is progressing, there is still some development that still needs to be completed before Google is going to give the green light for manufacturers to sell devices with this platform. While I’m sure they want to get something out that competes with Apple’s iPad soon, rushing the development cycle for this is not going to create a lasting impression on users if the product is not ready.

So if you’re in such a hurry, Acer, why don’t you advertise the fact that you have the Windows 7/Android AOD250 netbook on the market? Sure, it’s not a tablet. But it’s probably a more polished product that what Chrome OS can offer consumers over the next six months:

So expect to see some interesting hardware developments by June, but don’t expect to see something that you can actually purchase until the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Another Samsung Chrome OS Post: Yeah Blah Blah

Posted on 17. Feb, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

So Samsung is working on a Chrome OS product. What a shock. Although maybe in a dry news cycle there is an appetite for anything related to Chrome OS, that unfortunately doesn’t really strike me as news. Maybe I’m cynical, maybe I’m a realist (I could also be dumb, you could comment upon that if you want). The truth is that there are probably a whole slew of manufacturers that want to be the first that gets into the genre of Google’s cloud computing platform. But in being realistic that means that the one that offers the most compelling device specs for the initial launch will win.

It would really be no coincidence that Samsung has initialized a partnership with ARM to provide graphics capabilities to their mobile devices, but other sites are not reporting this little nugget of information. Instead of providing specifications for a future netbook, the interest that I have is more about the synergy that Samsung and ARM will create with this partnership.

Sure, its just a press release, but the reality is that Samsung doesn’t need an integrated processing and graphics solution for a television or a mobile phone. It’s to get into the netbook/tablet/smartphone market. And say what you will about them, but their products are pretty good. Mind you, to compete in the soon-crowded cloud operating system market they are going to be dealing with Taiwan companies that have been successful in the netbook market such as Asus and Acer. However, I would not be surprised to see Samsung do some innovative development that puts them ahead of the pack and eventually have a Chrome OS product that is ahead of their competition.

If Samsung is really interested in entering this market and competing on price, then they could do well. Their track record in consumer electronics is pretty good. But HTC, which came out of nowhere, is currently dominating in Android mobile phone sales because they are ambitious and were willing to take risks that traditional mobile phone manufacturers were not willing to do. Is it going to be a consumer electronics company like Samsung that can heed the call for emerging web operating systems? We will see.

More Development Resources Released For Chromium Project

Posted on 25. Jan, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Now that extensions are available for the Chrome browser across all platforms, the Chromium team from Google has posted on their blog some resources for developers to get started working with Chrome to develop apps for both the browser and eventually what will be the Chrome operating system that is expected to ship in the third quarter. Third quarter Google Chrome netbook? Sounds a little early, but at least that’s what Acer has  been saying today.

Anyways, with the newest stable release of Chrome browser (version 4), there is support for some things like the Web SQL Database API for localized storage, a Websockets API for faster data tramsmission and unobtrusive status alerts for users.

As for where to get help for Chromium related development, those interested in extensions can head to the official Google threads to get involved in that discussion as well as take a look at a short tutorial on how to create your first extension. There is also a new Chromium HTML5 Group that was just started recently. And for those of you who have used the Chromium OS Discuss Google Group in the past, it has moved to a new location, so be forewarned that old posts from the previous Group database have to be found at the old site to search for answers from. Otherwise, you may need to post a question that has already been asked at this point.

And while not so technically-focused, we also have a forum here for discussion.

Asus Mulling Options

Posted on 17. Jan, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey.

Asus doesn’t know what to do. The company, which actually has its roots derived from Acer, has about 30% of the nascent netbook market. And although they showed off a sleek designed Eee PC that was loaded with an ARM processor at Taiwan’s Computex back in June, they showed off relatively nothing at the recent CES show.

That’s probably because although they are testing both Android and Chrome OS in their labs, they haven’t yet decided which one they want to back. It’s possible that Google has made hardware demands to Asus that they company simple does not want to fulfill – creating an Android phone such as the long-rumored Eee phone would be an easier task than being under the scrutiny of being the netbook version of the Nexus One.

Unfortunately, Android just doesn’t appear to have the meat to be able to be a network operating system like Chrome OS does. And with competition coming from Intel’s Moblin as well as Ubuntu, using an operating system that was designed for smartphone use on a netbook just doesn’t seem realistic right now. Rumor is that Android and Chrome OS will at some point merge, but it appears to me that the two platforms are getting further apart in technology.

If the Google netbook is going to have an ARM processor, it is very realistic that HTC could be a dark horse candidate to be the manufacturer. They are taking their lumps a bit with the Nexus One, but that experience along with the fact that they would be entering a new and profitable netbook/smartbook market would be enticing for them to compromise with Google. Besides, before HTC came out with the first Android phone, the G1, who had ever even heard of them before?

The Top 10 Questions For Chrome OS in 2010

Posted on 31. Dec, 2009 by Daniel Cawrey.

As we wrap up what has been an eventful 2009, I thought that now would be a great time for some reflection on where Chrome OS is going and some of the big questions that do not have concrete answers yet. An official release by Google is at least six months away for Chromium but even so that leaves a lot left to the imagination at this point. So here is a review what are the biggest issues relating to the Chrome operating system and my best attempt to try to explore them. Enjoy and here’s to a great 2010!

Who will manufacture the GoogleBook?

A look at the third quarter 2009 market share for netbook manufacturers puts Acer out in front with a 38.8% piece of the pie. But Asus is not far behind at around 30%.  I don’t believe that a brand like HP or Dell would want to slap a Google logo on hardware that they’ve designed, so my bet right now is that Asus is Google’s HTC in the netbook market. However, a contract supplier such as Foxconn or Flextronics could offer a sweeter deal and have no qualms about branding issues.

Will it be subsidized?

As we’ve already seen with Google’s Nexus One Android Phone pricing, subsidizing and partnering with a wireless provider looks like the best path for the GoogleBook. It doesn’t look like Google wants to eat any cost trying to release this product, and why should they? There should be enough hype prior to an official launch. And don’t forget that open source developers will have had their hands on Chromium, release their own builds. This project is starting to mirror in some degree the path that Android took to completely blowing up this year, and I mean that in a good way.

Will it be secure?

It’s going to need to be. McAfee has already reported Chrome OS as a top vulnerability of 2010. In a hacker’s eyes, Microsoft is no longer the big daddy, since they have gotten their security up to snuff in the past couple of years. Now it’s time for the focus to be shifted onto software that is complementary to operating systems, such as Adobe’s Flash or Reader. Since Chrome OS will be both the OS and the applications, that’s where the concern is. Basically, cybercriminals are going to target the software that has the lowest level of protection in terms of security, and I think that McAfee has now put Google on alert with their report.

Will there be hardware options?

No, there won’t. Just kidding. But it’s interesting to see Google deciding what hardware is going to work with their operating system. I don’t blame them, because they want to make something that is simple and just works. Microsoft has spent so much time trying to be everthing to everyone in terms of hardware support, and although I don’t blame them, I am curious to see how creating specific standards for Chromium could potentially make this operating system so simple to use there’s no thinking about it.

What about the competition?

Amazingly, there are a lot of options out there for operating systems designed with netbooks in and mind that there too many for me to list here. We just did a review of Moblin, Intel’s open-source foray into the realm, and we plan on posting more soon. A little competition never hurt anyone, especially in the tech market since that is just going to make products that are better for us end users. This is especially true when you consider that sales for netbooks is expected to grow by 297% within the next three years.

Is Chrome OS a marketing ploy?

You have to start wondering if Chrome OS is supposed to be a conduit to everything Google. If you think about it, the operating system complements things that Google has been working on for years. Take Google Apps. While it has been out for 2006, and it did experience an outage this year, it appears that Apps is starting to gain some traction with large companies such as Genetech implementing it. Now give users a Google-branded device that doesn’t have Microsoft Office and what do you get? Instant adoption of Apps by a wide range if users. This method could potentially be used for an array of other Google offerings.

What about Android?

It’s difficult to figure out the strategy on this one, because although Sergey Brin says they’ll eventually converge, it feels like there is a chasm that is further separating these two especially as Android begins to take off in the mobile phone market. Along with a tepid review for the Acer One D250 netbook loaded with Android, it feels like for the time being these two are going to be very, very separate in terms of functionalities. Besides that, I keep wondering about the human-computer interaction element of the two that makes them fundamentally different: for a netbook to be really useful, it needs a full keyboard which is not a feature that is in any way desirable on a phone.

How does Chrome OS affect privacy?

It wouldn’t be surprising if Google CEO Eric Schmidt would like to take back his recent comments on privacy in terms of search, but he has not retracted them as far as I know.  While it’s a great idea that cloud computing can allow someone to log onto a machine and get their data from wherever they are, let’s not forget that the logon you use is your Google account. The information from your account is currently used to target advertising while you search and use Gmail. If that is the case now, in the future who knows what else? Did I mention that the login to Chrome OS is your Google account as well?

What will open source developers’ impact be?

We’ve already seen iterations of Chrome OS developed by open source developers, and there is already a 64-bit version out there to try out. This leads one to wonder where this will go in the next six to eight months before there is an official release. Since Chrome OS is open source, it’s entirely possible that techies out there will run there own builds that allow them to do more than a commercial version would. Regardless, open source is the way to go. Developers outside of Google will make this a legitimate competitor in the netbook market, and we shall soon see if it will either quickly dominate or not.

How will Microsoft fight back?

Although Steve Ballmer doesn’t seem particularly concerned with Chromium, there are some indications that Microsoft is going to have embrace more open source projects in order to stay relevent in a market that is increasingly on the moving towards that direction. For example, Windows4all is a browser based version of Windows 7 that has been developed by Microsoft’s open source community called Codplex. Also, They are releasing Office 2010 with browser based versions. They are going to attempt to stay in the game, but really it seems like all they are doing is trying to not fall completely behind.

Acer Will Have First Chrome OS Machine in 2010

Posted on 03. Dec, 2009 by Daniel Cawrey.

It’s been reported all over the net that Acer chief JT Wang is claiming his company will be the first manufacturer to release a full fledged netbook that is running Chrome OS. This is not surprising seeing as how Acer has already released the Aspire One AO250 (left) as a dual-boot machine with Windows XP and Android. I don’t know what the Android experience would be like, but a dual boot netbook with XP and Chrome OS would be an awesome combination.

I can’t wait to have a machine that runs Chrome so I can use it on a daily basis, but my concern (one of a few, actually) is that with Chrome I won’t be able to open and manipulate files on my machine. At least that’s been the theory so far based on Google’s documentation – I’m conceptualizing, I know. But If I had a dual boot machine with XP or Ubuntu along with Chrome OS, now that would be cool.

Now, I’ve always been a Dell fan for my laptops, but lately I have become somewhat captivated by Acer’s lineup. Years ago, I equated Acer with crappy quality but they have really taken a lot of market share from Dell and other PC makers in the past few years. I think that it is smart for Acer to captivate early adopters for Chromium – the appeal for Chrome is going to be BIG. Many people don’t want to fuss with computers anymore and they want it to just work and I really feel that Google is on to something good.

We’ll keep you posted on the latest.