a bit of competition might make MS loosen the restrictions on the netbook versions of windows 7. on the other hand, a simplified net-centric OS linked to the cloud applications run by google wont keep me in a support job for long..

I agree - I've tried Linux 5 or 6 times over the years, even working in it once for 6 months, but always went regretfully back to Windows. Even on this pig of a Vista 64 os I'm stuck with on my current machine, it simply runs some essential tools better and with less hassle. (The Win7 RC wouldn't install, a problem I found that others also had.) But if I could find a clean and fast non-pig os for this machine... oh hell, yes. I'd give it a try.

This is gonna be interesting. I'll be anxiously watching the development from the peanut gallery.

hopefully it'll have good portability and support for the things that keep dragging me back to windows: video games (mostly) and the fact that windows can support just about any app out there. If Chrome os can take care of that, then i'll completely convert. In Chrome OS we Trust.

How does one compete against a "free" product?

As much as I like and enjoy using its products though I have been using Bing (faster) and Ask (more relevant) a lot more lately, Google is using its monopolistic position in advertising, search and general Web services to put Microsoft out of business. And that is illegal.

Having a presence on the Apple board and working with Microsoft's customers (PC makers) against Microsoft, is conspiracy in the real sense and should bring a RICO allegation against Google and its collaborators. What Google is doing sounds a lot like what Intel gets in trouble for a lot. Where is the outrage against Google?

Everyone loves Google. Everyone loves Warren Buffet. If Buffett started building cars, better cars maybe, maybe not and giving them away with the hope and goal of dominating the market for his insurance businesses, would that be fair competition to Ford?

People refer to the "Microsoft tax”, give me a break. When Google realizes its goal of dominating the Web experience, everyone, even those who never use a computer or the Internet, will pay a “Google tax” passed on to consumers by advertisers of all manner of goods and services because they will have pay the Troll whatever it demands to play in it’s G-Space.

All that said, I'll give it a try. Microsoft, listen up.

There are millions of PCs out there. Offer retail copies of an OS for 49.99 (dollars or pounds depending on what side of the atlantic) and it will sell. Try to sell it for hundreds like they will with the retail copies once the pre orders are done with and thats where people will switch to a Google OS. People dont expect a free microsoft operating system (and i wouldnt want to run one stuffed with adverts to compensate) but with so many PCs out there, dropping the price to something like the pre order prices permanently must be a winner. For every retail copy that sells for 150 pounds and gets 1 person using Windows, you could sell to 3 people and get them using it, and they wouldnt feel ripped off since they just paid a little more than the price of a console game for their operating system.

Sounds interesting, it'll be cool to see what happens with this. Especially since netbooks are primarily web driven as you said and Google does that very well. But personally I'd rather have something not Microsoft/Google related for various reasons =/ while I enjoy Linux I do agree it just isn't as obvious and easy as Windows.

I'm just glad an outfit with some reasonable clout and backing resource is stepping up to give MS some competition (or at the least get their attention). Wether anyone from MS wants to admit it or not, they do have the market cornered, they do have a "monopoly". Hell, even some diehard Linux users will admit they (from time to time) have to use MS OSes just to get things done.

Thanks Google for throwing your hat into the ring and good luck. Market competition is the best thing for all of us.

Wow, I have a hard time seeing anyone try to defend MS from Google... I mean, wasn't MS the one involved in tons of anti-trust suits for their forced preferential treatment of IE over other browsers? And how can you fault Google in comparison, when the mighty Gates himself bragged that his goal was to have his operating system on every PC in the world? Doesn't MS have a history of creating new craptacular operating systems and shoving them down consumer throats just to create a revenue stream to help fund the hungry juggernaut they have become? And Google having a share in Apple... Gee, that just means they aren't bowing to the mighty MS and actually are supporting some diversity in the market, which MS would love to squash.

Hell, if anything, Google has learned from the master about attempting world domination, and is applying what they have learned.

Me, I'm looking forward to what sounds like a simplified and optimized OS, which is everything Windows is not. Should be interesting.

Whoa, I heard that they denied rumors of making an OS a few years ago when Chrome came out. Did the success of their browser make them just decide to make an OS distro, or was this already in the works?

At this point and time, I consider Microsoft to be the underdog and google to be the massive power hungry corporation. It seems every week, I am becoming more and more anti-google. It'd be sad if that makes me become pro-microsoft.

This is a big story, I can't see it taking off. If google was to release an OS I doubt it will gain more than 1% market share, People will play around with, discover only google earth and other google soft work and change back to MS. I as a PC gamer Doubt any PC game, Or Design software would work on this OS. I also Doubt many Software developers will support Google Chrome OS as a platform.

I think it will be great for people who just browse the web, they said they wanted to keep it simple to use, this to me shows they are going to aim it people who only browse the web and do simple tasks like social networking and watching the odd online video. I would not like to say I am Pro Microsoft but I don't think MS have to worry at all about this. We are ready have linux and ubuntu as choices for free OS. Now we are getting another free OS.

I will download the OS and give it a try as soon as I can get my hands on it. but I repeat what I have said, I want compatibility, if my software does not work, I am not interested. Note: I have not check for spelling.

Like gobbybobby, the gaming issue is one of my worries. However, there are 2 possible scenarios where Google could come out strong on this front. The first is the massive growing wave of flash and java games out there, which something like a Chrome OS should be able to handle easily (and much more efficiently than a bloated internet browser on top of a bloated OS).

But seriously, Google could make a huge leap into a stable, solid, low-profile game-friendly OS. Think the Xbox or PS3 OS, on a PC. Lots of us have been pointing out how effective a gaming platform based on Linux could be, with its optimized and minimalistic driver architecture... But there's never been enough push behind the Linux crowd to get something moving. Imagine if Google put their clout behind something like that... Hmmmmmmmm.

Vrmithrax, I agree If google could create a gaming freindly OS that would be great. With windows, crashing is a big issues. Games crash... ALOT. Fallout 3 as prime example. I downloaded it to windows 7, It crashed every 5 mins. So I copyed it to vista, Got alot further in the game, but every now and then it will still crash, Is that the game, or the OS. Unrea Tornament 3. The game will crash if minimized on windows Vista, but its fine tabbing in and out on Win 7 and XP. hmm. Thats Vista. EVE Online. Games that work with no issues. EVE online, Works fine.. never crashed.

I use steam. I get my games from Steam, I add games not on steam to steam so I can still access the community whilst playing. Steam has a great simple to use interface whilst still having a professional look. I don't want to have an OS that looks like a calculator with the huge buttons aimed at 5 year olds. While they say they are going for the easy approach, will it truly be easy. You are gonna get the same errors as windows. What will google have when it goes wrong. Will there be a Blue Screen with lines of code that people can't understand. I think it will. (well maybe not Blue)

PC gaming is a can be a pain in the a** when things go wrong, and don't work or freeze. I think that MS should work with PC game developers. Fallout 3 is a games for windows game. Why does it not work on windows then???

Games are what makes Windows unstable... Vista and 7 have never crashed on me outside of a few select crappily coded games. The one thing guaranteed to have more errors in coding than Windows are the games you play on it. They rush it out the door, so you have to deal with it until its patched.

As for this OS, I'm not too sure. I'm rather happy with the Linux I use right now. Unless this is an OSX style project where its basically built upon it and looks and works entirely different, then I may gain some interest.

tengeta not 1 game crash? what games do play? I find Vista to be much more unstable game wise than XP. 7 Is an improvement but I was shocked that Fallout 3 did not work. I immediantly saw other steam users reporting the same problem on a game thats been out for a while and has been patched, ''some people have isssues'' ''some people do not'' is what one person said on the thread I Viewed. You may be one of the lucky ones that have no issues. U play fallout 3?

I love stories like this, bottom line guys, they compete we get better products and cheaper prices...come on, who can argue with that.

gobby, I bet it is some obscure driver issue that Vista/7 has yet to resolve. A few weeks ago I was constantly and consistently crashing within 5 minutes of any game I played (Crysis/Warhead, Gears of War, BF2/2142, CoD4/5, UT3, several titles through Steam), even crashed within 5 minutes of OCCT and 3D Mark. I thought my video cards were crappin out. Then out of the blue, I started to play Warhead through my external speakers (usually I play with a Logitech USB headset)...not one crash. Played other games...not one crash. Switched back to the headset...crash city. There are no drivers for the headset provided by Logitech, it just uses the OSes USB drivers. No other USB device causes crashes, just the headset. Never did that with Xp. Go figure.

But anyway (back on topic) Google having a gaming friendly OS that works with current and future titles would certainly open a potentially lucrative door. I'd agree with you in that an OS by Google would likely get a small share of the market UNLESS their OS was compatible with what Windows runs...gonna be a pretty tough task for them to pull off.

Damn, this sounds pretty sweet, especially for $49.99! Over here in the UK hopefully that'll be even cheaper! *crosses fingers*