OneAndOneIs2

..and it is Linux-based!

As a matter of fact, I find it highly-amusing that after all the sniping Google had to put up with for not taking their port of the Chrome browser to Linux very seriously, they're now revealed to be completely committed to making Chrome work superbly under Linux because their OS will revolve around it :o)

So, Google OS. What is it, what isn't it?

Google OS is (or should I say, Will be) a Linux kernel; a new and as-yet-undefined windowing system; and the Chrome browser.

That's it. It's a Linux distro that has no purpose other than to boot you to a web browser ASAP.

This is important.

There's been lots of the expected "The web is NOT a replacement for an OS, Google is doomed" guff all over the place. Especially on Slashdot, I might add. People are wondering who's going to want to dual-boot their desktop to Chrome OS instead of just running Chrome on their existing Windows or Linux installation.

The answer is "Absolutely nobody, moron. Look at what Google has already said about this OS"

This is NOT a Windows-killer, it is not something that you will be expected to dual-boot. It has no place on any desktop PC. It is aimed at Netbooks.

Not aimed at desktops. Not aimed at laptops. Not aimed at dual-booting or even being installed by an end-user. This is a tiny OS aimed at being pre-installed on tiny computers with no purpose other than to get you online quickly so you can browse and use web apps. It's no more appropriate for a desktop PC than Android would be, and that is by DESIGN. Bear that squarely in mind before you get on the "The web is not as OS" soapbox. This isn't a full-fledged multi-purpose OS, it's an OS for getting you online.

With that out of the way, what will be the result of the hoped-for widespread adoption of Chrome OS?

Well, the Linux port of Chrome will be a lot better than it is today, one assumes. But who cares, it's just a browser. And the one good feature it has that Firefox doesn't, IMHO, Mozilla is working hard on incorporating: Multi-processing

More importantly, Chrome OS will be based on both x86 and ARM. This means firstly that ARM could potentially get a big break into Netbooks, where it thoroughly deserves to be - it's a really good CPU architecture - and secondly that Linux will get an even bigger boost for Netbook hardware support.

So Chrome OS benefits from Linux's already-good hardware support, particularly for ARM; and Linux benefits from the more widespread adoption. And the end-user benefits from a low-power, long-life Netbook that gets them online fast and has very little overhead to enable it to do so.

I don't like Chrome as a browser (You may have noticed) and I have no real need of a new laptop nor any intention of buying a netbook. But, depending on how they implement it, I *could* be tempted by a Chrome OS. Because today, you *can* do everything through a browser that you would do on your netbook.