
  Google Chrome OS To Launch Within A Week  - GVRV
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/13/google-chrome-os-to-launch-within-a-week/
======
uggedal
> Driver support will likely be a weak point. We’ve heard at various times
> that Google has a legion of engineers working on the not so glamorous task
> of building hardware drivers.

I was under the impression that Chrome OS would be Linux based (which would
make this a non-issue).

~~~
barrkel
Graphics drivers under Linux are not a "non-issue", as I for one know from
painful experience. And as I understand it, Chrome OS is not running X, so
they need specific graphics drivers.

~~~
DrJokepu
There was a very interesting article on LH a while ago about the problems of
linux graphics. A bit (very) offensive though, so if you're a fanboy who gets
upset easily, don't read it: [http://linuxhaters.blogspot.com/2008/06/nitty-
gritty-shit-on...](http://linuxhaters.blogspot.com/2008/06/nitty-gritty-shit-
on-open-source.html)

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chaosprophet
Hmmm... wonder if it's going to be reporting your usage habits back to google,
like the Chrome browser. I'm not going to be touching it with a 30 foot pole
till I know for sure it doesn't report back to big brother.

~~~
ErrantX
you can opt out of that

~~~
KWD
I think he has 'opted out' by using another browser.

~~~
ErrantX
well obviously; I was just pointing out that it was optional in case it wasn't
apparent!

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jurjenh
When I was reading about Go the other day, I wondered whether Google could be
the new Bell Labs... as far as I know, it goes as far as the 80/20 rule for
work/project stuff (so no open-ended research ???), but not sure exactly how
that all pans out behind the screens.

And then I thought about Chrome OS - a blank slate OS-wise (coming from Google
it only really needs to be internet capable) and wondered if the OS could be
something along the lines of Plan9... dreams are free, applying Occam's razor
suggests linux / bsd though. Guess we'll see soon enough!

------
thorax
I always assumed if they were making a system OS it was more for netbooks and
would be somewhat like Android where it would be specially released with
netbooks or notebooks that used it. I could see them maybe making a Xen or
VMware version, though.

~~~
roc
That was my thought as well: Google would just concentrate on getting first
class drivers for the machines it ships with and let the community hack
together any other support that it cares to.

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crucini
Google keeps amazing me. Chrome OS could mean many different things, but if it
really means a polished, complete OS it will have huge impact.

We have brilliant manufacturers like Asus creating cool netbooks. But they
can't really compete with Apple because they don't have a world-class OS.

And making such an OS is an enormous project.

They have Windows and Linux. Linux is great on servers. Linux is great on my
workstations. But OSX outshines it greatly in completeness and polish.

This could ignite a wave of competition and innovation. Asus should be very
excited. Apple should be nervous.

~~~
cpr
Everything points to Chrome OS just being a Linux distro with a custom window
manager tied to the Chrome browser with all apps "in the cloud"--nothing else.

Not exactly a Mac OS X competitor, but a nice addition to our options.

------
nzmsv
I wish Google would solve the drivers issue by doing something along these
lines:

Simply do not issue "works with Chrome OS" stickers/certification to hardware
with closed drivers.

After the device ships, most hardware manufacturers don't want to continue
paying developers for maintenance, and making sure it keeps working after OS
upgrades, etc. And they seem to want to protect "secrets" of some sort by not
releasing the source. I think Google has the power to fix this particular
problem that's plagued Linux for a long time.

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Aegean
It is not an OS is it? It's the userspace set of Google libraries and
applications, to put it more precisely. I wouldn't call it a PC operating
system as the article suggests.

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etherealG
can anyone point me to something more about what they've done with the
windowing system? I've heard they're not using X, is this official?

~~~
wmf
Nothing is official. Applying Occam's razor, I predict that Chrome OS will use
Xorg with a custom window manager (Moblin-style).

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ashishbharthi
Which distribution its going to be based on? My choice would be Debian.

~~~
rms
I believe it was confirmed that it will be based on Debian.

------
rms
Am I the only person here that plans on booting Chrome as my primary OS?

~~~
pavs
Most likely, considering the fact that no one outside google actually saw it
yet, let alone used it or have any fair judgement on how it actually performs.

Am I excited? Yes.

Am I going to use it as my primary OS?

Why would anyone even ask this question, at this point?

------
trezor
I'm still hooked on my solid collection of Firefox extensions. If this is
indeed an "OS" in any sense of the word, I would expect it to support
switching Chrome for Firefox.

If not, it's pretty much DOA to me.

~~~
brown9-2
The Chrome browser is supposed to support extensions in it's next (major)
version.

~~~
lt
It's actually there to test now, if you don't mind using unstable versions.
You need to switch the dev channel[1] and start the browser with --enable-
extensions switch. There's a number of sample extensions already[2].

I've been running the dev channel builds for a while now and never had any
major issues, only the occasional minor issue.

[1] <http://dev.chromium.org/getting-involved/dev-channel> [2]
[http://dev.chromium.org/developers/design-
documents/extensio...](http://dev.chromium.org/developers/design-
documents/extensions/samples)

