In a recent event, Google announced the release of the highly anticipated Chrome OS. Chrome OS is an operating system that runs entirely on web apps, with the Chrome browser being the center of the whole experience. Chrome OS looks like great choice for those users who spend a good amount of time on the web browsing, sharing, working or playing games on the web.
Chrome OS has an easy setup, taking barely more than a minute, at maximum. There is a four step process to set up and create an account, which has access to Google Apps data and can even carry over themes, bookmarks and other settings that you created on your existing Chrome browser. Not only does it let users set up an account for themselves, but it also allows them to make additional accounts, such as for other members of their family. This allows each user to have privacy of their own browsing history, so no nosey family members can check out what or where you’ve been browsing.
Chrome OS has sync capability, allowing users to work on Chrome and sync anything they have done on other computers to their accounts. The user also has the ability to download and install apps or delete themes on their Mac or PC and then sync back to their Chrome OS netbook within a few seconds. Some users might be skeptical about the fact that it’s web-based, and are probably wondering: How are you ever going to get work done when your on the web all the time? Well, Chrome OS gives the user the power to work offline in Google apps; Then, once they’re done working and gain connection again, the changes sync automatically.
The netbook has printing capabilities, too, but one great feature is that the user is able to cloud print – a long-awaited attribute that makes it very simple to print. Unfortunately, however, on the market today there are no printers with cloud print already enabled, although hopefully we will see it sometime in the near future. So, if you want to use this feature, you’d have to install printers on a regular computer on a network, then install proxy software, and then connect to the software over the Internet using cloud print.
While the Chrome OS sounds amazing, there are some problems you may face when using the netbook. First off, it doesn’t have a USB storage drive (this may come when they release the product, but for now, there isn’t one), which makes it hard for those who use thumb drives to store their work. It also makes it difficult to transfer pictures and even sync your iPod to your iTunes library. However, the user does have the alternative to use Google Docs, which can eliminate the need for a thumb drive, and also, more frequently now people are using their smartphones to upload pictures to Facebook (etc.) and streaming music straight from Pandora. Thus, the move from thumb drives could prove to be less difficult than some might think. One more problem you might run into, though, is that there is no disk drive, so watching DVDs on your computer would be out. But there can be a simple fix to that, too, as these days the Internet gives you the ability to stream movies, TV shows, and much more of what you want.
The last feature, and one of the most important, is the security in Chrome OS – with cloud computing, you absolutely want your data protected. Google claims that the Chrome OS security features make it the most secure consumer operating system ever. The new Chrome OS uses the same auto-update and sandboxing features as the Chrome browser, which ends up saving the user time and effort in trying to keep the operating system up to date. It also encrypts all of the user’s data by default, making it harder for someone to take your data if your computer was stolen. The operating system will also use something called “verified boot” that can detect malicious changes to your firmware and let you recover from a verified backup.
Google will be teaming up with Samsung and Acer to bring Chrome OS to consumers sometime in early 2011. Along with these alliances, Google will also partner with Verizon to deliver data plans with your device. There are going to be no contracts or activation fees, and the plans are starting at $9.99 a month depending on which data plan you buy.