According to Google a perfect storm of converging trends is the themes. The Netbook is really what Google is targeting. Chrome OS is for Netbooks for what Android is for SmartPhones.

Best news is that it’s all open source. Here is Google’s blog post on the open sourcing of the effort.

In their presentation and demonstration, Google is emphasizing three main things:

1. Speed
2. Simplicity
3. Security

Every application is a web application. There is no notion of desktop app according to Google. Browser with a few modifications with a powerful backend OS. All data and OS is in the cloud. Like when they talked about Chrome a year ago security is unique to Google and their cloud approach. In a way they are thinking of all applications to be Cloud Ready.

The Demo

This is exciting Cloud version of an OS – this is going to be big.

Google expects Netbooks to be more than computing but instead entertainment devices. Hello the tablet as well. Google is going out of the way to show what works on Chrome like flash. This is must have goal for Google to be a "me too" to Windows. Google must make sure all the standard use cases are seamless. They are showing Microsoft Office running on Chrome.

Matt Papakipos, Google’s engineering director, is up and talking about how all the code has been released to open source today.

Google showing the simplified boot process of their OS versus traditional OS. Big differentiator is the security feature called Verified boot. Matt claims this is a way to prevent exploits. The key thing that I feel they are angling on is preventing malware – home run strategy.

Security for the internet age

Current Operating Systems: Apps have the same privileges are you verses Chrome
Chrome Operating System: All apps are web applications and the OS does not trust any app

Google’s security approach: Google is pushing security down the stack via "secured sandboxes" and the file system is locked down via a read-only root file system. User data encrypted and the data is sync’d in the cloud. This notion of sync’d data makes is a cloud app. One benefit is that if you lose your device then all the data is backed up. This is a radical idea in a good way.

Sundar Pichai approach to go to market is all about talking to vendors on reference hardware specs for OEMs. Goal is for top OEMs to go to market. This is similar to how Google has developed a robust Android developer ecosystem and now a massive OEM base in smartphones.

Chrome OS is for Netbooks for what Android is for SmartPhones.

Here is great video for folks not technically savvy in operating systems. It explains the relevance of this effort by Google. It’s a revolution in how we use the Internet.

Here is the official statement from Google. Of course SiiconAngle has a deeper angle on this. More later.

In July we announced that we were working on Google Chrome OS, an open source operating system for people who spend most of their time on the web.

Today we are open-sourcing the project as Chromium OS. We are doing this early, a year before Google Chrome OS will be ready for users, because we are eager to engage with partners, the open source community and developers. As with the Google Chrome browser, development will be done in the open from this point on. This means the code is free, accessible to anyone and open for contributions. The Chromium OS project includes our current code base, user interface experiments and some initial designs for ongoing development. This is the initial sketch and we will color it in over the course of the next year.

We want to take this opportunity to explain why we’re excited about the project and how it is a fundamentally different model of computing.

First, it’s all about the web. All apps are web apps. The entire experience takes place within the browser and there are no conventional desktop applications. This means users do not have to deal with installing, managing and updating programs.

Second, because all apps live within the browser, there are significant benefits to security. Unlike traditional operating systems, Chrome OS doesn’t trust the applications you run. Each app is contained within a security sandbox making it harder for malware and viruses to infect your computer. Furthermore, Chrome OS barely trusts itself. Every time you restart your computer the operating system verifies the integrity of its code. If your system has been compromised, it is designed to fix itself with a reboot. While no computer can be made completely secure, we’re going to make life much harder (and less profitable) for the bad guys. If you dig security, read the Chrome OS Security Overview or watch the video.

Most of all, we are obsessed with speed. We are taking out every unnecessary process, optimizing many operations and running everything possible in parallel. This means you can go from turning on the computer to surfing the web in a few seconds. Our obsession with speed goes all the way down to the metal. We are specifying reference hardware components to create the fastest experience for Google Chrome OS.

There is still a lot of work to do, and we’re excited to work with the open source community. We have benefited hugely from projects like GNU, the Linux Kernel, Moblin, Ubuntu, WebKit and many more. We will be contributing our code upstream and engaging closely with these and other open source efforts.

Google Chrome OS will be ready for consumers this time next year. Sign up here for updates or if you like building your operating system from source, get involved at chromium.org.

What does this mean?

It’s a developers dream and if Google can create a profitable ecosystem then it’s a home run. I’ve blogged in the past that we are seeing a massive developer boom and a growing entrepreneurial counter culture. Google is leading this counterculture. I like this approach by Google.