Google's co-founder, Sergey Brin, spoke to some reporters yesterday, after the Chrome OS presentation. Citing the common WebKit and Linux code found in both operating systems, he said "Android and Chrome are likely to converge over time."

"We're reaching a perfect storm of converging trends where computers are behaving more like mobile devices, and phones are behaving more like small computers," Google said in a statement responding to questions on if and when the two operating systems would converge.

Sergey's frankness on the matter is a little odd and must be part of a very recent internal about-face, considering Google CEO Eric Schmidt said only a few days ago that there was space for both operating systems and no need for conflict between them.

It would make sense though. Mobile devices are becoming more PC-like. PCs are certainly becoming more mobile (excluding the brick-like gaming laptops of course). With mobile data packages from AT&T, Verizon and other international providers regularly dropping in price, Chrome OS and its fast, easy access to everything in the cloud would make for one, sad, lonely Android.

[via CNET]

Google is holding a press event to talk about the upcoming Google Chrome Operating System. The company is not ready to release the OS yet, and won't actually have a finished product ready for another year. But Google announced that starting today the project is open source, which means that you can download the source code today.

So what exactly is Chrome OS? It's an operating system based on a web browser called... Google Chrome. The idea is that you won't have to (or be able to) install a single application directly on your PC. Rather, all of your apps will be run from the web and all of your data will be stored in the cloud.

That doesn't mean the computer won't be able to play games or interact with USB peripherals. For instance, Google demonstrated that you can plug in a camera and watch videos using a web-based video player or copy files to cloud-based storage. And because Google has been working to give web apps access to your PC's hardware, even video games with 3D graphics should be possible as long as you have a video card that's supported by ChromeOS.

The version of ChromeOS that Google demonstrated today is still a work in progress, and we were told that the user interface could change significantly before the final product is released. But the OS already boots in just 7 seconds, and Google says it takes another 3 seconds to launch applications.

The screenshot above shows an app menu that you can use to launch some web apps. You can create permanent shortcuts to these programs by "pinning" them to the ChromeOS toolbar. See those tiny tabs at the top? Those are pinned tabs.

There will also be persistent "panels" that pop up and stay on top even when you flip between browser tabs. For instance you can bring up a Google Talk panel, a music player, or a notepad.

ChromeOS will be automatically updated each day by connecting to the web and making sure that you have all the latest updates.

What do you think? Are you ready for an OS that's effectively useless without an internet connection? While the operating system stores some data on a local storage partition, Google says it's basically just a user cache area and that data will all be synced with the web. That means if you lose your netbook or buy a new one, you should be able to pick up where you left off without missing a beat.

Stay tuned for details. The news conference is still underway. In the meantime, you can check out a few more photos after the break.

Update: You will be able to perform some tasks while offline. For instance, you can cache movies, music, or eBooks and access them while you're on a plane. But the OS is primarily designed for interacting with web services.

Update 2: If you have absolutely no intention of picking up a machine with Google Chrome OS, there's good news: All of the new features that show up in Chrome OS will be able to work with the Google Chrome browser for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Remember that rumor last week about how Google was going to unveil the first beta release of its upcoming Chrome operating system this week? Yeah, it's looking like that's not going to happen. But the company is holding an event Thursday morning to talk about Chrome OS and show some honest-to-goodness demos for the first time so that we can all stop using conceptual mockups with every blog post on the topic.

Google Chrome OS is expected to be available sometime next year, although it's still possible that a beta could be launched before the end of 2009. From what we know, the operating system, which will be initially aimed at netbooks is designed to blur the lines between desktop and cloud by essentially treating an always-open browser as the desktop. For instance, that will make it just as easy to save documents to Google Docs as to your desktop, if not easier.

It seems a little birdy told TechCrunch that Google's Chrome OS has an early version launching next week. Here at Download Squad, we've been searching for clues about what this new browser-centered OS might look like. Early screenshots proved to be fake, and later ones seemingly depicted the browser component of the OS. Sources inside Google have said there's more to Chrome OS than that.

One thing we DO know is that the browser in Chrome OS will be able to mount drives and function as a system navigation tool. How will hardware support be in these early builds, though? Not good, TechCrunch speculates. Although Google and device manufacturers are on the case writing drivers for your favorite peripherals, don't count on all your devices working with Chrome OS right away.

As to which computers you'll be able to run it on, TechCrunch guesses it'll probably be a small group, including EEE PCs. Google's partners on the project are Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba, but that doesn't mean hardware or software from other companies won't be compatible.

Over at the Chromium blog, Google has announced a project they've been working on called 'SPeeDY.' It's an updated transport protocol for the web which improves upon HTTP, reducing latency through network-fu like multiplexed streams, request prioritization, and header compression.

"We started working on SPDY while exploring ways to optimize the way browsers and servers communicate," says the official blog post. It continues, "We want to continue building on the web's tradition of experimentation and optimization, to further support the evolution of websites and browsers."

It's not all about altruism, of course. Improvements like those Google is seeking with SPDY, the Go! programming language, and Native Client will all greatly benefit the Chrome browser and Chrome OS. After all, an OS which relies heavily on the cloud for access apps and data will certainly perform better with an improved protocol powering the client and server. It's probably a safe bet that Google would roll SPDY on their own servers early on to give apps like Google Docs and Picasa Web a performance boost on the Google platform.

Whatever the motivation, I'm all for more speed on the web. My ISP is obviously in no hurry to improve things on that front, so if Google can pull off the estimated 55% performance gain then I'm all for it. You go, Google!

You've heard of Chrome. You've heard of Chrome OS. Yesterday I brought you news of Go, Google's new programming language. Now... I bring you news of Native Client -- a tool that lets you run programs inside your web browser: Chrome.

A basic definition of 'Native' would be 'closer to the core of your computer'. Add-ons at the moment are executed at a great distance from your computer's processor. This is for security concerns mostly -- if the code is executed in the browser, it can't get at your core files. You're safe. But it's also slow. That's where Native Client steps in.

Google's Native Client software is special in that it runs at much higher speeds than your usual Firefox or Chrome add-ons. It runs much more like another application on your computer, rather than 'a web app' in the browser. It has security built-in that won't allow developers to program dangerous applications.

But it's not actually new. It's been around for months. What is new is that Go, Google's new language, will integrate fully with Native Client!

This means two very important things: a) web apps will be propelled to a new level of speed and complexity when coded in Go with Native Client and b) you are now looking at how applications in Chrome OS will be developed and run.

When you run programs in Chrome OS they will simply be Native Client web applications. There won't be a difference between Photoshop or Gmail, World of Warcraft or FarmVille -- they'll all be tabs in Chrome.

Everything will be a tab in Chrome.

One Google to rule them all. One browser to find them. One tab to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

[via CNET]

Not only does Google's Chrome browser allow for file navigation (type 'C:\' into Chrome!), it makes sense that the browser in Chrome OS will act as a system navigation tool, much like Windows Explorer or 'My Computer'.

Recent changes to the code base reveal a 'mount library' that monitors newly-inserted devices such as USB memory sticks -- something an operating system usually does -- not the kind of thing a browser would usually worry about. We suspect that when you open a new tab in Chrome you'll have the option of a 'My Computer' view that will update in real time as you plug in new devices or insert CDs. Or perhaps when you insert a USB device an Explorer-like new tab page will simply pop into existence.

Currently the changes only appear in the Chrome OS branch of the source code, but it doesn't take a wild stretch of the imagination to believe that Google has larger, all-encompassing plans for the Mac and Windows platforms. This might just be the next step for the Google Desktop.

Watch out...Google is coming.

When a few blog sites yesterday happened upon Google's YouTube video of the new Dashboard, they moved quickly to pull it down. Though the original video is still MIA, Google made an official announcement of the new feature on their own blog last night and the video above is now ready for public consumption.

While Dashboard is now live -- you can check yours out at https://www.google.com/dashboard -- what's being talked about by most sites is how this move is all about transparency and privacy controls. Heck, even the official post hits on those points: "In an effort to provide you with greater transparency and control over their own data, we've built the Google Dashboard."

The post continues, "Designed to be simple and useful, the Dashboard summarizes data for each product that you use (when signed in to your account) and provides you direct links to control your personal settings."

That's fantastic, and I'm sure it's a big part of the story, but I can't help thinking that there's a tie-in to other Google projects. Perhaps Chrome OS and Android, for example?

Thanks in no small part to an errant Gizmodo post this morning, the blogosphere is once again atwitter with musings of a "leaked" Chrome OS build that we can all download and enjoy.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. First and foremost, the "build" they're talking about is a fan-built Linux distro with Chrome bolted on created using SUSE Studio. Second, no official Google project is going to be hosted as a subdomain on Google Sites. No way. They've already got a domain registered for ChromeOS.

Third, it's not really that close to what Chrome OS is going to be.

Don't count on any desktop apps - such as OpenOffice and Gimp - to be included. The aim as I understand it from sources at Google is to provide a portable computing experience that relies very heavily upon access to the cloud.

Google's vision is for you to boot, sign in to the OS using their single sign-on cookie which preps your browser to access all your Google goodies (GMail, Docs, Picasa Web, etc.), and get down to business with the Chrome browser. Sign out of your session on your netbook, sign in on your desktop onto which you've managed to get Chrome OS installed and your desktop will look exactly as you left it on your netbook. Your sessions are saved in the cloud and follow you from machine to machine.

For users who want a fast-booting alternative with quick access to a browser, Chrome OS might be the right choice. Personally, though, my Windows 7 and Fedora installs resume very quickly from sleep and I'd rather have access to my full-blown desktops.

Bottom line: we won't know how cool Chrome OS is until Google gives us a peek - whether that's a genuine leak or a developer build.

I'm as intrigued as anybody to find out what Chrome OS is actually going to look like. And despite what TechCrunch has been publishing this week, the truth is that we still don't know.

No, that "early build" MG Siegler was raving about isn't an OS. It's just the browser. Over at ComputerWorld, Google's Eitan Bencuya offered some much-needed clarification: "This is just the *browser* component of Chrome OS, not the operating system itself. We are currently working on building Chrome the browser for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome OS, and the source code of the browser for all four platforms is all public."

So there you have it. While that won't spell the end of the misleading titles, it's nice to have an official comment from someone who actually knows what they're talking about.

Now the plot thickens. Google is hosting an event in Mountain View tomorrow, where the topics will include - what else - Chrome OS. The Front End Engineering Open House will take place at 6PM PT, and will feature presentations and an hour of mingling with Google staffers (presumably including those working on Chrome OS).

Maybe tomorrow we'll finally have some actual insights into the OS itself, and not just the browser. If we do, you'll read about them here. And I love Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols' guess as to when we might see a public download for Chrome OS. He's pegging October 22nd - the same day Microsoft launches Windows 7.

Google wouldn't try to steal Microsoft's thunder like that, would they.....?

TechCrunch's MG Siegler got all excited over the weekend about the appearance of a Chrome OS build folder on Google's Chromium.org server. Yes, the snapshots are now being posted - actually, they have been since October 5th, by the look of things - but there's nothing to get excited about just yet. Sorry, MG.

For starters, what's in the folder is what's in the other top level folders - a browser build for a specific OS. This isn't Chrome OS per se, it's the Google Chrome browser build for Google's upcoming OS. You know, like the Mac, Windows, and Linux versions available for download from the very same server.

But let's move on. Assuming you're the easily excited type, the screen above shows what you get when building Chrome for Chrome OS versus Chrome on Linux. My thanks to Johnathan Frederickson, who commented on the TC post and actually played around with Google's .deb packages.

As you can see, there's really not much to look at apart from the clock and the little circle in the top left corner.
When clicked, the circle takes you to a sign-on page, currently only available internally to Google staffers in all probability. I'll wager that has something to do with the single sign-on cookie we read about a while back.