Google reveals its Chrome OS cohorts

Update: Google has since added Toshiba to the list of partners.

Though many PC makers were quiet about Chrome OS earlier Wednesday, Google has now named the companies it's working with to bring its operating system to Netbooks next year.

We may see an Eee PC running Chrome OS next year.

(Credit: Asus)

In a post to the Chrome blog Wednesday afternoon, Google vice president of product management Sundar Pichai said the company is working with a variety of PC and chipmakers, and another software company. Those include Acer, Adobe, Asus, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba.

CNET News reported earlier Wednesday that Asus and Lenovo were thought to be working with Google on Chrome OS. Asus was an easy one to guess since it's the pioneer of the Netbook category and has shown its willingness to work with other operating systems outside of Windows.

Acer also sounds right since it's the fastest growing laptop maker, and has shown a lot of flexibility in pricing models to move Netbooks off store shelves. HP, of course, is the world's largest provider of PCs and should be part of any conversation about consumer computing OSes.

The one that is notably missing is Dell. Dell is the second-largest PC maker in the world (though Acer is close at its heels), but didn't indicate it was actively working with Google on this when contacted earlier today. The company would only say that "Dell constantly assesses new technologies as part of managing our product development process and for consideration in future products."

[monkeyfun14]

All Google is interested in is getting search hits and people clicking their ad's this is another way they are trying to do it.

[Pishkado]

That view of Google is so outdated it's funny. (You must have missed the bit about plurals never using an apostrophe in 9th grade, too.)

[1g2j]

I didn't see Intel name neither.

[forever4now]

If it supports the x86 architecture, you can bet Intel will be involved, at some point. They are going to want to sell their chips.

Since Moblin, Ubuntu, Android, Chrome OS, etc. are all Linux-based & open source, there should be some interesting opportunities to mix & match some of the concepts & technologies, between the different initiatives.

[zyxxy]

It is architecture agnostic. It is Linux. Yes it supports X86. And ARM. And MIPS. And PowerPC.

I think X86 and ARM are the two big targets right now. Anybody know what runs on the new Sony PSP?

TI, Freescale, and Qualcomm all provide ARM based processors for Smartbooks. I think Android and Chrome will be closely related....

[antonmelser]

Google for the small, IBM, Oracle and Redhat for the big. Things are definitely looking good for widespread Linux adoption. I can't see anyone really challenging MS for the mainstream/advanced desktop for the foreseeable future though. Unless someone puts a reasonable chunk of change into stability and bugfixes for KDE or Gnome...

[Jorge618]

The chip makers listed here Freescale, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments develop ARM processors, and are better for this web based OS

[forever4now]

I would think that the PC vendors would be very excited about the Chrome OS. The Chrome OS is likely to take personal computing in a new direction & these PC vendors would be the early pioneers in that transition. Not only that, but it would give them something new to offer their customers.

It will be interesting to see if there will be opportunities for the PC vendors to "customize" the Chrome OS, to differentiate their products, much like what smartphone vendors have been doing with Android.

[monkeyfun14]

Not everyone has the internet or is interested in putting their life on it.

[jessiethe3rd]

What new direction? The direction of giving Google more access to your life than just search?

Seriously...

Google's new slogan - Live your life - we'll market and sell it to our ad partners. Not interested at all. Besides, Google is flailing here to try and protect their search heap. Bing was a nice canon over Googles bow now Google is trying to release an OS? Give me a break. I will say this though - Search is easier to get at then building an OS and trying to market the crap out of it. All it takes is a few eyes to open up about how Google treats your confidential search information... sorry - Google and confidential - that's an oxymoron. Sorry about that.

This could be good for the open source community - maybe Adobe will create their applications for the open source community? They are the darlings but honestly - they have very few successful projects (outside of search.) At the end of the day this is an attempt to try to strike back at Microsoft for actually digging a bit into Google profit center - search. Just remember at the end of the day - nothing is free.

[bbabadu]

I like how anything new from GOOGLE prompts the media to pee their pants. Please, give it some time before it's clear on whether there's any value or traction with this recent announcement, not everything they try to do is close to being successful as their core business.

[MeepMan]

I like how MSoft has its own set of blogs. If, say, Microsoft so much as adds a little wave to their start button, then there's an article about it.

[bbabadu]

How is what MS does with their self-promoting blogs relevant to my post or this article? Oh, right, just useless noise.

[jumpjetta]

@Jessie3rd... You talk as if Google just dreamed this up after M$ announced Bing. You sound naive about software product development. Google's plans have probably been brewing for a lot longer than Bing was even in early Alpha. I'm willing to bet this was the plan even 6 months to a year before Chrome was even beta last year. .

[techst]

What some earlier posters have said about turning everything over to Google is true.
Google is the biggest, greatest procurer of intelligence on people and corporations the world has ever seen.

But who cares?

As long as you give the people convenience in exchange for a "promise" of security and confidentiality, the vast majority of people (and corporations) will always take convenience.

We're a planet full of lazy SOBs and that is how we are built. We'll trade anything for whatever it is that will make things easier for us or for what we think will make us famous.

And if you think Google would never do that you might want to ask people in a certain Far Eastern country...

[jumpjetta]

Marry junky netbook hardware with an OS that is likely to watch all your moves in an effort to sell crap to you... no thanks. I'll pass.

[MeepMan]

It records patterns, not moves, genius. If you decide to go look at yahoo for one day, it will forget about it when it realizes it was an exception. What you should worry about is when MSoft decides that all other browsers are junk, and lock IE into your OS. Oh wait, they already did that. I don't care if it is bundled with it, I care if it is built in. I want something to start off of, and something to uninstall afterwards. MSoft has less problems with watching your moves... instead, it forces you to make the moves it wants.

[jumpjetta]

@MeepMan... you assume I care about M$?

And so what if it records patterns or individual actions? The same data will be used to... guess what? Target ads to sell crap to you. How do you actually think Google makes its money, genius?

I spend my time finding ways NOT to deal with ads. Why would I adopt a platform that will almost certainly be ad-driven?

Again I say, no thanks.

[SteveMcQwark]

I find this fear irrational. Google's ads are the least intrusive and are sometimes helpful. And besides, since its open source, you don't have to keep it. How long do think it will be before there's an ad blocker for it? And do you really think Google would intervene?

[Hunnter2k3]

Kinda strange Dell isn't there, they have worked with Dell before with some things, including their own custom iGoogle homepage. (and toolbar if i remember correct)

[NewsReader_]

Hmmm,

A portable device with a web browser. I have one of those in my pocket right now.

This is a waste of time and will be a total flop. Funny thing is that Windows will not kill this, smartphones will.

[jumpjetta]

A total flop? I'd not be certain of that. But, yes... it's a large smartphone, and Android is already a part of this platform. So they'll certainly go places with it. And they'll probably do a lot better than one of their forerunners, Netpliance. Same concept. Low-cost Linux box with basic web, email and note-taking functionality. Feh.

Trouble is, it isn't very compelling to anyone who does more than basic web crap. I have a powerful laptop for content creation and a very capable smartphone... why would *I* need such a limited platform?

[SenorFrog]

It fills a niche and it's a play for the future.

I travel several times a year and dragging around a full sized 15" laptop sucks. And while I love my smartphone, I do want that middle device when traveling, mainly for the screen and keyboard.

Ultimately, Google hopes these cheap netbooks will become like disposable devices. You'll buy them as presents for your young children, they'll be bought for schools that want to save money. When you go vacation, why not throw one in the luggage or purse for you and the kids. It's the extra secondary computer you'll buy for the family to use and to keep them away from your main computer. And a new generation will be raised as used to using the Chrome OS and it's associated applications as we were to Windows.

[t8]

I think it is a great idea.
In the future, the older generation will be defined as using hard drives and keeping data offline and running proprietary programs accessing proprietary APIs. The new generation will just use the Cloud on all manner of devices.

Anyway, I use Windows currently, but I spend most of my time using Chrome and Web apps.
Admittedly I use Dreamweaver and Photoshop, but how hard is it to make an equivalent online version.

Why do I need $200 worth of Windows to load Chrome and Cloud services?
I don´t.

Bring it on Google. The next generation and Web savvy older people are ready for something better than Microsoft Windows.

[gary85739]

"IF" it's FREE, millions will use it asap!

[kylewat]

Dell's absense is not surprising. They are typically loyal to their old partners as was shown with Intel forever. The Dell way is to ensure quality by not early adopting anything risky that may cost money (as this would by reducing effiency and possible technical support). If the other OEMs have success Dell will follow.

[SactoGuy018]

I think the likes of Asus, Lenovo and Toshiba want the Google OS for one reason: they can save about US$45-US$75 per netbook machine at the retail level by not having to pay the licensing fee for Windows XP (currently) or Windows 7 (starting in October). The possibility of a netbook with 1 GB of RAM and a 160 GB hard drive running the Google OS for US$200 isn't so far-fetched anymore.

[619clean]

personally the more choices we have for an OS the better.... as the saying goes "the more the merrier", plus things get more competitive this way (considering Google gets far with its OS). Nevertheless Google tends to deal with different markets well i think..... that's strictly my opinion anyhow.

[omwamij]

TO HELL WITH DELL WHO GIVES A DAMN THEIR PRODUCTS SUCK ANYWAY

[omwamij]

TO HELL WITH DELL WHO GIVES A DAMN THEIR PRODUCTS SUCKS ANYWAY

[Lekidos]

@619

"personally the more choices we have for an OS the better..."

Really? Like there already aren't enough Linux distros. available? openSuse and Ubuntu are among the most pupular. Check out the GNOME or K Desktop Enviroment and tell me what you can find is lacking.

To be honests, I'm a Microsoft fan. I absoultly love Bing, and the new IE8, the accelerators is what makes it better than Google's Chrome browser.

I see Google's Chrome OS proposition to be as others have said, not for the interest of making a free, open source OS alternative to 'mainstream' OS's, but more of an aim to bundle the OS with properitary influences.
The OS seems to be marketing twoards moblie platforms (including notebooks), as you can read on other CNET articles about Google partnering with Texas Instruments to make microprocessors much as Intel makes "for" Windows mobile platform. Sure, architecture is supposed 'agnostic' but do we forget that Mac. pre OSx would not function on anythign but an IBM chip.

Also, I agree with the notion the Google Chrome OS will be another advertising outlet. Fitted on to mobile devices with usually more than 50% internet connectivity time, Chrome OS will be a moblie, intutive and updating advertising platform. Oh yea, with a browser-based OS running on the side. (You really think Google isn't trying to make any money on this?)

I can also see Google making money on Chrome OS on the properitary side by contracting bundled software of a PC manufacturer to distribute Chrome OS on their mobile devices ( yes notebooks are actually mobile devices). Much like HP or Dell with Windows-Based PCs (at least I'm assuming. the last PC I purchased was a P4 Sony Vaio, littlered with sony-ware)

In all I agree with Gates in a CNET interview; "There's many, many forms of Linux operating systems out there and packaged in different ways and booted in different ways[...] In some ways I am surprised people are acting like there's something new." (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10286308-56.html?tag=mncol)