GOOGLE CHROME OS

GOOGLE CHROME OS

Google Chrome OS is a Linux operating system designed by Google to work exclusively with web applications. It is intended to focus on Web applications while running a fast and simple interface, based off Google's existing Chrome browser. Google announced the operating system on July 7, 2009 and made it an open source project, called Chromium OS, that November.

Unlike Chromium OS, which can be compiled from the downloaded source code, Chrome OS will only ship on specific hardware from Google's manufacturing partners. The user interface takes a minimalist approach, resembling that of the Chrome web browser. Because Google Chrome OS is aimed at users who spend most of their computer time on the Internet, the only application on the device will be a browser incorporating a media player.

Google Chrome OS is initially intended for secondary devices like net books, not as a user's primary PC, and will run on hardware incorporating an x86 or ARM-based processor. Chrome OS as a "hardened" operating system featuring auto-updating and sandbox features that will reduce malware exposure. Google claimed that Chrome OS would be the most secure consumer operating system due in part to a verified boot capability, in which the initial boot code, stored in read-only memory, checks for system compromises.

INTRODUCTION

Speed is an unsaid feature of the Google Chrome OS. With Google Chrome's tremendous booting speed and more, users have a lot to say about experiencing 'waitlessness'. Waitlessness, in Google's terms, means never having to wait for the web.

Chrome notebooks boot in about 10 seconds and resume from sleep instantly. Websites load quickly and run smoothly, with full support for the latest web standards and Adobe Flash. The web evolves rapidly. Your Chrome notebook evolves with it. Every time you turn it on, it upgrades itself with the latest features and fixes. Annoying update prompts not included.

The portion of the operating system needed to operate the device will reside in a read-only section of memory. The rest of the operating system is integrated with the Chrome browser and, like the browser, security updates require nothing more than a reboot. Chrome OS can run multiple Web applications in multiple tabs and each one is locked down from all others, so vulnerability in one Web app can't lead to exposure in another.

HISTORY

Google developers began coding the operating system in 2009, inspired by the growing popularity and lower power consumption of net books and the focus of these small laptops on Internet access. To ascertain marketing requirements for an operating system focused on net book Web transactions, the company did not do the usual demographic research generally associated with a large software development project. Instead, engineers relied on more informal metrics, including monitoring the usage patterns of some 200 Chrome OS machines used by Google employees. Developers also noted their own usage patterns. Matthew Papakipos, former engineering director for the Chrome OS project, put three machines in his house and found himself logging in for brief sessions: to make a single search query or send a short email.

On November 19, 2009, Google released Chrome OS's source code as the Chromium OS project. As with other open source projects, developers are modifying code from Chromium OS and building their own versions, whereas Google Chrome OS code will only be supported by Google and its partners, and will only run on hardware designed for the purpose. Unlike Chromium OS, Chrome OS will be automatically updated to the latest version. Information reviewer Serdar Yegulalp wrote that Chrome OS will be a product, developed to "a level of polish and a degree of integration with its host hardware that Chromium OS does not have by default," whereas Chromium OS is a project, "a common baseline from which the finished work is derived" as well as a pool for derivative works. The product and project will be developed in parallel and borrow from each other.

At a November 19, 2009 news conference, Sundar Pichai, the Google vice president overseeing Chrome, demonstrated an early version of the operating system. He previewed a desktop which looked very similar to the Chrome browser, and in addition to the regular browser tabs also had application tabs, which take less space and can be pinned for easier access. At the conference, the operating system booted up in seven seconds, a time Google said it would work to reduce.

Also on November 19, 2009, Chris Kenyon, vice president of OEM services at Canonical Ltd announced that Canonical "is contributing engineering to Google [Chrome OS] under contract. In our discussions, Sundar Pichai and Linus Upson made it clear that they want, wherever feasible, to build on existing components and tools from the open source community without unnecessary re-invention. This clear focus should benefit a wide variety of existing projects and we welcome it."

On January 25, 2010, Google posted notes, images and a video of a conceptual design showing how a Chrome OS user interface might look on a tablet PC with a 5–10 inch screen. The design would include the same basic layout as on net books, but with a touch interface; an onscreen qwerty keyboard in different layouts; large, square icons placed above the tabs; and panels placed along the bottom edge that could be opened with an upward dragging motion. The posting was made two days before Apple announced the iPad tablet. On March 16, 2011, several changes to Chromium OS were made which indicate the development of a tablet version of Google Chrome OS.

In March 2010, Google indicated that consideration is being given to developing two versions of the operating system, a consumer version and an enterprise version.

USE OF CLOUD

Users of devices running Chrome will have to perform all their computing online or "in the cloud," without downloading traditional software applications like iTunes and Microsoft Office, or storing files on hard drives. Devices running Chrome will receive continuous software updates, providing added security, and most user data will reside on Google's servers.

User data stored on the device, which is minimal, is encrypted. User data is limited to items such as user preferences. All other data will be stored in the cloud. User preferences will also be synched to a cloud account, so like any thin client. Should you lose the device, you would merely log in from another one and your data and preferences should be there.

Google's Chrome OS, is designed to be a very fast, lightweight flavor of Linux that will be available on some net books and other PCs by the end of the year. Google hopes to achieve this small footprint and high performance by shipping an OS with only one installed program - their own Chrome browser. Users would work, live, and save things online, using Google's own cloud computing services and other similar utilities, like Microsoft's Office Web Apps . This is of course a shift from today's computing environment, where most programs are installed locally on the computer's hard drive

Design goals for Google Chrome OS's user interface include using minimal screen space by combining applications and standard Web pages into a single tab strip, rather than separating the two. Designers are considering a reduced window management scheme that would operate only in full-screen mode. Secondary tasks would be handled with "panels": floating windows that dock to the bottom of the screen for tasks like chat and music players. Split screens are also under consideration for viewing two pieces of content side-by-side. Google Chrome OS will follow the Chrome browser's practice of leveraging HTML5’s offline modes, background processing, and notifications. Designers propose using search and pinned tabs as a way to quickly locate and access 

FEATURES

• Speed: One of the major advantages of Chrome OS is its impressive speed. Due to the fact that there is virtually no local program to load, the start-up time for Chrome OS is expected to be in seconds rather than minutes.
• Security: Another advantage Google Chrome OS has over traditional operating systems is in the area of computer security. Users will no longer have to install antivirus programs to protect their computers.
• Support for processor: Google promises that it will be writing native code for both popular net-book CPUs x86 & arm architectures.
• Applications: Any Web application that runs in a standards compliant browser should work on a Chrome OS device. But Chrome OS is focused on supporting new protocols such as HTML 5, which, among other improvements, natively supports rich media.
• Support to Microsoft office: Chrome OS would handle Office documents - via Microsoft Office Live, the free Web app version of Office available to Windows Live users. If a user clicks on an .xls document, Chrome launches Excel via the browser in Office Live.

NEW WINDOW MANAGER AND GRAPHICS ENGINE

On April 10, 2012, a new build of Chrome OS offered a choice between the original full-screen window interface and overlapping, re-sizable windows, such as found on Microsoft Windows and Apple's Mac OS X. The feature was implemented through the Ash window manager, which runs atop the Aura hardware-accelerated graphics engine. The April 2012 upgrade also included the ability to display smaller, overlapping browser windows, each with its own translucent tabs, browser tabs that can be "torn" and dragged to new positions or merged with another tab strip, and a mouse-enabled shortcut list across the bottom of the screen. One icon on the task bar shows a list of installed apps and bookmarks. Writing in CNET, Stephen Shankland argued that with overlapping windows, "Google is anchoring itself into the past" as both iOS and Microsoft's Metro interface are largely or entirely full-screen. Even so, "Chrome OS already is different enough that it's best to preserve any familiarity that can be preserved".

HARDWARE

Laptops running Chrome OS are known collectively as "Chromebooks". The first was the CR-48, a reference hardware design that Google gave to testers and reviewers beginning in December 2010. Retail machines followed in May 2011, including a desktop design known as a Chrome box

RELATIONSHIP TO ANDROID

Google's successive introductions of the popular Android^[27] and Chrome OS strategy has resulted in some critics of the dual open source, client-based operating systems. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer accused Google of not being able to make up its mind.^[28] Steven Levy wrote that "the dissonance between the two systems was apparent" at the 2011 Google I/O developer conference. The event featured a daily press conference in which each team leader, Android's Andy Rubin and Chrome's Sundar Pichai, "unconvincingly tried to explain why the systems weren't competitive." Google co-founder Sergey Brin addressed the question by saying that owning two promising OS's was "a problem that most companies would love to face".^[29] Brin suggested that the two operating systems "will likely converge over time."^[30] The speculation over convergence increased in March 2013 when Chrome OS chief Pichai replaced Rubin as the senior vice president in charge of Android, thereby putting Pichai in charge of both.^[31]

The July 2013 press introduction of the Chromecast HDMI stick, which was hosted by Pichai, demonstrated how the two operating systems could work in tandem. The Chromecast device has an embedded version of Chrome OS, which users control using a smartphone or tablet running Android (or Apple's iOS or a PC running the Chrome browser). Gigaom reporter Kevin C. Tofel described the relationship as "a merger of experiences and services", a strategy that "fits with Google’s overall theme of increasing user engagement in its ecosystem with Chrome as the underlying platform."

USER INTERFACE

Design goals for Chrome OS's user interface included using minimal screen space by combining applications and standard Web pages into a single tab strip, rather than separating the two. Designers considered a reduced window management scheme that would operate only in full-screen mode. Secondary tasks would be handled with "panels": floating windows that dock to the bottom of the screen for tasks like chat and music players. Split screens were also under consideration for viewing two pieces of content side-by-side. Chrome OS would follow the Chrome browser's practice of leveraging HTML5's offline modes, background processing, and notifications. Designers proposed using search and pinned tabs as a way to quickly locate and access applications.

 INTEGRATED MEDIA PLAYER, FILE MANAGER

Google integrates a media player into both Chrome OS and the Chrome browser; enabling users to play back MP3s, view JPEGs, and handle other multimedia files while offline.

Chrome OS also includes an integrated file manager resembling those found on other operating systems, with the ability to display folders and their associated files, as well as preview and manage file contents using a variety of Web applications, including Google Docs and Box.net.

PRINTING

Google Cloud Print is Google's proposed solution to help any application on any device to print on any printer. While the cloud provides virtually any connected device with information access, the task of "developing and maintaining print subsystems for every combination of hardware and operating system – from desktops to net books to mobile devices – simply isn't feasible." However, the cloud service would entail installing a piece of software, called a proxy, as part of Chrome OS. The proxy would register the printer with the service, manage the print jobs, provide the printer driver functionality, and give status alerts for each job.

LINK HANDLING

Chrome OS was designed with the intention of having user documents and files stored on online servers. However, both Chrome OS and the Chrome browser have unresolved decisions regarding handling specific file types offline. For example, if a JPEG is opened from a local storage device, should a specific Web application be automatically opened to view it, and if so, which one? Similarly, if a user clicks on a .doc file, which website should open: Microsoft Office Live, Gview, or a previewing utility? The project director at that time, Matthew Papakipos, noted that Windows developers have faced the same fundamental problem: "QuickTime is fighting with Windows Media Player, which is fighting with Chrome." As the number of Web applications increases, the same problem arises.

SECURITY

In March 2010, Google software security engineer Will Drewry discussed Chrome OS security. Drewry described Chrome OS as a "hardened" operating system featuring auto-updating and sandbox features that will reduce malware exposure. He said that Chrome OS net books will be shipped with Trusted Platform Module, and include both a "trusted boot path" and a physical switch under the battery compartment that actuates a developer mode. That mode drops some specialized security functions but increases developer flexibility. Drewry also emphasized that the open source nature of the operating system will contribute greatly to its security by allowing constant developer feedback.

At a December 2010 press conference, Google claimed that Chrome OS would be the most secure consumer operating system due in part to a verified boot capability, in which the initial boot code, stored in read-only memory, checks for system compromises.

APPLICATIONS

Google has encouraged developers to build not just conventional Web applications for Chrome OS, but Packaged applications using the company's Package App Platform. Packaged apps are modified Web applications written in HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS. They have the look and feel of traditional "native" applications and lack the address bar, tab strip and other elements typically associated with an application that runs on a browser. Packaged apps load locally and are thus less dependent on the network and more apt to remain functional without an Internet connection.

CONCLUSION

Google Chrome OS is a Revolutionary Operating System.  It is a updated version of OS for Laptop and Desktop Computers.  It is available for enterprise computing solutions in succeeding releases.  It provides the additional features to the user than the Windows Operating System.

 REFERENCES

     1.       "Kernel Design: Background, Upgrades". Google. Retrieved September 7, 2011.

     2.       Google. "Google Chrome OS Terms of Service". Retrieved September 5, 2012.

     3.        Stokes, Jon (January 19, 2010). "Google talks Chrome OS, HTML5, and the future of software". Ars Technica. Retrieved January 23, 2010.

     4.        Chang, Vincent (March 20, 2013). "Five reasons to buy a Chromebook". CNET Asia. Retrieved 16 July 2013.

      5.       Sengupta, Caesar (November 19, 2009). "Releasing the Chromium OS open source project". Official Google Blog. Google, Inc. Retrieved November 19, 2009.

6.      Dylan F. Tweney (November 19, 2009). "Gadget Lab Hardware News and Reviews Google Chrome OS: Ditch Your Hard Drives, the Future Is the Web". Wired. Retrieved November 22, 2009.

7.      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrome_OS