A rundown of what Google’s Chromium OS is all about, why you should use it, and even how to get it running on your own PC.
Nearly two years ago Google announced the launch of the Chromium OS open source project to develop an operating system designed primarily for those who spend most of their time on online. Since then the Chromium OS has developed enough that several manufacturers have rolled out laptops with it pre-installed (dubbed Chromebooks), and the average person can even run it from a USB stick.
These days the Internet easily consumes a majority of our time; we use it for emails, chatting, reading news, watching videos, buying things, and playing games to name a few. Chromium OS is tailored to these tasks.
The Chromium OS is predicated on three important concerns: web apps, security, and speed.
First, the Chromium OS takes all the headache out of having to deal with installing, managing and updating programs. “All apps are web apps,” as Google observes. “The entire experience takes place within the browser and there are no conventional desktop applications.”
Think of all the apps already available for Google Chrome and you get the idea. The Chrome web store has apps for games, playing music, shopping, news, weather, and much, much more.
Second, is the added security Chromium OS offers precisely because it doesn’t run desktop applications. Google says the Chromium OS “has been designed from the ground up with security in mind,” and so it has built-in safety mechanisms that make it tough for malware and viruses to infect your PC.
For each app is always confined to a “security sandbox,” and the Chromium OS verifies the integrity of its code each time the computer is rebooted, fixing itself and removing any malicious software or code it encounters.
“While no computer can be made completely secure, we’re going to make life much harder (and less profitable) for the bad guys,” says Google.
Chromium OS makes devices that run it secure by default.
Third, is Chromium OS’ convenience. Since your apps, documents, and settings are stored safely in the cloud you can have the same experience everywhere. The same goes for those that share the same PC.
Fourth, and most of all, is Chromium OS’ speed. “We are obsessed with speed,” says Google. ” Chromebooks, for example, boast bootup times of 8-10 seconds and resume instantly.
Chromium OS strips out every “unnecessary process,” optimizes many operations, and runs everything possible in parallel with one another.
“This means you can go from turning on the computer to surfing the web in a few seconds,” adds Google.
It says its obsession with speed goes all the way down to the metal used in making the PC running the Chromium OS.
Remember, if you want to take the Chromium OS for a test drive I’ve taken the time to compile an easy-to-follow guide to help you out.
Stay tuned.
I've been interested in P2P since the early, high-flying days of Napster and KaZaA. I believe that analog copyright laws are ill-suited to the digital age, and that art and culture shouldn't be subject to the whims of international entertainment industry conglomerates. Twitter | Google Plus
