Vikram Pothnis

1st Year MS Computer Science

Topic: Google Chrome OS

[Course Title]

7 December 2021

Google Chrome OS

Chrome OS is designed by Google based Linux kernel. The Open source version of the Chrome

OS is Chromium OS (www.chromium.org). Google is following an approach of collaborative

development for Chrome OS by getting inputs from the Open source community through the

Chromium OS project as well as by its own development team.

Recent client operating systems including Microsoft Windows 7, Apple`s Snow Leopard OS and

popular desktop Linux distributions are resource intensive and most of the computing happens

on the client computer hardware. As a result of the dependency on hardware components, the

performance of the Operating system is directly dependant on the client computer hardware.

Chrome OS takes a whole new approach; it focuses on getting the user connected to the

network after which most of the computing happens on the cloud .This reduces the dependency

on the client computer hardware and its role will be limited to getting the user onto the cloud .

Since the intent is to connect to the web from the word go, the user will need to have a constant

web access from the time the system boots into Chrome OS. Essentially a major part of the

operating system resides on the web. For facilitating a web access the operating system

actually logs/boots into a web browser. There are no other applications that the system needs to

load at any point in time other than a browser. This ensures that the boot up time is brought

down by having a minimalistic approach .With solid state HDD`s the Chrome OS is said to boot

up in less than 7 seconds which is almost 7 -8 times faster than any other desktop operating

system .
 Vikram Pothnis

1st Year MS Computer Science

Topic: Google Chrome OS

Once the OS boots up into the browser based interface the user will need to enter his/her user

credentials to log into the OS .On the homepage there are a few tabs similar to the chrome

browser which are shortcuts to Gmail, Google Apps, and YouTube, as well as other

applications, including Yahoo! Mail, Pandora, Hulu, Facebook, and Twitter etc.

Chrome OS is aimed at providing a virus free, malware free usage .Updates will be very easy to

apply and can happen without user intervention. By and large the OS is very responsive.

By enabling a log in system similar to a browser based login Google can enable easy

interoperability of all the applications within the chrome OS between other operating systems

.On other operating systems than the chrome OS, the Chrome Browser can be used with a

Google login there by enabling the users to the have the same interface and applications as in

the chrome OS.

There seems to be a good connection between the development of the Chrome Browser and

the Chrome OS.

Although connection to the web will be essential for a majority of the browser based

applications, the usage of Google Gears in chrome OS could allow some amount of offline

usage also.

Another Interesting point in the Chrome Browser which tends us to consider interoperability

between the chrome browser and Chrome OS is the absence of a unique Network manager as

opposed to a separate network manager in Mozilla Firefox or Opera .The Chrome Browser

makes use of the network manager of the Operating system itself, in both Linux and Windows

versions.

Since the Operating system is not resource intensive ,Google`s strategy could be to use

Chrome OS for less powerful devices including netbooks and Touch Screen based Multimedia
 Vikram Pothnis

1st Year MS Computer Science

Topic: Google Chrome OS

Internet Devices and carrying the same interface and applications on more powerful systems

using the Chrome browser .

Google has been a pioneer in moving most of the desktop applications to the web with products

like Gmail,Spreadsheet,Word Processor,Presentation,Contacts,Calendar,Youtube,Wave

With this move into a cloud based OS, it all appears to fit well and well timed.

In the wake of the world moving towards cloud computing, this is an amazing move by Google

to capitalize the power of the web to the fullest.

 Vikram Pothnis

1st Year MS Computer Science

Topic: Google Chrome OS

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