Google reveals Chrome operating system as rumours of Google-branded phone spread

Internet giant Google has finally unveiled its operating system based on the Chrome internet browser, eliminating the need for traditional file systems and instead using the “cloud” for everyday tasks.

The announcement comes as rumours have spread across the internet regarding the release of a Google-branded phone to be introduced next year, which will reportedly run on an updated version of the company’s mobile Android operating system.

Google vice president of product management Sundar Pichai announced the development of the open-source operating system in July, but expanded on the company’s project yesterday.

“We just announced we’re over 30 million users [for the Chrome web browser] – and now we’re already over 40 million users. We focused on speed, simplicity, and security…We want Chrome OS to be blazingly fast, basically instant-on. Chrome (the browser) on Chrome OS is going to be much faster.”

The company took some time describing the long-awaited OS. The presenters stressed that Chrome depends completely on the internet, abandoning traditional file systems seen on Windows or Apple computers.

“In Chrome OS every application is a web application. There are no native applications. That gives us simplicity. It’s just a browser with a few modifications. And all data is Chrome OS is in the cloud,” Pichai said.

“This is key, we want all of personal computing to work this way. If you lose your machine, you just get a new one, and it works. With security, because everything is a web app, we can do different things.”

The system builds on the applications already offered by Google that operate within a web browser, not a computer’s own infrastructure, including Gmail, Maps and Google’s Calendar application.

Pichai said the operating system will also have support for different types of files, but these will open instantly in the browser using open-source versions of office software products, such as Microsoft’s Word or Excel.

“And we want you to be able to read books in Chrome OS. And YouTube videos look great. And there is an all view mode (and the YouTube video is still playing. You can drag and drop tabs).”

On the company’s official blog, it said that using apps within the browser itself will enable computers to be more secure.

“Unlike traditional operating systems, Chrome OS doesn’t trust the applications you run. Each app is contained within a security sandbox making it harder for malware and viruses to infect your computer.”

“Furthermore, Chrome OS barely trusts itself. Every time you restart your computer the operating system verifies the integrity of its code. If your system has been compromised, it is designed to fix itself with a reboot.”

The system, which is mostly designed with low-cost netbooks in mind, is also much faster as a computer running Chrome will require no other programs except the OS itself to run. In demonstrations to developers, Chrome only took seven seconds to load.

“We are obsessed with speed,” the company said on its blog. “We are taking out every unnecessary process, optimising many operations and running everything possible in parallel.”

“This means you can go from turning on the computer to surfing the web in a few seconds. Our obsession with speed goes all the way down to the metal. We are specifying reference hardware components to create the fastest experience for Google Chrome OS.”

The company has released an open-source version of the OS for developers, in order to gain new ideas and features before the product is ready to be released for users next year.

Meanwhile, rumours of a Google-branded phone have spread across the internet, with TechCrunch reporting the company is now working on a “super” device to be powered by the Android mobile operating system.

“Google is building their own branded phone that they’ll sell directly and through retailers. They were long planning to have the phone… available by the holidays, but it has now slipped to early 2010,” it has reported.

“There won’t be any negotiation or compromise over the phone’s design of features – Google is dictating every last piece of it. No splintering of the Android OS that makes some applications unusable. Like the iPhone for Apple, this phone will be Google’s pure vision of what a phone should be.”

The phone will reportedly be produced by a major manufacturer, and will carry the Google brand. But the company itself seemed to dismiss rumours of a phone earlier this year.

“We’re excited to see just how far the platform has come in one year… As more carriers and handset manufacturers turn to open platforms, we anticipate this growth will only continue,” it announced in a statement recently.

The rumours come as a number of manufacturers are continuing to release new handsets using the Android operating system, including HTC and PC maker Dell.