In a tech overview at its Mountain View headquarters, Google announced its highly anticipated Chrome operating system is a year away from reality. In the meantime, the Chrome OS exists in an early form, with the company using it to deliver a presentation to the press today. Google says the netbook-friendly operating system will feature the same kind of speed, simplicity and security that characterizes its Chrome browser.
An enticing factor of Chrome OS is its instant boot time (the demo showed a seven-second boot time, though), quickly giving you access to its apps and data, all of which will reside in the cloud. That'll let you access your personalized OS, settings and apps from any computer, as long as it's connected to the internet.
We like the tabbed interface, looking a lot like the Chrome browser, but with applications in each tab at the top left instead of the website tabs you see in the Chrome browser. Expect to hear a lot more about this budding Chrome OS in the next few months, with availability around next year at this time.
Here's a clever video from Google, explaining the new Chrome OS.
