Chrome OS – bye bye Windows?

Hip hip hooray, Google have confirmed that they will release their Chrome Operating System in ‘the second half of 2010′.  Could this be the biggest challenge to Microsoft’s dominance of the OS market in a very long time?

I’ve been using the Google Chrome browser for quite a while now and find it friendlier, easier to use, and faster than the Microsoft offering.  I’ve tried looking for alternatives to Windows, but unless you are prepared to pay Apple prices, there isn’t a lot out there.  Linux aficionados will tell us how fantastic some of their setups are, but to the everyday user, Linux just doesn’t seem as easy to use out of the box.

So what will Chrome OS bring?  Google’s Blog states that it is a lightweight OS, designed primarily for netbooks and running on a Linux kernel.  Whilst the lightweight statement might make some think this isn’t going to be a major competitor to Windows, how much do most of us use our PC’s for which is not web-based these days? 

Most of us just don’t need huge complicated (and slow) operating systems with masses of applications installed – we can do what we need to do online.  But what about when we are not online?  Well, already Google Gears has given us the ability to use Gmail and Google Docs offline.   With Chrome as your operating system, no doubt this functionality can only get better.

I can’t wait for this to appear – it’s even going to be free.  Watch our Microsoft, the window might just be closing!