Google: Yes, the Chrome OS Will Be Free
Google this week announced its Chrome OS. The press coverage was insane but there actually weren’t many details. Yesterday Google came out and addressed one question everyone seemed to be asking.
One of the biggest questions people had is if Chrome OS will be free. Yesterday we asked what the main difference was between Google and Microsoft and a lot of you arrived at the same conclusion: Google services are free. However, we still didn’t know if Google would decide to charge for its newfangled OS, initially aimed at netbooks. The answer is yes, the Chrome OS is open source and will be free.
Vice President of Product Management, Sundar Pichai, who announced the Chrome OS yesterday, also addressed developers interested in working with Google: Pichai says that later this year, the Google Chrome OS code will be open source and to “stay tuned” for more information, which isn't much but at least it's coming, right?
Unfortunately that was pretty much all the details the company had to offer people eager to find out more about the OS, which is a little disappointing. That said, this isn’t like the Chrome browser, which was announced a few days early because of a leaked comic but was completely finished. We expect to hear more about the Chrome OS as time goes on but at this early stage, it’s probably going to be a while before we get any really good details about the software.
Google did release a list of partners it’s working with (and it is LONG). Read more about it here.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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Thunderfox actually wasn’t many detailsReply
Wasn't wasn't the correct term. There weren't many details. -
downer88 D_Kuhn"I think Linux is an awesome product... but I'd rather see Google get behind an existing Distro than spin yet another.Reply
Yes, please I would love to see that. Linux has too many options even inside one Distro. It sure would be nice to have universal Linux executables at least for realated Distros, and not have to patch and compile nearly everything. There's already varieties of Linux that have low hardware requirements. DeLi Linux, Damn Small Linux(DSL), VectorLinux, etc.
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jhansonxi vorlessBut can it run Crysis?Unfortunately no. It doesn't run Windows malware either.Reply -
the_one111 tenor77Free but for the price of your immortal soul.True*Reply
*And all your private files on your computer. -
Greg_77 I am just curious to how Google plans to make money off of this. Is it going to be advertising based in any way? I wouldn't use it if I had to see advertisements. If that is so, I will just use a distro of linux if I need a free OS.Reply