Chrome OS Web Store is Now Open and Ready

By Marcus Yam
published

It's the entire cloud inside your browser.

App Stores are the new big thing. Everyone has to have one, but there can't be an infinite number of platforms.

The iTunes App Store has the huge strength of the iOS devices behind it, and not far behind is the Android Marketplace with the all the Android phones sourcing from it. RIM has its own ready for its next-generation PlayBook and BlackBerry phones, and HP/Palm still has some hopes left in the one for WebOS.

Google's new big splash is now in the Chrome OS space, which is an operating system that exists in the browser and draws from the cloud. Of course, a platform is only as good as the software, and Google today launched the Chrome Web Store.

It's important to note that all current Chrome users can download and run the apps, even without a Chrome OS notebook.

See also:

Check out the videos below to see what Google has planned for its second apps store.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • beans4you
    weeeeooo!
    Reply
  • amk09
    I love me some google chrome.
    Reply
  • Benihana
    I just wish they installed their google chrome browser into program files. That's the one thing that keeps me away; refusing to obey current programming practices.
    Reply
  • kronos_cornelius
    I'll definitely check it out. I wonder if there is an Apache foundation parallel project like they are doing with Wave.
    Reply
  • Pawessum16
    It wasn't until I started typing this comment up that I came to understand the whole idea of these "apps". A lot of the "apps" are just links to websites so in other words it's just an extension to your bookmarks. I was noticing that with the game I "installed" it's just the same thing that's normally accessible online by typing in the url except it's also available offline too. So I guess the perk is that it makes you're web browser something that's usable even when you're not plugged in?
    Other than that it's an internet application directory and rating service that could really be used on any internet platform.
    Reply
  • Lutfij
    :) finally... but i'd still need th net for accesss to my 'OS'
    Reply
  • eddieroolz
    Good luck to Google with the Chrome OS idea. I'm not buying the entire premise, and neither are many of the tech friends of mine.
    Reply
  • ap3x
    They have done a good job with the Chrome browser. I would like to try the OS although I am not interested in everything being in the cloud. Should be interesting though.
    Reply
  • Blessedman
    I was a big fan of firefox until recently I tried chrome and now it's my favorite of all browsers. The idea of a webOS is brilliant it won't hit it's stride for another 5 years though. Gooogle knowing this will be (along side Microsoft) at the forefront of a revolution in computing. Hardware will become less and less of a factor.
    Reply
  • iamtheking123
    eddieroolzGood luck to Google with the Chrome OS idea. I'm not buying the entire premise, and neither are many of the tech friends of mine.+1 ChromeOS is going to fail ala Linux on netbooks.
    Reply