14 DAY TRIAL // Chrome OS, Google’s open source operating system built with its Chrome browser at the core has reportedly reached an important milestone of the development process, namely Release Candidate (RC). RC means that Google Chrome OS is extremely close to finalization, and that the Mountain View-based search giant is polishing the release and softening any remaining rough corners in preparation for the launch.
November 11th, 2010 is presented as the possible sign-off deadline for Chrome OS, according to TechCrunch, but this detail was not confirmed officially by Google.
However, the Mountain View company makes no secret that it is pushing hard to have the first Chrome OS-powered devices on the market by the end of 2010.
There are no specific details available for the public yet, but with the holiday season closing in rapidly, things are bound to change.
For the time being, Chrome OS is up to Build 0.9.78.1, which is considered the RC development milestone.
It of course make sense for Google to be extremely close to wrapping up Chrome OS, especially if the company will look to ship it to original equipment manufacturers, have the OEMs preinstall in on their devices and offered them to the customers ahead of the holiday season.
Chrome OS is especially relevant for Microsoft, as the Redmond company will be getting a new rival for its Windows operating system, this time from a company that showed time and again that it can indeed make a difference.
When Google says that Chrome OS devices are coming one cannot help but think of tablet computers.
Microsoft is largely absent from the Tablets market with Windows 7, even though Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer noted that slates featuring Windows Vista’s successor are indeed coming.
And the software giant needs to bear in mind the fact that, this time around, it won’t be as easy as tackling Linux on netbooks.
Google has proven that it is a formidable rival for Microsoft, and Microsoft needs only to look at the market share it lost on the browser and mobile OS market to Chrome and Android in order to understand that if Chrome OS becomes the top dog OS for tablets, Windows slates coming in 2011 will have a very tough time.
Ballmer already confirmed that Microsoft is putting the best part of its eggs for Windows slates in the Windows 8 basket.
But Windows 8 is in the very early stages of development, still. A beta of the Windows 7’s successor is not expected to drop until mid-2011, with the RTM reportedly set for some time in 2012.
In the meantime, Ballmer says that the Redmond company will work with OEMs to optimize Windows 7 for slates, but pointed to 2011 for new form factors featuring the last Windows client to be available.
It must be commons sense to understand that waiting for Windows 8 to embrace slates could allow Chrome OS to gain an advantage on the Tablet PC market comparable to that obtained by Android.