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Chrome OS browser saddles up and mounts your drives
Recent changes to the code base reveal a 'mount library' that monitors newly-inserted devices such as USB memory sticks -- something an operating system usually does -- not the kind of thing a browser would usually worry about. We suspect that when you open a new tab in Chrome you'll have the option of a 'My Computer' view that will update in real time as you plug in new devices or insert CDs. Or perhaps when you insert a USB device an Explorer-like new tab page will simply pop into existence.
Currently the changes only appear in the Chrome OS branch of the source code, but it doesn't take a wild stretch of the imagination to believe that Google has larger, all-encompassing plans for the Mac and Windows platforms. This might just be the next step for the Google Desktop.
Watch out...Google is coming.
Comments
15
Subscribe to commentsSjayNov 12th 2009 3:08AM
Thats a good one. With all the chrome features you cannot say that Chrome OS is too far.
catchwaNov 12th 2009 4:23AM
So we're just going to keep quiet about the fact that it's exactly the same kind of integration that MS was so greatly criticised for with IE and Windows?
MySchizoBuddyNov 12th 2009 4:53AM
If MS wasn't a monopoly the integration between IE and Windows wasn't a problem. MS was using its monopoly in Windows to create another monopoly in IE. Thats abusing your monopoly and thats why MS was sued.
Any other company that isn't a monopoly and does this sort of integration will not be sued. Laws against a monopoly are different
catchwaNov 12th 2009 4:55AM
I was more referring to the security implications...
Sebastian AnthonyNov 12th 2009 6:48AM
Oh totally... the security implications... :P
But no, you're right, we probably are just looking at the new Microsoft.
Utilising the goodwill power of OS to take over the world...!
Jonathan LozinskiNov 12th 2009 4:48AM
This would be an epic fail. As catchwa has pointed out, this is a dumb ass move. My browser having these capabilities would cause serious issues if a webpage mis-behaves.. NO NO NO.
If this is actually part of chrome browser then there's no way on earth I'm going to keep using it.
Sebastian AnthonyNov 12th 2009 6:49AM
It's not yet, and I doubt it will be some time.
It might not even make it out of the Chrome OS... but who knows what plans they have :)
correnosNov 19th 2009 4:44PM
just throwing this out there... Firefox can already browse all of your files, as can Opera and (I think, too lazy to boot to windows) IE. It's a feature of modern web browsers that they treat your disks essentially like ftp servers. Just type in / (or c: for windows people) into firefox, and you'll see what I'm talking about. This isn't really a big deal.
RogueJedi86Nov 12th 2009 7:54AM
I never realized I could use Chrome for file navigation until I saw this article's blurb. I typed C:\ into Chrome and got an unwieldy interface, but it did work. You learn something new every day!
Sebastian AnthonyNov 12th 2009 8:15AM
It's not as good as the Internet Explorer solution though, which just brings up Windows Explorer...
But I guess it's good in a fix!
jsmorleyNov 12th 2009 9:51AM
You can type "c:\" into Firefox as well.
LeonickNov 12th 2009 11:16AM
Yup, and doing so actually gives a much nicer list than Chrome does too :P
sitrucNov 12th 2009 11:11AM
You can navigate to and play media files inside of Opera tabs.
NickNov 12th 2009 11:34AM
Browsers have been implementing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:// for a while now
JoeNov 18th 2009 6:27PM
It's an operating environment, not an operating system.