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Pre-launch Chrome OS hands-on; analysis and screenshots
Even if Chrome OS is shown off tomorrow, it's could be a matter of weeks ormonths until you get your hands on a Chrome OS netbook (or smartbook). That's why we've created a new gallery which showcases the new OS and walks you through all of the new features. Just so it's clear: this is Chromium OS, Chrome OS's open source brother. I've been told by a couple of Googlers that the public and private repositories aren't very different, however.
Some important bits are still missing -- most obviously Cloud Print -- and a lot of key features still remain hidden behind the about:flags barricade. Fundamental features such as the media player and support for USB and SD card storage are still considered 'experimental'. In fact, while the browser itself is as excellent as always, most of the OS-specific bits seem to be a bit flaky.
In the gallery, I've tried to highlight bits that we haven't shown before, such as the keyboard overlays and user management. Note that the docking Gmail chat manager is back, but that Picasa integration is still ominously missing. The coolest bit is that Chromium OS, like its browser brother, now seems to have developer and beta channels -- but it isn't functional yet.
Once you've browsed through it, you'll likely reach the same conclusion as me: Unless Google has held back a lot of non-public code, Chrome OS simply isn't ready for launch. Tomorrow will almost certainly be a demonstration of an internal build of Chrome OS, or just the launch of the Web Store.
Note: the gallery images are larger than our website displays. Right click > View Image to see the full resolution images.
Comments
4
Subscribe to commentsFezDec 6th 2010 9:43AM
Agreed it doesn't look ready to launch. Are you running this via VM? I want to try run it off of a USB drive. Last I tried (via VM) it wasn't such a smooth experience =| but that was many months ago.
Sebastian AnthonyDec 6th 2010 9:44AM
@Fez Yep, this is in VMware.
It's by no means smooth -- but mainly because it's all rendered in software. Scrolling is horrible, and video playback drops to only a few FPS.
It's more than enough to take screenshots, though, if you have the patience :)
FezDec 6th 2010 9:47AM
@Sebastian Anthony AH right.
Hey, by the way, the link at the top for "About" should link to the download squad team, not the switched team.
Samuel GibbsDec 6th 2010 11:25AM
@Fez Yeah, that's on the list of things to fix. We've had some growing pains with our redesign and we're working as fast as we can, but only so many hands if you know what I mean.