Google has just dropped a bomb on the industry. After hearing the countless rumors of a Google OS for quite a while now, the company has now gone official with its plan. According to the Official Blog, the new Chrome OS is coming in the second half of 2010.

Google says the OS is open source and lightweight, allowing users super quick access to the web. They claim the OS will be virus free (the security architecture is entirely new), and run a newly-designed windowing system on top of a linux kernel that will be compatible with x86 and ARM processors alike. Though they were quick to mention this was separate from Android, they also conceded there would be some overlap in concept and functionality between the two platforms.

While the discussion of specific apps (and how they will work) was vague, Google made reference to a developer ecosystem that will be heavily web-based, and apps would be compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux (obviously). In a nutshell, it looks like Google Chrome OS is about simplicity, speed, safety, and cloud computing. [via Gizmodo]

But do you think the Chrome OS will beat the ultimate Mac OS? Tell me what you think.

Google Chrome OS is coming!7.3104