As a few readers may know, Google is fervently working to launch its own operating system. Called Chrome OS and released as an open source project, it uses the Chrome browser as its core engine.
Announced in July 2009, Chrome OS is expected to reach version 1.0 within the 2010 holiday season, and to be deployable on x86 and ARM architectures (including upcoming tablet PC devices that will compete with the recently released Apple iPad).
The brave ones that want to test the alpha versions of the OS can do that using most hardware virtualization platforms on the market. Parallels even offer support for it.
The more we get near the planned release timeframe the more details are shared about how it will work.
Fresh information appeared a few days ago about a new feature tentatively dubbed Chromoting.
Google briefly mentioned Chromoting in its development mailing list:
"We’re adding new capabilities all the time. With this functionality (unofficially named "chromoting"), Chrome OS will not only be great platform for running modern web apps, but will also enable you to access legacy PC applications right within the browser. We’ll have more details to share on chromoting in the coming months."
While many press outlets suggested that Chromoting may be a remote desktop technology, there’s a chance that it’s something completely different, like an application virtualization platform.
A few virtualization.info readers in fact may remember that in April 2007 Google acquired a stealth application virtualization startup called GreenBorder.
The technology was never rebranded and released to the general public but apparently Google is using it to isolate the many instances of Chrome during web browsing.
If true, that means that the GreenBorder engine is already part of Chrome, and that an operating system based on it may leverage the application virtualization layers for additional tasks, like running legacy Windows applications.