Clues to Chrome OS lie within the browser

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It wasn’t instantly thought when Google launched its Chrome web browser that it would look to take the thinking that underpinned it and turn it into an assault of sorts on the operating system market.

But now that the covers have, to a limited degree, come off Chrome OS ahead of its full proper release at the end of next year, it’s very clear that it’s the same ethos and thinking that underpins the product.

Considering that Google’s mantra of new product launches has been to launch them fast and early - just look at the years that Gmail spent in beta while the firm ironed out its problems - it’s somewhat surprising that Chrome OS still has quite so much gestation time to go before we can get an officially compiled version to try out.

Granted, that’s part and parcel of working with the open source community. You have to show your hand well in advance, but there’s still a longer build up to Chrome OS than we’re used to seeing from a Google product.

The clues

However, the clues to it are littered right through the web browser that’s available right now. Let’s do the most obvious first.

The very look of Chrome OS is pretty much a mirror of what you get with Chrome, after all, with Google very much designing its operating system to reflect the feel of a web browser.

This is wise thinking. One of the main objections many have to migrating to a different operating system - be it a Windows upgrade, or a more significant jump - is the prospect of unlearning what they know already and getting used to something new.

Google reasons that people know their way around a web browser, and so it makes sense to follow that sort of interface. Change, after all, can be scary, and we suspect that many users will still think they’re using some kind of iteration of Windows underneath Chrome OS.

Chrome’s GUI after all is streamlined compared to many of its rivals, with Google opting to keep as much hidden beneath the hood as possible.

Instead, the emphasis is on the two or three things that you need the most, with as much functionality as possible being built into the address bar. Streamlining is key to Google, and Chrome OS reflects that a lot.

There’s inevitably going to be many of the administration tasks that you expect an operating system to tackle built into it, but these are the kind of things that you won’t be shown unless you go looking for them.

Tabs

Instead, it’s the tabbed browsing mechanic that holds the key to the feel of Chrome OS. The succinct look of Chrome keeps tabs right at the top of the screen, each working independently of one another, and the same will apply with Chrome OS.

Instead of web pages, however, it’s going to be your open applications that will be tabbed along the top of the page. With the addition of a launch button in the top left of the screen – the Chrome OS equivalent of the start button – it’s these tabs that get you flipping between what you want to do.

It’s a logical step too, and in terms of getting people to accept the OS, tabbed browsing has proved popular with Chrome and its ilk. As such, it should extend to Chrome OS comfortably.

There’s even the same kind of overview screen that Chrome includes to allow you to jump quickly to your chosen window. It’s simple, obvious and hammers the learning curve into the ground.

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