Gear

Google FAQ Reveals Chrome OS Hardware Partners

Google’s announcement of the Chrome OS yesterday was, although far from cryptic, lacking in information. Simple, fast, Linux-based and netbook-capable was about all we got from the blog post. Google has tossed another tidbit our way in the form of a list of partners. Here’s the block quote: The Google Chrome OS team is currently […]

Google's announcement of the Chrome OS yesterday was, although far from cryptic, lacking in information. Simple, fast, Linux-based and netbook-capable was about all we got from the blog post.

Google has tossed another tidbit our way in the form of a list of partners. Here's the block quote:

The Google Chrome OS team is currently working with a number of technology companies to design and build devices that deliver an extraordinary end user experience. Among others, these companies include Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba.

This is interesting, and not just because of the netbook makers in there. Google's list includes some manufacturers of the essential internals for netbooks and notebooks alike: Qualcomm makes wifiWi-Fi cellular chips, Texas Instruments makes everything from ARM processors to tiny projectors, and Toshiba not only makes notebooks but also a lot of the gubbins inside.

This looks to us like the Goog is getting serious about compatiblity issues, as well as teeing-up some partnerships to make sure its new OS actually arrives on some computers. It isn't the same desperate situation as that of Android, where almost no handsets are available more than a year after the OS was revealed. For phones, you need to convince a carrier to load up the OS. With Chrome, us nerds at least will be able to download and install it ourselves.
Google Chrome OS - FAQ [Google Chrome Blog]
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Photo illustration: Charlie Sorrel/Wired.com
Original photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com