Google's founders have wanted to create an operating system
since the very beginning, chief executive Eric Schmidt has
revealed.
He also admitted to opposing the idea for the past six years, at
a
US media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, according to the
Financial Times.
Despite Schmidt's unwillingness to begin another battle on the
operating system front after the "bruising browser wars", Google
founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin forged ahead with Chrome.
The initial Chrome browser project persuaded Schmidt to change
his mind and now Google hopes to have netbooks running the
Chrome operating system by the second half of 2010.
Chrome OS is Linux-based and will provide users with a free,
fast, secure and lightweight
alternative to Microsoft's dominant Windows operating
system.
Google's strategy is to shake up the market and enable more
people to go online to boost its web services business, which
brings in most of the firm's revenue through advertising.
Analysts say Chrome OS will attract the attention of consumers
first, but it could find applications in businesses, particularly
those with large numbers of staff who do not need
processing-intensive IT applications.