http://slyoyster.com

You can download the free virtual appliance of Chrome OS here. The tarball is containing vmdk and vmx files, so you’ll need a free VMware Player or VirtualBox in order to run this appliance. 

Not sure if this is on the up and up but Google did hold a press conference today with details of their much bally-whooed OS and it sounds impressive. 

It won’t be officially launched until first or second quarter 2010 and it really will be a browser-based interface.

Lost in the Google Chrome OS announcement was the underlying digs at rival Microsoft.  Sure plenty of people called it the shot across the bow, but Computerworld takes a look at five specific statements from Google’s 655-word announcement that are a direct attack on Microsoft. 

Truthfully, however, many of their thinly veiled critiques at Windows and Microsoft are pretty true.  Microsoft stopped evolving their products, stopped trying to push ahead with improvements, when they became the defacto market leader — something that could be problematic for Google as it positions itself as the tech company for the internet era.

Many people theorized that when Google rolled out the Chrome browser a year ago, that it would only be a matter of time before they announced some sort of operating system.  It made sense given their forays into office documents, email programs, etc.

Officially, the company has announced plans for Chrome OS.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

Which is all well and good, but Google also has a history of launching products and then letting them die on the vine, so to speak.  Even Chrome, which was launched to much fanfare has made little headway in browser share.  I don’t think I’m alone in saying that Microsoft’s bloatware has got to go, especially when they are still charging an arm and a leg for it.  Chrome OS is going to be an open-source platform, in the vein of Linux.

The announcement is intriguing, but it’s still just an announcement.  [via]