I'm a long time Firefox fan, but I've also grown fond of Google's Chrome browser. In fact, I've pretty much switched to Chrome as my browser of choice on my Windows PCs. Up until now though I've stuck with Firefox on Linux, but now that Chrome is available as a beta on Linux, I'm being tempted to switch.

The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel.

Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks.

Google has indicated it will offer native code browser applications from the Chrome web apps store that's due to launch later this year. The Chrome Web Store is designed for use with Google's Chrome browser and the company's upcoming Chrome OS, and it would appear that the store will make its debut when the OS hits netbooks in the fall.

...the tech world is rocked with the latest announcement made by Google: "...today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be."Google Chrome OS is aimed at people who spend most of their time on the web and will initially be targeted at netbooks.

A message on the Chromium Blog indicates that Google are beginning the process of rolling out extensions for Google Chrome. Although Chrome and Chromium are regarded as good browsers, critics have pointed to the lack of Firefox style Add-ons as a reason for it not being adopted more widely.

The hype over this operating system has been so heavy that failure would be a heavy blow. Google introduced Chrome OS July 7, promising a lightweight, Linux-based operating system for netbooks that will enable speedy Web applications. The move was a major shot at Microsoft, whose Windows desktop operating system Google intimated was antiquated.

Some people may see Google's Chrome operating system as competing with existing Linux desktop distributions. Canonical, the company behind popular Linux distribution Ubuntu, isn't one of them. They're working with Google to make Chrome.

The Chromium Daily Builds PPA has been keeping me up to date with the latest version of Chromium, the open source browser behind Google Chrome. Google recently released the first official Google Chrome for Linux beta. When I did a fresh install of Ubuntu 9.10, I switched from Chromium to the Chrome beta.

Sometimes I need to look before I leap. A few minutes ago I posted a blog pointing out the pros/cons of Google Chrome OS to Canonical and Ubuntu. But I overlooked the biggest fact of all. Google has contracted with Canonical to help develop Chrome OS.