SideQuesting

And the internet shook.  For on the 2nd (?) day, Google has launched a warhead into the OS war and tech junkies began heading to the bunkers.

Dropping the megaton this evening, Google announced via its Google Blog that it will be releasing Chrome OS, an operating system based on its perennial Chrome browser (which we’re still waiting for a stable version on the Mac, by the way).  Chrome OS is meant to be the browser for everyone and every computer, from netbooks to full-size desktops.

The OS is based on the infamous “cloud-computing” methodology: data, email, everything can be accessed at any time and from any computer (through the Chrome browser).  All of the data on our workhorse machine will be accessible at any point in the day from our mobile phones, laptops, or other computers… even if they aren’t running the OS.  Google states that this will allow people to stop worrying about the backend necessities — bigger graphics cards, sound cards, computing power — and focus on the content they are creating.

So what does this mean for gaming?  Will WOW and the forthcoming Old Republic become browser-based?  Not in the near future.  However this does sound an awful lot like what OnLive is capable of, doesn’t it?  Could OnLive suddenly have an “in” on the market? Everything streams to your computer  through basically a browser: all of the high-res imagery, the online interaction, the HD and glorious gigglebytes of data no longer needs to stay on your hard drive.  Pause the game at home (through Chrome OS on your desktop) and pick it up on your Chrome browser on your netbook.

Can Chrome OS be a game-changer?  Yes.  With the popularity of browser-based games such as Hours of War growing and Flash-gaming communities like Kongregate popping up and taking hold, online-hosted serious gaming and software is not too far off.  And even though IE and Firefox were here first, directly tying Chrome in with the operating system and creating a “do anything anywhere” business model can lead to some serious gaming on our parts, too.

Google states that the OS will be available in the 2nd half of 2010, and that the Big G is already working with manufacturers to implement the Linux-based open-source OS into products at that time.