ChomeOS may finally be a reality

It can be hard, sometimes, to figure out Google's software strategy. On the one hand, they are running Android, a classic Operating System with Apps. On the other hand, they have been crowing over ChromeOS, a new operating system built to be lean and mean, with no built-in applications but only easy access to Web-based applications like GMail and Picassa. They seem to have hitched their wagon to two teams pulling in opposite directions! But until now, ChromeOS has remained primarily theoretical - there's no shipping hardware for it, and it exists only where people have hacked their own systems to install the Beta.

But now, Download Squad is reporting that a ChromeOS tablet will be on store shelves by Black Friday 2010. And it will be designed specifically to compete with the iPad during the busy Christmas shopping season.

One can only wonder how all of the hopeful Android partners who were planning to release their own Android-based tablets in the fourth quarter are feeling about this news.

Time for a Mindless Monday

I decided to bite the bullet and do my taxes over the weekend (thank you, TurboTax - what once took 3 days now takes 1 hour). So my brain is a bit fried at the moment. Rather than try and find something deep and meaningful today, how about a mindless time waster. Click over and try out this Chrome experiment built entirely with Javascript. But be warned. Do NOT click unless you have a LOT of time to waste. It is hypnotic.

Proof that in I/T "No" Always Means "Yes"

For years, there have been rumors of a GoogleOS and a Google Web Browser. For years, Google has exhaustively denied the rumors, claiming that they had NO desire to compete with Mozilla, Apple, and Microsoft in the browser space. But, just as Apple's denial of the existence an iPhone turned into confirmation of the iPhone, Google's denials have become confirmation of a new Google-originated browser called Google Chrome. Imaginatively, Google released the announcement as a webcomic.

Perhaps most interesting is Google's choice to use Webkit - the same underpinnings as Apple's Safari - as the basis of Chrome. Why is this interesting? Because Google spends millions of dollars a year supporting the Mozilla Foundation. This choice means that Mozilla has been unable to find a user for their Mozilla rendering engine, even among their own biggest fans.