Google OS: OSome!

No, it's not Android. It's Chrome OS: the web-driven operating system we've been waiting for.

Unless you're perfectly happy with Ubuntu or your desktop Mac OS, that is.

I was gunning for the Chrome OS a year ago when Chrome emerged in beta. While the OS is still in testing, it will allegedly calm my fears about slow start-ups and bulky OS's that are not cloud-computing friendly.

Ubuntu die-hards, on the other hand, are worried about an even greater fracturing of the market that will make a system standard even harder to choose.

For those of us who don't care about Ubuntu at all, Chrome may be the fastest thing our little laptops have ever seen. Geared toward open-source development, Chrome might be the catalyst that makes cloud computing something that every laywoman can dig; not just on their smartphones, either.

While Google intends to keep Chrome as a separate project from Android, their blog states that "choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google." In other words, the contribution of every open-source developer will make a better OS overall. Cloud computing is like laissez-faire software development!

For the average user, the promise of Chrome means you will be able to harness the power of the web faster and with less intermediate B.S.; Chrome will eliminate long start-ups that make checking your e-mail an epic struggle. Web-backed files and sharing will be that much faster, easier and more reliable. With open-sourcing, things may evolve much more rapidly than our traditional OS models that only update once every few years. Dominating applications could change by the week. Young developers could get their foot in the door in a matter of months.

Google decided to announce this well ahead of its official launch in late 2010. Will it live up to its heavily tweeted expectations? I'll be waiting to find out.