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Big news this morning: Google OS is officially on the way.

Google released the following press release this morning confirming the much anticipated news:

It’s been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So 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 an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we’re already talking to partners about the project, and we’ll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

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.

Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.

Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google.

We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear — computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don’t want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates. And any time our users have a better computing experience, Google benefits as well by having happier users who are more likely to spend time on the Internet.

We have a lot of work to do, and we’re definitely going to need a lot of help from the open source community to accomplish this vision. We’re excited for what’s to come and we hope you are too. Stay tuned for more updates in the fall and have a great summer.

Sounds great doesn’t it? But before you send a ‘F*CK YOU’ letter to microsoft and start lighting fire to your Windows Vista CD, here are 5 questions to Google OS you need to ask before commiting (Via PC World):

Is Google Chrome OS really practical for anything more powerful than a Mobile Internet Device (MID)?

When I first read Google’s announcement for Chrome OS, two products immediately came to mind: Crunchpad and the rumored Apple tablet. To be honest, MIDs are the only plausible reason I can see for wanting to use this OS. Google says Chrome OS is designed “to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the Web in a few seconds.” The company also says that for applications “the Web is the platform” not the OS. In other words, this OS isn’t for running Microsoft Word or other desktop apps.

That’s a problem, in my view. Sure, Google Docs is a great application for typing up a basic document, but it is far from the powerful tool that Microsoft Word is. So while Google says this OS is ideal for netbooks, I don’t see why you would want to handicap yourself by using a less-functional OS on a piece of hardware — like a netbook — that has a nearly full-sized keyboard and a good processor. Google also says the OS can be used on desktops, which could be ideal for a public Internet terminal, but for the home user? Forget it. The only plausible use I can see for Chrome OS on your home computer would be under a dual-boot scenario to get on the Web quickly without waiting for Windows or OS X to start up. That’s a similar scenario another cloud operating system, Good OS, was also envisioned for.

Will Chrome OS keep Microsoft up at night?

Don’t make me laugh. Chrome OS is about as much a threat to Microsoft as a mosquito is to a bear — assuming the mosquito doesn’t have Malaria, that is. It’s hard to envision Chrome OS significantly impacting a full-featured OS like Windows. Microsoft and Google aren’t even on the same page when it comes to defining a cloud OS, so they’re unlikely to compete in that arena either.

Microsoft’s cloud OS, Azure, is a “scalable hosting environment on which developers can build and host their applications.” In other words, Azure runs on servers, not home PCs, and is a tool for businesses that want to build Web applications and services. Google, on the other hand, is advocating Chrome OS as a solution for the home computer.

Google says virus free. Really?

Here we go again with another company building the mythological virus-free operating system. The fact, is you just can’t build an operating system that is fully immune to malware and viruses. Yeah, yeah, I know — you’ve owned a Mac for the last ten years and have never had one virus, but when you owned a Windows machine it was always down for maintenance.

We’ve all heard that story, and we all know about the Mac vs. PC security argument. Believe it or not, Mac viruses are out there; it’s just that Mac malware is so scarce that it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever come across one, but a Mac is far from being perfectly secure. Don’t forget that Safari running on a Mac was the first Web browser to go down at this year’s PWN2OWN competition at CanSecWest. The truth is a computer’s security is primarily dependent on a security conscious operator (you) and a hacker’s reluctance to discover security compromises for that machine.

The same principle will apply to the Chrome OS. It’s highly unlikely we’ll see viruses for the new OS since it will start out as a such a niche product anyway. However, if Google’s new operating system somehow gains widespread appeal, you can bet on seeing viruses and other malware tailor made for Chrome OS.

Will Chrome OS-powered devices be cheaper?

If Android is any guide, I’m not sure we’ll see Chrome OS devices being that much cheaper. I can imagine we’ll see netbooks and MIDs with 3G or 4G capability, making it a perfect fit for carriers looking to branch out beyond cell phones. So you’re likely to find subsidized Chrome OS devices that are, in fact, cheaper.

But if you buy a device straight out, how much cheaper will it be compared to a Windows machine? Google will probably make Chrome OS available to hardware makers in a similar method to its Android platform for mobile phones, which means it will be free with some subtle restrictions based on the licensing agreement between Google and the manufacturer.

But if Android is free, how do you explain the fact that Android devices have such high full retail prices? To give you an idea of the difference consider that the out-of-contract retail price for the Android-powered G1 $399.99, while the recently released Windows-powered Samsung Jack costs $349.99. For $50 less, the Jack has arguably greater functionality than the G1, and you get a maximum of 16 GB of expandable storage, versus the G1’s 8 GB. As for the newest Android-powered phone, the myTouch 3G, I expect it to have a comparable or even higher no-contract price than the G1, but we won’t know for sure until the myTouch launches later this summer.

It may not be entirely fair to judge the cost of Chrome OS based on Android prices, but I’m just saying there’s no guarantee that Google-powered devices will be cheaper than their Windows counterparts.

Will you be able to download Chrome OS like you would any other Linux build?

Common sense says yes, but notice that Google didn’t mention anything in its announcement about downloading Chrome OS straight from its site. Google’s blog post focused primarily on making Chrome OS available through third-party manufacturers. I’ll take a pass on this one until Google makes its intentions clearer.

Chrome OS must search for a niche

Google’s announcement is very interesting, and Chrome OS is another indication that Internet-focused devices are becoming more important to hardware and software developers. That being said, I’m still not convinced the world is ready to jettison their desktop-centric computers and reach for the clouds. I guess we’ll know for sure when the first Chrome OS devices hit the market in the second half of 2010.