Google’s Chrome OS Windows rival to launch in May

A stable ‘channel’ for Google’s Chrome operating system is now available, with rumours suggesting a big announcement coming at the company’s May I/O Conference. In a new step forward for the development of Google’s operating system, Chrome OS, a “stable” version of the software has been released.

Although Google has always been keen to emphasise that Chrome OS will be closely integrated with any hardware on which it is running, this new tag implies that it is theoretically ready to ship commercially.

Chrome OS builds on Google’s Chrome web browser and the fact that more features, from banking to photo–editing, are now available online and consequently do not need major desktop computing power. As more programmes use web, such lightweight operating systems could challenge the dominance of Micorosft's Windows.

Google will host its annual I/O conference in May, and has previously announced that both Samsung and Acer are already working on Chrome OS hardware for sale. No official comment has been made on any potential announcements.