Google has combined innovation with a subtle disregard for precedents to bring people waves of fun, new techie inventions for as long as I can remember. Well, they’re doing something new again. Shocker.

This time, it’s Chrome. No, I’m not talking about the Web browser. Rather, I’m talking about the operating system, Chrome OS. It has a nice ring to it, no?

For those who need brushing up, an operating system is the technology you don’t see. It’s the force driving your computer. Your operating system allows you to open and run applications and dictates how your software and hardware work in conjunction. You most likely use some derivation of a Microsoft Windows or Mac operating system.

That could change in the near future to the Google operating system. So what exactly distinguishes Google’s operating system venture from the systems already in place? Everything. One of the Google Chrome OS demonstration videos on YouTube states, ‘Chrome OS is a totally rethought computer that will let you focus on the Internet, so you can stop worrying about your computer.’

Essentially, Google is separating the computer and the Internet while simultaneously restructuring them to work in tandem more seamlessly and more efficiently than ever before. Chrome OS will use the Web as the computer’s hard drive. No files will be stored on the actual computer, no software will be installed to the memory.

Need to type out a document using a word processor? Just open the application tab in the browser, and the computer will link you to a remotely hosted application. Have some files you need to save? Just save them to the ‘cloud’ and access them from anywhere — never will you be concerned about a crashing flash drive or malfunctioning system.

All of your data, your applications and music and videos and pictures — everything that makes your computer your computer — will no longer be part of your tangible laptop or netbook.

This approach should allow computer performance standards and longevity never before seen in household hardware. The new system is also geared toward preventing the blue screens of doom. You all know precisely the screens I’m referring to: the ones immediately followed by angry utterances and possibly hundreds of dollars in repairs or data retrieval.

And get this: Never again will you need to update your antivirus. Yes I said it — say farewell to that obnoxious Norton box lingering in the bottom right-hand side of your screen. Google and the parties that host your applications and data will take care of the security for you.

The concept for this venture was first announced in late 2009 and has been in the works ever since. Though it’s currently in a demo and testing stage, its release is expected in the next several months.

However, following suit on its strange conceptual approach, the distribution approach is equally as new. You won’t find this operating system on store shelves or available for download from the Web. The only way to use Chrome OS is to purchase a new device created to be compatible with it.

If you’re a tad impatient and want to experience a version of this new operating system beyond the demo videos, you can download Chromium OS (not Chrome, notice the added ‘ium’ in place of the ‘e’) for free from the Web. Chromium is the open source version of Chrome, developed by Google and independent builders alike.

So the next time your system crashes or some life-or-death file magically disappears from your desktop, just remember Google Chrome OS is on the way. And using yet one more quote from a Google demo video, prepare to ‘experience waitlessness,’ pun intended.

Jessica Smith is an information management and technology and television, radio and film dual major. Her column appears every Tuesday, and she can be reached at jlsmit22@syr.edu.

Published on February 21, 2011 at 12:00 pm