Google Unveils a PC Operating System

In a post on its company blog, Google said the operating system would initially be aimed at netbooks, the compact, low-cost computers that have turned the PC world on its head. It said the open-source software, called Chrome OS, would be available in the second half of next year.

“Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS,” the blog post said. “We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the Web in a few seconds.”

Google has already developed an operating system for mobile phones, called Android. And several manufacturers of netbooks are also using that software.

Google has long promoted a vision of computing in which applications delivered over the Web play an increasingly central role, replacing software that runs on the desktop. In that world, applications run directly inside an Internet browser, rather than atop an operating system, the traditional software that controls most of the operations of a PC.

Google Unveils a PC Operating System - NYTimes.com

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About licenses, photos and online mobs

Over the past day there’s been a little “crisis” going on over at FriendFeed. Let me introduce the contenders first:
* Kol Tregaskes, who liked a photo on DeviantArt which made it to his FriendFeed account (on June 19th!) via visualize.us
* “velonka”, the photographer of that photo and model in that photo who noticed the image on July 6th
* The picture on DeviantArt, originally marked as Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 LicenseNow, after a few weeks of no action at all, the photographer noticed the photo on FriendFeed and didn’t wait a second to rain down some foul language on Kol:

VerothicA: WHY IS MY PHOTO HERE? are you fucvking retarded? remove it now! Its for Deviantart.com members ONLY you asshole!!!! – velonka

No, not some nice asking to take it down or – what my approach would have been – saying thanks for sharing. Full throttle from a stand still which shortly thereafter got her some flack from other commenters. And rightly so.

Only after various posts the lady apparently notices that her photo was posted as Creative Commons and removes that licensing. Of course, too little too late. Starting a conversation like she did, you are just asking for trouble. I’m wondering whether she is writing the people at Google, Microsoft and Yahoo letters in the same language because the photo is showing up there too.

About licenses, photos and online mobs | holgr.com

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