As geeks are wont to do

I had read a bit of info on the recently demoed Google Chrome OS but I had to give it a go myself. My MacBook has about 0 pieces of compatible hardware and with a light wallet (and an absence of an overwhelming amount of interest) forbidding me from throwing down for a compatible machine, I turned to the free and much more convenient solution of using a VMWare image of one of the Chromium OS builds in VirtualBox.

Three minutes after download I had my own opinion of Chrome/Chromium OS. Essentially, it’s a validation of everything else written.

It’s a web browser. Your browser experience is the computer experience. Apps are web apps and they open in tabs. Going fullscreen or opening some native apps (like Contacts) give you a type of Fluid App feel. Which is to say, the feel that you’re in a web browser and your navigation tools have just disappeared.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty interesting. Or, rather, the potential is interesting. This is obviously not something you’ll ditch Windows or OS X for, or something you’ll ever want to dual boot nor run as a virtual machine unless you need it as a testing ground. In short, I think John Gruber had it right: meet your new bicycle.

I’d be very interested in trying a polished version on a compatible netbook. You see, a virtual machine has the nasty habit of being sluggish as hell and the big benefit of Chrome OS is supposed to be speed. I should also remind you that the public builds are brand spanking new and that it’ll take some time for Chrome OS to compete with the speed of a Karmic Koala (as benchmarks have shown).

So, uh, there you have it. It’s a geek-out Thursday. Enjoy.

Note: There is a distinction between Chrome and Chromium that I’ll let other people make. Just know that there’s a Chrome and Chromium (both browsers) and a Chrome OS and Chromium OS (both operating systems).