Google had an event yesterday to give us deets on the upcoming Google Chrome OS, and Steven told you a bit about it here.

If you are, as Steven said, swimming in the “ocean of Google kool-aid” and you’ve got to take the OS for a spin ahead of the 2010 release, with a little elbow grease and some downloading, you can get an idea of what’s under the hood. A torrent is available on The Pirate Bay, and GDGT has set up a bit of a one stop shop for all your Chrome OS under the tree box-shaking needs. (GDGT has options for running it with VMWare, Virtual Box or a USB stick.)

I’ve not had a chance to give it a go, but Engadget was on it, offering some first impressions of Chrome OS. Indeed, as Google trumpets in the video below, the speed the Chrome browser is known for seems to be the first point of woot- reported time from boot to login is about ten seconds. Apps like GCal and GMail were reported to be “choppy,” but that could be down to the relative youth of the project.

Check out the video below for a peek if you’re not enterprising enough to test run it, but if you do, let us know in the comments.

Chrome OS available as VMWare download is a post from: The Inquisitr

Rumors of an initial, possibly developer-centric release of Google’s Chrome OS this week have been swirling, but that looks like a less likely outcome, for now.

We do know Google is hosting an event tomorrow at Google Headquarters where more information regarding the details-light project will be unveiled, hopefully including images of the elusive beast in its natural habitat. Google’s Chrome OS has been the center of much speculation, with little hard information to go on- spawning tech-blogger fanfic since news of the Chrome OS’s existence in July. Tomorrow’s meeting will will hopefully give the project a birthday, and Sundar Pichai, vice president of product management for Google, and Matthew Papakipos, engineering director for Google Chrome, will be hosting a Q&A session after the demo. There’s always the chance a beta could be released, but it looks more like a demo than a launch.

Also, according to Download Squad, a “small event” also occurred last night with Chrome Extensions, and they speculate that the highly anticipated browser add-ons for Chrome may be a topic at tomorrow’s event as well:

What used to be a redirect go the good ol’ index at google.com (or your regional version) has now been replaced with a “coming soon…” tease and puzzle piece image which matches the one added to Chromium’s new tab page on Sunday.

Coming soon, eh? Why not announce it at the big event on Thursday?

Event Thursday at Google HQ demos Chrome OS, Chrome extensions is a post from: The Inquisitr

After several spurious sightings in the wild, rumors intensified this morning that the hotly anticipated Google Chrome OS might be released within the week.

Google said earlier in 2009 that the open source operating system would be available “later this year.” A mid-to-late November launch would make sense, but don’t get too excited yet. It’s expected that the code will be opened to developers, and that it’s not going to be something you can install on your netbook just yet. Essential functions and details like driver support will ostensibly be forthcoming, and the Chrome OS likely won’t be usable out of the box for average schmohawks right away.

As all the information surrounding the Chrome OS release this week is rumor/speculation at this point, the nature of the possible impending release is up in the air- plus scant details surrounding the Chrome OS and an abundance of fake information have made users even more curious, fueling chatter. According to PC World, there is a chance that the alleged version allegedly set for this week (supposedly) could be a stripped down version most users could test run and use for basic functions. Either way, we’ll update details of the possible launch as soon as they become available.

Chrome OS to launch within the week? is a post from: The Inquisitr