Ok, so you read our story on Google demoing their new Chrome OS Operating System, a system that completely relies on web based applications and now being the curious geek you want to try it out for yourself. Well with it being an open source project Google have made the source code for Chrome OS available for download. Their open source variants of their software go by the moniker Chromium, so in this case the open source version of Chrome OS is actually called Chromium OS.

The problem though is that Chrome OS is not even at the beta stage yet and many people won't feel confident enough to put a pre beta product on their system and turn it into a bootable system. However all is not lost as gdgt.com have put together a Virtual Machine image for Chrome OS that you can use to get the OS working in a window on your desktop. As a result, I've put this guide together to show you how to set the Virtual Machine up and get it to run Chrome OS.

Earlier this year Google announced that it was developing an Operating System that would focus on speed, simplicity and security and that it would be called Chrome OS. Yesterday Google lifted the lid on it's newest endeavour by holding a small demo event to show of what they have done so far.

The concept of Chrome OS is to provide a completely cloud based computing experience where all the programs and services you would typically install and use on a traditional desktop are merely links to web based alternatives. For example Google demonstrated a simple notepad application which looks and functions much like Windows notepad. The difference however is that it’s merely a Google Docs file, located on Google’s systems. The concept of a notepad application on your screen is just an illusion.

The interface as you can see from the screenshots, looks extremely similar to the Chrome browser (and to clarify things Google have stated that their Chrome OS project is a separate one to that of Android), however towards the top left you will see what Google calls Application Tabs. These tabs are permanently fixed alongside the browser tabs and will not shrink in size as you open more and more browser tabs. They provide quick and easy access to Internet applications and system settings and are customisable with your favourite web apps and services.

When you open an application a persistent 'panel' will pop up from the bottom of the screen and provide the applications' functionality. These panels can either be closed or minimized to the bottom right of the screen if you wish to free up some space. When minimised, the application will continue to run, so if you're streaming internet radio then it will continue to play in the background.

Another notable feature is the ability to have multiple workspaces as is typical in most Linux distributions. If things get a bit crammed on one screen you can create another workspace and open new tabs on that screen. You could also use one workspace for things like your streaming media and another for your documents and email.

Google stated at the demo event that the UI would change drastically by the time it gets it's official release but that they weren't sure how it would end up looking at this stage.

Chrome OS looks very similar to the Chrome browser with with a few notable differences

As far as security goes Google want to make Chrome OS as secure as possible. As such all user data on Chrome OS is encrypted and if you loose your netbook or it gets stolen then the thieve will gain nothing of any real value as everything is stored up in the cloud.

The root partition, where all the systems files are stored are crucial to the running of the system. As such this partition will be a read-only one to ensure that none of the files or folders can be tampered with. In essence the only writeable parts of the system aren’t actually on the system, there in the cloud which is managed by the provider of that content or service.

Another noteworthy security feature is that of application sandboxing. The web applications you use in Chrome can't change the underlining settings of Chrome OS or tamper with the kernel, so everything is sandboxed and limited to what it can do on the system.

Although the majority of your interactions with Chrome OS will take place on the Web, it will still make use of the systems hardware to keep things moving along quickly. To demo this Google showed the system going from a cold boot to the login screen in around seven seconds. A further three seconds after logging in and you could be reading your emails, facebooking or using other web apps.

Google say they are working hard to get these numbers down as they are very keen to make the system as fast as possible. With the system relying heavily on web applications and in turn web apps have a huge reliance on JavaScript it might explain why Google have been so concerned with making their Chrome browser the fastest of all the major browsers out there when it comes to processing JavaScript files.

The need for speed might also explain why Google will only provide official support for Solid State Drives as the future of storage looks set to be SSD based and even early products are showing the great speed benefits these drives will ultimately have.  The OS will also run on x86 and ARM based CPUs. Expect to hear a lot more about Chrome OS in the coming months.

For further information and demo videos see below.

• Endaget's Chrome OS demo coverage
• What is Google Chrome OS
• Chrome OS Security
• First demo event for Chrome OS