Google plans OS to take on MS Windows

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: Google Inc, owner of the most-visited Internet search engine, plans to release a computer operating system (OS) to challenge the dominance of Microsoft Corp’s Windows. The software will be based on the Chrome Web browser, Mountain View, California-based Google said.

It will be designed at first for low-cost laptops called netbooks. The company is in talks with partners on the project and computers running the software will be available in the second half of 2010, it said.

Google’s new OS aims to take on Microsoft’s flagship Windows product, which runs about 90% of the world’s personal computers. The plan escalates the two companies’ rivalry, which extends to Web browsers, Internet search and business applications such as word-processing and spreadsheet programs.

Google said it’s working with computer makers to introduce a number of netbooks next year, without identifying any of the companies. The Chrome OS will be open-source, meaning the program code will be open to developers, Google said. The software will work on top of the Linux operating system.

Frank Shaw, a spokesman for Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, declined to comment. Windows accounted for 28% of the company’s $60.4 billion annual revenue in the 12 months ended June 30, 2008.

Microsoft has stepped up its efforts in the netbook market. It said in May it plans to remove a restriction of running three applications at a time on its forthcoming Windows 7 Starter Edition, which is designed for netbooks. The announcement eliminated one of the most significant differences between the basic edition of the operating system and a pricier one.

Google’s Chrome OS is consistent with the company’s focus on getting people to use software online, unlike Microsoft‘s traditional approach of providing software on the computer itself. Google started a business-software lineup in 2007 that lets users access services such as spreadsheets and word- processing documents via the Web, just as anyone might access the search engine or Google News.