By Brendan Loy (Twitter/FriendFeed)

Pelosi says a resolution in honor of Michael Jackson is “not necessary” and would open up contrary views. (RT @BreakingNews @dmataconis)

By David K.

When it comes to buying a computer today, you pretty much have two choices for the Operating System (OS): the heavyweight champ Microsoft’s Windows, or the scrappy underdog Apple’s MacOS X.  (Some people will try and tell you there is a third option called Linux; ignore them. They are nerds and for the most part they are wrong.)

Well, that may soon change, as search giant Google announced Wednesday that they will be releasing their own OS next year.  Called Google Chrome OS, it will be a light-weight OS based on Linux (hey I said the nerds were MOSTLY wrong about it being a third option) and the company’s Chrome web browser.  So does this mean you’ll be picking up your next Dell box with Chrome OS on it by Christmas 2010?  Welllllll, no, probably not.  Chrome OS is going to be targeted, initially at least, for use on netbooks, the small, lightweight sub-laptops that companies such as Acer, Dell and HP have been releasing recently.

Why netbooks?  Well, the Chrome OS isn’t going to be like Windows and MacOS X.  It won’t be a full-fledged OS.  You won’t install normal applications onto your computer, you won’t be editing videos on it, playing games like Halo 3 or Starcraft II, or other intensive tasks.  Chrome OS is going to be designed around using Google’s existing web apps for e-mailing, web browsing, document editing, etc., for fulfilling your basic computer needs.  Google is betting that they can give you a faster and safer experience by cutting out a lot of the high-powered extras and focusing on the lightweight tasks.  This will be especially helpful on netbooks, which are much less powerful than the regular laptops and desktop computers you are used to using.

So will it work?  Maybe, but there are a lot of reasons to be skeptical.  

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