Google unveiled its Debian Linux- and Chrome browser based “Chrome OS” today and announced the open-sourcing of the project. Due to ship on netbooks in late 2010, the lightweight, cloud-oriented Chrome OS offers seven-second boot-ups, works only with flash storage, and borrows from projects including Moblin. No beta release of Chrome OS was made available at the announcement this morning at Google’s Mountain View, Calif. headquarters, and no timetable for a beta was announced, but the final version should appear by the end of 2010. The distribution will not run on just any system, but can only be used with netbooks that adhere to Google’s x86 and ARM-based reference designs, and offer Chrome OS pre-installed, said Google.

And they claim 7 second boot times! This I really have to see to believe, Baldy

Debian Linux-based Google Chrome OS debuts, goes open source