Google vs. Microsoft: Net giant readies own operating system

— -- Challenging Microsoft's grip on PCs, Internet search giant Google said late Tuesday night that it intends to create its own computer operating system.

Google is currently meeting with hardware manufacturers to aprise them of its plans, and hopes to have it on computers by the second half of 2010.

In a blog post on the official Google blog, Google positioned the new Chrome Operating System as the "natural extension" of Chrome, the Internet browser Google introduced to acclaim in 2008 and which now has 30 million users.

The new operating system is "our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be," wrote Google's Sundar Pichai, vice president of Product Management.

Google Chrome OS will focus on "speed, simplicity and security," he said, similar characteristics to the Chrome browser, which advertises itself as ultra-speedy.

Both Microsoft and Apple have plans to release new operating systems in 2009. For Microsoft, Windows 7 is an opportunity to erase the stain left by poor customer response to Vista.

Just because Google wants to get into operating systems doesn't automatically mean it will be a success, says SearchEngineLand editor Danny Sullivan. "But if I were Microsoft, I'd be nervous."

In the blog post, Pichai outlined Google's goals: "We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear — computers need to get better. People want to get to their email instantly, without wasting time waiting for their computers to boot and browsers to start up. They want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them. They want their data to be accessible to them wherever they are and not have to worry about losing their computer or forgetting to back up files. Even more importantly, they don't want to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about constant software updates. And any time our users have a better computing experience, Google benefits as well by having happier users who are more likely to spend time on the Internet."