What is Chrome OS?

Unlike other operating systems, ChromeOS has one main purpose to be a secure and simple way for the user to interact with the web. Not so long ago, the idea of having an operating system dedicated to running a web browser would have seemed weird, like it was underusing the computer. But today, you can do so much just through your web browser. You can communicate through email, create and share documents, edit photos, and even connect remotely to another computer, and the list continues to grow. The development of new web applications increases the number of things users can do all within the web browser. This means that for a lot of people, most of their daily computer use happens inside the browser. Having an operating system built around a web browser makes a lot of sense. That said, ChromeOS is more than just a web browsing operating system. It can also run Android and Linux applications inside containers. The user interface in ChromeOS is customized, so you can only see the Chrome interface. Process management, memory and input and output are still happening behind the scenes but you don't need to deal with any of that. You only need to deal with the browser. ChromeOS machines come pre-installed with the operating system. There's nothing for us to install. When you log into a ChromeOS machine, you're also signing into the Chrome browser. Let's do that now. I've logged into my ChromeOS machine. It's pulling up my Chrome settings and extensions from the configuration stored in external servers provided by the Chrome infrastructure. This means that ChromeOS machines are interchangeable because most data is stored in the Cloud, not locally. Two other characteristics of ChromeOS are that it's extremely simple to use and very hard for users to meddle with. Since users don't have administrator rights on their ChromeOS machines, they won't be able to alter the system configuration. Also, ChromeOS has an automatic update mechanism that includes a fail-safe in case anything goes wrong. This means that the user doesn't need to worry about problems or hacks in the system because it's designed to stay up and running. Finally, ChromeOS has strong security, which we'll learn about in an upcoming course. For now, you just need to know that ChromeOS allows users to browse the web without worrying about malware and to share machines while keeping their data private. It also ensures that data won't be compromised if the machine is stolen. In short, there's no need to worry about harmful software that might be out there because ChromeOS defense against these threats. As an IT support specialist, you may find that some of the users in your organization will choose ChromeOS for their daily work. Since it's so easy to use and rarely breaks, we won't cover daily support in further detail.