Google to challenge Microsoft with launch of own operating system

In a direct challenge to Microsoft, Google is expected to announce the launch of its own operating system for personal computer, The New York Times reported.     

The operating system would be based on Google's Chrome browser, the report added.

Google plans to make the announcement on its blog on Wednesday afternoon, the daily said.     

The Chrome browser was released by Google last year, which it described as a tool for increasingly powerful Web programs, like Gmail, Google Docs and online applications created by other companies.     

Since then, Google has been adding capabilities to Chrome, like the ability to allow it to run applications even when a user is not connected to the Internet, the news report said.     

The New York Times dicussed how Google has also long promoted a vision of computing in which applications delivered over the Web play an increasingly central role, replacing software programs that run on the desktop.     

Such applications run directly inside an Internet browser, rather than atop an operating system, the traditional software that controls most of the operations of a personal computer.     

Although Google has already developed an operating system called Android for mobile phones, that is also being used in notebooks by several manufacturers, the company does not encourage notebook makers to use it as an operating system.     

The Chrome-based operating system appears to be Google's preferred software for operating notebooks, the news paper added.