Victory Lion's Blogosphere

Google Inc is opening its much-anticipated Chrome software to external developers, as the search giant prepares to expand its reach into operating systems. The company hosted a media event on Thursday to show off the free cloud-based software, which it hopes to have on the market in netbooks ahead of the 2010 holiday season. Google executives said they designed Chrome with an emphasis on speed, security and simplicity. The software currently starts up on a PC in seven seconds, and Google said it is hoping to cut the boot time further. But the company said Chrome at least initially will not be able to run on just any PC, and it plans to specify certain hardware requirements to run the software, such as solid-state hard drives. With Chrome, Google is seeking to challenge the dominance of Microsoft Corp's Windows, which runs on nine out of 10 personal computers.

By opening up Chrome's source code, Google hopes to encourage outside developers to innovate on top of its operating system and design new applications. Google said all data in Chrome will automatically be housed in the so-called cloud, or on external servers, but also cached on the computer's internal hardware to boost performance. It also said Chrome applications, which are used for such every day tasks such as word processing and email, will be Web-based.

Microsoft Corp said on Friday it would not limit the number of applications available at one time on the Starter edition of its upcoming Windows 7 operating system, reversing its earlier strategy of limiting its capabilities and urging users to upgrade.

The move is a significant climbdown for Microsoft as it looks to keep a hold on the fast-growing market for small, cheap personal computers - known as netbooks - which are the principal market for the most basic version of Microsoft's new operating system, expected to roll out later this year. The world's largest software company had originally planned that users could run only three programs at one one time using Starter. The new plan would not limit the number of applications that could be used. "We believe these changes will make Windows 7 Starter an even more attractive option for customers who want a small notebook PC for very basic tasks, like browsing the web, checking email and personal productivity," a Microsoft executive wrote in of the company's public blogs.

Microsoft acknowledged its plan to limit Starter's capabilities and then try to sell users upgrades, had not been well received by potential customers and partners, which are generally looking to increase the powers of netbooks rather than impose limitations. Netbooks, or notebook PCs, have taken the computing world by storm in the last year or so, offering stripped-down functions on a small screen for only a few hundred dollars. Young users in particular have embraced them as an easy and cheap way to surf the Internet and send e-mails while on the move or at a cafe.

Microsoft noted that the Starter edition will still be inferior to its other, more expensive versions, designed for use on full PCs. Windows 7 Starter will not allow use of more than one monitor, support Windows Media Center for watching recorded TV, or contain a number of other features. But Microsoft pointed out that its more advanced Windows 7 versions will also work on netbooks.