I think if you look very closely at the codebase you can see the Ubuntu heritage. For example.. the linux_2.6.30-10.12.dsc file lists the Ubuntu kernel team. There evidence of ubuntu patchsets in other places in the codebase as well.

I think its safe to say that Chrome OS is in part an Ubuntu derived operating system. And its appropriate for Google to acknowledge that and thank Ubuntu developers for being the starting point on which Chrome OS was created. Intel did the same sort of thing when they based Moblin v2 on Fedora.

But Google is using git.. not bzr... that's significant. Chrome OS even if its a rebase of Ubuntu initially is not really aligned with Ubuntu development moving forward. This will present a barrier for Google and Canonical to collaboration and I very much doubt Google's Chrome OS development will impact Ubuntu as deeply as the collaboration between Eucalyptus Systems and Canonical because of Eucalyptus System's choice to use bzr and launchpad as a development platform.

I would expect Chrome OS to quickly diverge away from Ubuntu as development accelerates and they start amassing their own contributor base.

The most interesting question is will Google step up and start being pro-active contributors to individual upstream project developments as part building Chrome OS.

-jef

I personally would not have much use for this Chrome/ChromiumOS, as I do prefer my apps and data to be local. It's also a security risk to have your data stored outside of your physical possession.

However, I do see an excellent potential for companies. If they had their own "clouds" (read: Web server farms), this could be a great way to do thin clients. Since nothing would be stored on the box, you no longer have to worry about migrating Windows profiles and such. And since the "cloud" in this scenario would be owned by and inside the corporate firewall, security of the data could be much more easily mitigated than if it's out on the Internet somewhere.

As for ChromiumOS having Ubuntu "DNA", that doesn't matter to me one bit. Heck, I really don't care if it's based on Slackware, Red Hat, Gentoo, or even OpenBSD! As long as it does what it was designed to do and is Free Software, that's good enough for me.

--SYG

It's a different approach that is going to end with a system fits all. For a lot of internet users who spend most of their time having fun in the web it is going to be all what they need, for example my grandaughters to go to webkinz or ty.com, for my daughter to watch Ncis whenever she has a minute, check her emails, calendar, etc. And it's going to be faster and safer than before. Sure my main computer is going to be my desktop with the latest Ubuntu, but my portable, probably is going to run Chrome Os. Imagine a cheap Arm based allowing you to do everything on the web, faster than your expensive notebook, and whithout needing to wait a minute to start checking your emails. And maybe we can have a web application that allow us to use our desktop programs remotely. This sounds like heaven.
Raf