Google is developing an operating system (OS) for personal computers, in a direct challenge to market leader Microsoft and its Windows system.
Google Chrome OS will be aimed initially at netbooks, the low-cost portable computers that have turned the PC world upside down.
Google said netbooks with Chrome OS could be on sale by the middle of 2010.
"Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS," said the company in a blog.
The news could also be a blow to the open source Linux operating system, which had taken an early lead on netbooks, but then lost out to Microsoft's elderly Windows XP.
For Microsoft the news comes just months before it launches the latest version of its operating system, called Windows 7.
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