'Chromoting' Is a New Feature on Google's Highly Anticipated OS

Details are filtering out about Google's (News - Alert) new Chrome operating system which is supposed to be released later this year starting with netbooks.

This week, Google software engineer Gary Kacmarcík posted a message on a Google site that the new operating system will have a feature "unofficially named 'chromoting.'"

The New York Times has defined "chromoting" as "remotely accessing your PC applications via the browser. Or, in other words, it's a remote desktop app for your new cloud computer."

Kacmarcík further said that the "Chrome OS will not only be great platform for running modern web apps, but will also enable you to access legacy PC applications right within the browser."

"Legacy' likely means any application that doesn't run in a Web browser, like Google Chrome, which is the basis of the new Internet-only operating system, also called Chrome, according to The Times. Examples may include the Adobe Creative Suite or the full Microsoft (News - Alert) Office suite.

In his posting, Kacmarcík says chromoting is similar to Remote Desktop Connection, the Microsoft Windows service that gives real-time access to distant personal computers. "Presumably, this means that Chrome OS will let you access applications running on your existing Windows, Linux, or Mac desktop," according to The Register.

Accessing remote applications via a web browser is not new, The Register reported. Applications like LogMeIn (News - Alert) and GoToMyPC have had this sort of option for a decade, according to The Register.

According to a recent Yahoo! News report, Google is planning to release its Chrome operating system this autumn. Chrome will be free.

An open source operating system, Chrome is based on the Chrome browser, which is designed to work exclusively with Web applications. Google estimates that more than 70 million people use the Chrome browser, according to a TMCnet report.