Google is building its Chrome operating system into notebook computers expected to hit the market next year in a challenge to the software at the heart of Microsoft's empire.
The technology giant on December 7 began releasing an unbranded notebook to businesses and consumers as part of a pilot program aimed at testing a computing model that shifts operating software into the Internet "cloud."
"For us, it is a long journey building a true cloud computing model," Google Vice President of product management Sundar Pichai said while demonstrating the Chrome operating system at a press event in San Francisco.
"Cloud computing will define computing as we all know it in the coming decades." Schmidt added that Chrome will be a "viable third choice" when it comes to operating systems for laptop computers. Microsoft Windows software has long been the ruling operating system in the world computer market.