Google updates design of ChromeOS

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 10 (UPI) -- Google has updated ChromeOS to look more like the Windows and Mac desktops, finally going along with 20 years of operating system design, analysts say.

Google's operating system now sports a desktop with icons and a task bar to launch and control applications, following the conventions shared by operating systems from Microsoft and Apple, businessinsider.com reported Tuesday.

ChromeOS, originally designed for the company's entry-level Chromebook netbook computers, was basically a version of Google's Chrome browser that took up the entire screen, with no desktop or visible file system like the ones familiar to Windows and Mac users.

But between the time ChromeOS was conceived in 2008 and its release last year, the netbook market that was its intended target was decimated by the iPad, and Google has chosen to promote Android for the tablet market instead of ChromeOS.

Google says the redesign of ChromeOS, dubbed Aura, is intended to "Provide the foundation of a flexible windowing system and shell for Chrome and ChromeOS on a variety of form factors."

That suggests Google may be hoping to give ChromeOS a second life on tablets despite its pushing of Android, businessinsider.com said.