Google has scrubbed plans to fully integrate its Chrome web browser with Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system.
The news follows an announcement by the Mozilla Foundation that Firefox 3.6, the next version of the open source browser, would integrate with Windows 7 features such as taskbar thumbnail previews and Jump Lists.
However, according to reports in The Register, Google's internal issue tracking system indicates that work on the features has been pushed back to version 5 of the browser. Chrome is currently on the 3.0 release, while version 4 is currently in development.
Despite the scaled back ambitions, work seems to be progressing on Google's Chrome OS. An early developer build of the operating system has been leaked onto Google's website. Stay tuned for more details.
Google first announced its entry into the operating system space back in July. At that time, Google stated that Chrome OS would not be available to consumers until sometime in 2010. However, various Chinese sources have today claimed that devices running the upcoming open-source OS could be seen as early as next month.
According to Shanzi.com, Chinese hardware manufacturer Lemote may ship its line of budget netbooks with preview builds of Google's Chrome OS. These Chome OS-based netbooks could hit the market in late October. Chinese manufacturers, as Liliputing speculates, may be more willing to try new, untested technology, whereas western manufacturers may be more hesitant to take new tech on board without performing rigorous testing first.
Rumors regarding the early release of the Chrome OS are, of course, nothing new, and Google has not responded to any of the supposed claims, including those of various 'leaked' screenshots. So with Google being tight-lipped and providing no solid hint as to when we can expect to see the final OS on shelves, reports such as these can only be taken with a pinch of salt.
(By Richard Plant and Chris Brandrick)