Google has announced a new operating system project: Google Chrome OS. This is separate from Android, Google’s mobile phone OS. Chrome OS is a “open source, lightweight operating system”. It won’t be available until the second half of 2010, but the source code will be made available later this year. At the heart of the OS is Google’s Chrome browser. In fact, the operating system appears to be little more than a secure platform for the browser to run upon. Google says the following: “Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re...

Pirated copies of a Windows 7 build pegged by many as the beta Microsoft will release next month have leaked to the Internet, according to searches at several BitTorrent sites today. A search on the Pirate Bay BitTorrent site, for example, returned two Windows 7 Build 7000 listings, both of which had been posted Friday. As of Saturday afternoon, one torrent on Pirate Bay showed more than 1,800 “seeders” — the term for a computer that has a complete copy of the torrent file — and about 8,500 “leechers,” or computers that have downloaded only part of the complete...

Pre-beta code for Windows 7 released this week addresses many complaints about Windows Vista-and introduces a slew of changes intended to make the OS faster, easier to use and more customizable. Take a look at some of the more visible features, including a redesigned UAC, handy Jump Lists, and more. From new User Account Control options to performance improvements, the next version of Windows seeks to address major complaints about the previous one–and our first look at an early beta suggests that it’s on the right track. Microsoft has killed the Sidebar in Windows 7, but the Gadgets it...