At the most recent COMPUTEX, there was a chorus of buzz generated by Qualcomm, Acer, and ASUS around the possibility of using Google Android as a netbook OS. Qualcomm and ASUS in particular were talking up Android as an OS for so-called "smartbooks," which are netbooks that use ARM processors instead of Intel's Atom, whereas Acer seemed to be looking to an x86 port of Android so that it could run the OS on Atom-based netbooks.

Today's publication of a partial list of hardware partners (Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba) for the newly announced Google Chrome OS—a list that features all three of the aforementioned companies, plus other ARM players—adds some color to the picture of those companies' netbook and smartbook plans. In particular, it seems likely that Chrome will be emerge as the smartbook OS of choice, and as a complement to (not a replacement for) Windows on netbooks.

The smartbook picture

When it comes to the netbooks scene, ARM and Atom are really two separate markets that happen to overlap a little, so I'll deal with what Chrome OS means for ARM-based smartbooks and Atom-based netbooks separately. First, let's talk ARM.

In that COMPUTEX post linked above, I pointed out that Android was fairly ill-suited to be a real netbook OS, just like the current crop of ARM SoCs are ill-suited to be real netbook processors. The problem in both cases is that the technology in question is too lean, mean, and power-conscious to support all of the features and performance that current netbook customers expect (and these customers have already dialed their expectations in both areas way down, because Atom is so limited).

Android is still fairly limited under the hood (it really is a mobile phone OS), and netbooks based on any ARM processor architecture prior to Core A8 will disappoint in the performance department for all but the most basic (non-Flash, JavaScript-light) browsing chores.

What's needed to really make the smartbook work is a more robust processor and a more heavyweight (in terms of multitasking, performance, stability, and APIs), browser-friendly OS. In 2010, ARM's Core A9 will address the former need, and now it's clear that Chrome OS will address the latter. I expect that an A9-based Chrome OS smartbook in the second half of 2010 will provide a solid Web experience that's comparable in performance and battery life to anything Atom-based, though the ARM parts may end up one process node behind.

The netbook picture

Sony's VAIO P netbook may run Windows, but it also can quick-boot to a small, stripped-down OS that provides a browser and some other basic functionality. This barebones, fast-booting OS is practically begging to be replaced by Chrome OS as soon as possible, and not just on Sony netbooks, but on every Windows netbook.

In short, unless Microsoft is really gouging netbook users for whatever it puts on the devices in 2010, there will be little reason not to ship both Chrome OS and Windows on Atom-based netbooks. Users who want to use Google apps and surf securely can boot very quickly to Chrome OS, and if they need to use a Windows application then they can boot into Windows. It's also the case that anything that runs on Chrome OS will also run in the Chrome browser, so Chrome app users don't have to sacrifice anything (except perhaps some security and stability) when booting into Windows.

Ultimately, netbook vendors will want to leave it to users to manage the tradeoff between boot time and functionality by offering their netbooks with both operating systems installed. (Or, with Windows plus a possible Microsoft competitor to Chrome OS.)