We’ve got a small but nifty little piece of news about the upcoming Chrome operating system. The folks at ReadWriteWeb have just found out how Chrome OS is going to handle logging in. Apparently as soon as you start-up, you’ll be prompted to log in with your Google ID. Upon doing so, you’ll automatically be signed on to Gmail, calendar, Google Docs, Google Reader, and any other Google product.
That’s very nifty news, and should mean a little extra boost of convenience for most Chrome OS users. But, as Read Write Web points out, it also raises some troubling questions. If the Chrome browser is so tightly integrated to the OS, will we be able to use other non-Chrome browsers on it? Will Google give exclusivity to their browser on their operating system?
If so, they’re treading down a dangerous road. Microsoft is still getting battered all across the world for trying to package just Internet Explorer with their OS. If Chrome won’t work with other browsers, Google could be in some trouble. All of their technical documents have referenced only Google Chrome, and no other browsers have been specifically mentioned for use in the OS besides Chrome.