Google is looking to rival many firms that are big names in the hardware and software business. One of the key rivals that Google is focusing on is Microsoft in the software realm. Google has been offering its cloud-based productivity applications for a while now to businesses and end users with offerings like Google Docs that are compatible with Microsoft Office file types.

Google talked more about its coming operating system at Computex in Taiwan this week. Google reports that it intends to launch its operating system, dubbed Chrome OS, in the late fall of 2010. We already know a lot of what there is to know about Chrome with the OS having been officially announced back in November of 2009. Google also offered some information on its cloud printing scheme for the OS in April 2010.

Yahoo News quotes Google VP of product management Sundar Pichai as saying, "We are working on bringing the device later this fall." He continues stating, "It's something which we are very excited by ... We expect it to reach millions of users on day one."

Reuters quotes Pichai saying, "Chrome OS is one of the few future operating systems for which there are already millions of applications that work. You don't need to redesign Gmail for it to work on Chrome. Facebook does not need to write a new app for Chrome."

The real question for the Chrome OS is will hardware manufacturers support the OS. The OS will be open source and might woo some hardware makers to offer it on their netbooks, which is the market where Chrome OS is aimed.