Google upped the software ante by formally announcing that it plans to take on Microsoft's cash cow, the Windows operating system, with the release of an open-source OS that's dubbed Chrome OS - an extension on the already-available Chrome browser.

Reckoned to be available to Joe Consumer in roughly a year's time, the free Linux-based OS needs the backing of heavyweight manufacturers if it's to gain a significant foothold in the market.

To that end, according to this post by Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management and Linus Upson, Engineering Director, Google's Chrome OS operating system will be supported by Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba.

That's a fair smattering of talent with, perhaps, only Dell and Samusng conspicuous by their absence. We expect the first iterations of Chrome OS to be optimised for netbooks, but Google has its work cut-out if it thinks Microsoft will lie down easily: Windows 7 is rather good.