Fake beta of Chrome OS available for download
[UPDATE 11/19: Google officially released the source code of Chrome OS. You can find a tutorial on how to install it here.]
Now finally a fake distribution of Chrome OS appeared on the internet. To an unexperienced user, it may look like it is actually released by Google, but IT IS NOT! At http://sites.google.com/site/chromeoslinux/home someone created a download site for it using Google Sites. Due to the Google URL it may appear to be the original one. It also appeared on several download sites with Google Inc. as developer. In fact it is a personal distribution created with SUSE studio. I don’t know how it looks like, because I haven’t tried it yet and of course I won’t. Please don’t download it and don’t link the site. It’s a scam. Please leave comments.
[UPDATE 09/22: SUSE studio has now removed the file.]
[UPDATE 09/23: I wonder why Google doesn't permanently delete the fake site from their servers. Some sites reported it was unavailable but now it is up again. Now even the download from SUSE studio is up again. Please DO NOT download it. It is a simple distribution created with the SUSE studio website. It is NOT Chrome OS.]
[UPDATE 09/25: The guys at Downloadsquad actually tried the download. See what they experienced at http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/09/24/how-not-to-fake-google-chrome-os/]
[UPDATE 09/26: I can't take it anymore. Why does everybody keep tweeting the URL to the download site? It is so obvious. The site even says they are not related to Google.]
[UPDATE 10/28: WTF?!? Obviously the guys at Gizmodo posted an article about the Chrome OS beta being available for download again which caused tons of twitter and blog posts promoting the site. Obviously all these people were fooled. In the meantime, Google removed the fake download site. I hope once and for all. Awkward: Gizmodo completely removed the article from the site instead of posting a correction.]
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September 22nd, 2009 at 5:24 am
They are obviously trying to make money from it by showing Adsense Ads. Why doesn’t Google shut down their site?
September 24th, 2009 at 4:59 am
what language are the ads in? why all this effort and then not adjust the language? stupids…
September 26th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Thanks for the heads up on the Fake Google Chrome OS on our blog. I’ve updated the post.
September 26th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
@Michael: No problem. I just want to prevent people from being disappointed. They have a lot of expectations for Chrome OS and the fake version doesn’t meet them at all.
September 26th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
@William: Why should Google shut down their site? Because there are ads? Or because they have made a linux distro called “Chrome OS”, which people treat as “Google Chrome OS” by mistake? It’s ridiculous!
September 27th, 2009 at 4:21 am
Well, on one hand you are right, of course. But on the other hand it may be a damage to Google’s image if people take the fake version for real.
September 28th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
[...] Actuaizado: No va a hacer falta ni probarlo. Como sospechaba es un fake. [...]
October 5th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Hi Guys! New version of Chrome OS is available for download!
October 7th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Im going to dwnload…
October 29th, 2009 at 8:56 am
[...] pues según http://chromeos-blog.com/chrome-os-beta-fake/ todo lo que hay aquí abajo parece ser un fake. Admito que en mi curiosidad por saber cómo va a [...]
October 29th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
[...] gave the fake Chrome OS beta version heavy promotion. Read the update of my original article at http://chromeos-blog.com/chrome-os-beta-fake/. Are you into this? Leave a reply or bookmark this [...]
November 24th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Amazing, I didn’t know about that until now. Cheers.