Chrome OS-Blog.com

An article on Gizmodo 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/.

The fakers out there are busy as bees. Now another type of fake hit the net. This time it’s a video, that allegedly shows the login process to Google Chrome OS, the Chrome browser, a chess game and the application switch screen. Although it looks really nice, it is a fake. Click here to see the full video and find out why it must be a fake.

[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.]

The blogger community DownloadSquad shows first screenshots of Chrome OS on their website. The pictures are supposed to show the Alpha-version 0.2.5. They show the desktop and a “Google Browser 3.5 Beta”. In my opinion, it’s clearly a fake, but see it yourself. Click here to see the screenshots of Chrome OS.