Cr-48, an unbranded black net book, is fixed with limited beta for open source (OS) by Google, and this has led to many scratching their heads on the possibility of distributing Chrome OS once the testing gets over.

The testing program, by Google for its OS Chrome OS is not an ordinary beta. For testing purposes, the company has invited applications from users to be a part of this beta testing. Such users also receive the Cr-48 net book with Chrome OS loaded onto it.

The Cr-48 net book does not come with any logo. Indeed, the complete package comprises an Intel card, which means that this black net book has a processor from Intel. The hard disk’s size is not indicated in Cr-48 owing to the basic reason that it is built keeping cloud-based computing in mind.

The hardware, however, is marked by some peculiarities. The caps lock key misses, but the search key is present. All the function keys are absent too and the net book contains just one USB port, which has limited functionality. Therefore, this Cr-48 is different from all the other PCs in terms of all that it lacks.

Owing to the large number of differences that the Chrome OS hardware has with other windows-based hardware, many users who are testing it compared the difference between using net book with that of a smart phone. All such things make the testers suggest that the Cr-48 net book (black) should sell in the United States in the range of $150­200.

Google also announced recently that Samsung and Acer are also in the race to release similar hardware with this Chrome OS late this year. As pointed out by Charles King, Pund-IT chief analyst in TechNewsWorld, some original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are already in the process of manufacturing a similar version of this Chrome OS net book. The new Chrome OS beta net book is sleek and comes with cloud as the most special functionality that Google displays.

With this new black net book, Google claims to leverage its mailing application, Gmail, in the cloud and make people use Google apps efficiently. As said earlier, people will get the same experience that they get when they use smart phones in when they use the Chrome OS net book.

The global release of Chrome OS net book is, indeed, an upfront challenge to Microsoft and Apple, companies manufacturing many current devices. Whether the newly released Chrome OS is perhaps a fully open source OS that users can use to install even on an old net book is left to the users to explore and report.