Google hails Chrome OS as business-ready

Google today hailed its Chrome browser ready for the enterprise with the release of its "MS installer", a Windows installer which would allow administrators to standardise browser installations across a fleet of Windows machines.

"Chrome offers controls that enable IT administrators to easily configure and deploy the browser on Windows, Mac, and Linux according to their business requirements," Google product manager Glenn Wilson and Chrome engineer Daniel Clifford posted on the company blog.

Google said it had been testing its new browser functions over the past few months with consumer goods giant Proctor & Gamble, investment giant Vanguard and Boise State University.

Administrators have the option to customise security and privacy settings using a list of pre-configured policies and templates Google has devised.

Google Apps customers have also been offered phone and email support to set up the administrative functions.

While the Chrome OS was only launched under a pilot program last week, Google pointed to the ability for companies considering its OS to use the Chrome browser to test web-applications.

High profile critic

Google's new OS has meanwhile been slammed as “careless computing” due to its use of the cloud to store users’ data.

Founder of the Free Software Foundation and GNU creator Richard Stallman has raised a number of concerns about the use of the cloud, including loss of control and legal rights.

“In the US, you even lose legal rights if you store your data in a company's machines instead of your own,” Stallman told the Guardian newspaper.

“The police need to present you with a search warrant to get your data from you, but if they are stored in a company's server, the police can get it without showing you anything. They may not even have to give the company a search warrant.”

Google has responded to cloud security concerns in two separate blog posts - which can be viewed  here and here.

Last week, it emerged the first laptops featuring Chrome OS would not appear until the middle of next year, months after the initial planned launch date.

This article originally appeared at itpro.co.uk