Google plans Windows rival

Google is developing a new operating system for laptop computers in its boldest challenge yet to Microsoft's control over people's computing experience.

The new operating system will run through Google's nine-month-old web browser, Chrome, according to a post late Tuesday night on the Mountain View-based company's website.

Google plans to introduce the operating system during the second half of 2010.

The new operating system is being designed for "netbooks," a low-cost, less powerful breed of laptops that is becoming increasingly popular among consumers primarily interested in a having a computer to surf the web.

The Chrome browser could threaten Microsoft's Windows system, which has been running most personal computers for the past two decades.