The impending release of Google Chrome OS has sent rumor mills on over drive and  blog-o-spheres into a tizzy. Together, they are producing a range of previews, even screenshots of a supposed beta version and even a daily build (which was subsequently removed). And the latest buzz is that the Google Chrome OS beta is just a week away from launch.

However, as of now, none of the Google sites have said anything. The last we heard anything from the horse’s mouth was in 7th July 2009 when Sundar Pichai, VP Product Management and Linus Upson, Engineering Director, at Google posted the hot news about the launch of an upcoming Chrome OS (as a natural offshoot/extension of the Google Chrome browser, it might be added) in the official Google Blog.

However, this OS (with a particular fondness for the cloud) is expected to launch a serious attack on the Microsoft dominance in the world of operating systems besides taking the whole concept of operating systems more towards the cloud.

What the OS promise: That in itself is still very much shrouded in mystery (or in the clouds may be).  However, we can still speculate about the prospective features:

1. This OS will be targeted at the netbooks.
2. The Google Chrome OS will be open source.
3. Many of its applications are expected to be residing in the cloud
4. A highly advanced security architecture. (Sort of expected, if you are moving around so much in the cloud)
5. The Chrome OS, like its browser cousin, will be minimalistic in design

The blog—o-sphere has been on an  That’s all the sneak peek we have had at Google’s mighty stables as of now. However, that has not stopped the rumor mill to run on a fever pitch.

Image source: Techcrunch

But that’s all we can have as of now. Until, however, a post pops up in the Google blog, making the arrival of Chrome OS official.