Here are what could be the first four, very hazy, screenshots of the upcoming Google Chrome OS (GCOS), along with some pretty detailed descriptions of the operating system.

The anonymous uploader was apparently invited by Acer to view a demonstration of the GCOS by a Google representative. How much faith should we put in his claims, and are these just modified screenshots of a stripped-down gOS or some other Linux distro? It matters not, for we are too intrigued!

The uploader, who watched the entire demonstration on an Acer Extensa 4620Z laptop, was quite impressed and noted a few features:

1. The entire installation of the GCOS on a machine running Windows Vista took just 10 minutes.
2. Reboot from desktop to desktop took just 25 seconds.
3. There’s a dock-like bar at the bottom, dubbed the ‘Chrome Bar’, which has a little blue orb – much like the orb at the centre of the Chrome icon. Clicking on it opens up a program folder, similar to the Start menu in Windows.
4. The Chrome Bar could eventually be made to autohide and pop-up with a special hardware button or panel, much like the little bar that comes on the Palm Pre.
5. A clock sits in the bar, which seems to double up as an indicator for Internet connections.
6. The Chrome Bar could eventually be integrated with the status bar, or could have a search bar built into it.
7. Two navigation modes – ‘exploration’ and ‘browser’. ‘Exploration’ lets you navigate through the local hard disk using a Explorer-like interface. ‘Browser’ brings up Google Chrome for your online needs.

Most of what the anonymous uploader described seemed like common sense and nothing out of the ordinary, let alone a ‘Wow’ factor. Our trust waivers, but who are we to go up against the might of the InterWebs?