Just in case, you’ve no idea of what Jolicloud is (I wrote about it in December 2008 “Introducing Jolicloud, Another Cloud Operating System Contender“), it’s an operating system for netbooks meaning that it is designed to work flawlessly with the portable, lightweight and not-so-powerful mini-laptops.

Now the question is: after almost three years of netbooks becoming mainstream and users getting used to Windows operating systems whether or not they work well on netbook computers, are current users ready for a revolutionary OS?

I guess that we will see but so far, the company’s Facebook Page has over 10 000 fans which is something for a company that’s been laying low all this time.

Google has taken the first official jab at Microsoft by announcing the Google Chrome Operating System today. It will be customized for netbooks first, hence our interest, then the rest of the computing world.

What’s the future like for this Google Chrome Netbook Operating System? It will be an interesting battle to watch. Google is playing two powerful cards in the software wars: open and simple.

It’s offering the ultimate alternative to Microsoft OS that’s vulnerable to viruses and other security threats, closed and complex and not really optimized for netbooks, the fatest growing computer segment.

Google said that Google Chrome Operating System will be ready in mid-2010. That should get Microsoft enough time to counter this big threat by stealing the show as they announce a simpler, faster and more secure operating system for netbooks and computers at large.

The ultimate winner as usual will be the computer user. When a monopoly is threatened is stops resting on its laurels and actually bends backwards for the consumer. I can’t tell how this battle with turn out. These two giants have enough resources to go at each other (most start-ups who try to compete with Microsoft fail mostly because of lack of resources) and they have to diametrically opposed concepts just as democrats are to republicans and vice versa in the US political arena.

Needless to say that Netbook Era will closely monitor this battle and update you on all the juicy bits and details.

Microsoft has just insured that it does not lose the netbook OS battle by confirming to CNET UK that it will offer a Windows 7 netbook edition. Netbooks have come out of nowhere to become heavily used computers but their low processing power require a minimal operating system. XP has been the choice so far beating Linux senseless and there a lot of players wanting in including Google (a few days ago, some people successfully ran Android on a netbook).

To learn more about the Windows 7 netbook edition, see: Confirmed: Windows 7 ‘netbook edition’

Update: What’s going on? I think we were either fed the wrong information or someone is backing away from original claims. See: Microsoft: We haven’t announced a netbook version of Windows 7

Update 2: Laptop Mag was able to load Windows 7 on a Samsung NC10 netbook. See: Windows 7 Beta Runs on Samsung NC10 for how it turned out.