Sundar Pichai, Google’s vice president of product management, listens to a question during a news conference at the Computex 2010 computer fair in Taipei June 2, 2010. Google expects to release its Chrome computer operating system in the “late fall” of 2010, as it looks to compete with rival Microsoft’s Windows, Pichai said on Wednesday. Computex, the world’s second largest computer show, runs from June 1 to 5. ©Reuters

BEIJING, June 3 — Internet giant Google said it is planning to release its own operating system, Chrome OS, for free this fall, media reported Thursday.

The Chrome OS, seen as a rival to Microsoft’s Windows, will be designed initially to work on laptop PCs, said Sundar Pichai, Google’s vice president of product management at the Computex PC show in Taipei.

“We are working on bringing the device later this fall,” Pichai said at the biggest IT trade show in Asia.

“We expect it to reach millions of users on day one,” he added.

Google said the open source operating system is centered around by the Google Chrome browser, which is now used by more than 70 million people worldwide.

Previous reports said that Google began the process of removing the Windows system from its offices earlier this year because of security concerns. Some analysts say this move may be linked to the launch of the new system. 

On Xinhua Web site: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2010-06/03/c_13330975.htm