Beginning next Monday, we'll give away one notebook each day via our new @ReadWriteMobile Twitter account. To be eligible, you'll need to do the following:

• Follow @ReadWriteMobile on Twitter

• Sharpen your brains. We'll be asking a brain-busting trivia question on topics to be determined by our crack team of quiz show drop-outs. The first one to answer correctly wins!

• Be on your toes (or tweeting toes). We'll ask our daily trivia question at completely random times. We'll give about ten minutes notice, but that's it. Devious!

• Be sure to tag your official answers with #chromeOSmas, otherwise you're getting coal.

We'll collect the email addresses of the winners and send them along to Google, who will contact you to collect more information. Then you'll be getting your Chrome notebook right quick, just in time for the holidays.

UPDATE: We got word from Google that they can only send notebooks to U.S. addresses. Apologies to our international friends.

Thanks for playing and happy holidays from ReadWriteWeb.

The announcement is being live streamed as we speak via Google's own YouTube service. You can watch it along with us after the jump and share your thoughts as we curate the best tidbits via #rwwchrome.

To take part in the conversation, simply comment below and tweet using the #rwwchrome hashtag.

If the Chrome Operating System is going to be a major part of Google's plans for the future, and its strategy for staving off Facebook's potential domination of the internet experience for a billion people, then this hire is likely bad news for Google. Facebook, on the other hand, is putting together quite the team.

Assembling a Powerful Team

Put these two new people together with Firefox co-founders Blake Ross and Joe Hewitt, brought to Facebook almost three years ago and Paul Buchheit and Bret Taylor, the creators of Gmail, Adsense and Friendfeed, acquired just under one year ago, and what do you get? A monster team with the experience to create a compelling, fully wrap-around internet experience for hundreds of millions of users.

Big, hot companies make big, hot hires and are generally deep in talent, but for Facebook to have nabbed the guy leading Chrome OS and the WebGL hardware acceleration program is a pretty big coup.

Jobs wasn't trying to disparage Microsoft. He was actually referring to the form factor of "personal computers" - laptops and desktops alike. It's a discussion about the upcoming era of computing where everything becomes radically different, from the form factor itself to the user interface and interactions that, combined, make up what we think of as "personal computing."

For what it's worth, Jobs doesn't necessarily know if the iPad will lead the way into this "post-PC era," as he calls it, but you can bet that he hopes it will. Apple PCs, more often called "Macs," were never able to overtake Windows PCs in market share. But with the transformation of personal computing from something that occurs only on boxy desktop computers and laptops to something that takes place on lightweight touchscreen tablets, Apple finally has a chance to be a market share leader for everyday computing, competing only with other tablet manufacturers and tablet OS designers. In this new group of future PC powerhouses, the only other stiff competition is from Google, whose mobile OS, Android, has already started to appear on tablet computers. Plus, Google is launching a second OS, too: the netbook and tablet-friendly Chrome OS, which will arrive earlier than expected, according to reports coming out this morning from the Computex PC show in Taipei. It's now coming this fall, instead of December, as expected earlier.

Limitations of Tablets: Not a Long-term Issue

But when questioned about the limitations of tablets by conference host Walt Mossberg of The Wall St. Journal, Jobs admitted to some of the present-day shortcomings, namely that they lack the ability to handle serious content creation.

The iPad currently suffers from limitations in its software (no ability to multitask or maintain multiple open windows) and hardware (not enough processing power to run heavy-duty applications like PhotoShop or video editing software).

These issues will work themselves out over time, says Jobs. "The software will get more powerful. I think your vision would have to be pretty short to think these can't grow into machines that can do more things, like editing video, graphic arts, productivity."

Taking the long view, it's believable that one day, tablets will be our only computers, with add-on keyboards, mice or docking stations of some sort when we need to do "real work." But how much real work do you do everyday? According to Jobs, when he goes to write a 35-page analyst report, he'll plug in his Bluetooth keyboard, but "that's 1% of the time," he says.

Change isn't Easy

On a personal note, this vision of computing that has me, as a heavy-duty laptop user, perplexed. My day is spent with my fingers attached to a keyboard, typing, writing, Web surfing, tweeting, Facebooking, FTPing, editing photos, IMing, creating emails and more. At the moment, I have four different desktop software programs open and two different Web browsers running, each full of tabs. I have a local pictures folder open for browsing, and a drag-and-drop FTP app ready for freshly cropped photos. How will this work on a tablet? Will it be possible with the multitasking feature being introduced via the iPhone OS 4.0 update? Something even better? As eagerly as I'm anticipating that new functionality for my iPhone, that interface still feels a little dumbed down when you imagine using it for your everyday work - especially when you're used to a desktop-like computer, whether that's Mac, Windows PC or Linux.

That may change one day in the distant future, but it's hard to quite grasp the vision Jobs describes. No more laptop? No more mouse? An occasionally used plug-in keyboard? Am I trading computing power for computing elegance? A workhorse for a show pony?

What do You Think?

These fears are par for the course, though - change can be difficult and sometimes even scary. A post-PC landscape "makes some people uneasy," admits Jobs. I guess he meant me, and people like me, whose laptops will have to be pried from our cold, dead hands. These are people who love our tablets... but in the living room and kitchen, not in the office.

Then again, many people were probably uneasy when they were first introduced to computers. (This will replace my ledger? My pen and paper? I don't think so!). They were wrong then; computers replaced almost everything, and with the help of the Internet, every conceivable business model had to transition itself to a digital world, too. Adapt or be crushed. Will the anti-tablet pundits be wrong now? Will everyone who thinks tablets will always be secondary devices eventually eat their words when they become everyone's only computer? Or is the vision of a tablet-filled world where today's "personal computers" collect dust one that's flawed?

That seems to us like he's picking on the semantics of Google's statement just a bit. Google says that users "won't have to deal with viruses," and Schneier is noting that it's simply not possible to create an OS that can't be taken down by malware. While that may be the case, it's likely that Chrome OS is going to be arguably more secure than the other consumer operating systems currently in use today. In fact, we didn't take Google's statement to mean that Chrome OS couldn't get a virus EVER; we just figured they meant it was a lot harder to get one on their new OS - didn't you?

Even Schneier himself admits that an OS redesign which takes security into account "all the way up and down" could make for a more secure OS than the ones available today. However, that's different than saying that users won't have to deal with malware, he added.

Carl Leonard, security research manager of Websense EMEA, also shares Schneier's beliefs. "All software is susceptible to issues - it just depends on how much effort the malware author wants to go to and how much profit can be made," he said. "Already we have seen vulnerabilities and issues with the Chrome browser, and Google even ran a contest in which two well-known security researchers found 12 exploitable security flaws in the company's Native Client system."

OK, we get it: Chrome OS can get malware...technically speaking. But won't it get less of it?

Forrester Research analyst Andrew Jaquith, on the other hand, has more positive things to say about Google's new OS. He notes that the company has made strong security strides through its Native Client code technology and Chrome web browser, which includes features such as "sandboxing" which could help contain malware. "If [Google] brings that kind of thinking to the operating system and looks at it from a clean sheet of paper, they should be able to introduce some significant improvements," he said.

Do you think the security community is making a mountain out of a molehill when it comes to Google's security claims? Or do you think they were right to point out that no OS is invulnerable to attack?

However, what we don't know about the Chrome OS could fill a room.

What We Don't Know About Chrome OS

1. What will happen when you go offline?

   If the Chrome OS is all about running web apps in a browser, that begs the question - what will happen when there's no internet connection available? Of course, Google apps like Gmail can run offline using Gears, but Gears isn't everywhere yet. Another likely possibility is that Chrome OS will support the upcoming standard HTML5, which also offers offline capabilities. However, not all web applications will support that either...at least not immediately. That just leaves the "windowing system" running on the Linux kernel. Will it, like any other Linux OS, allow us to install software applications? That seems less likely since Chrome OS is all about the move away from the desktop to the web. The only real solution to the offline conundrum would be to bundle in a cellular data service with the netbook so you have always-on connectivity.

2. No More Desktop Software Apps: But What About Photo Uploads? Creating a PDF? Editing a Video?

   Ultimately, this argument boils down to the "Photoshop" question. Anytime we talk about moving the OS to the cloud, someone inevitably says: "but you can't run Photoshop in the cloud!" That's true, but none of us run Photoshop on our netbooks, either. Still, Chrome OS on a netbook is only step one - desktop and laptop computers are sure to come next. But how will Chrome OS handle the tasks that netbooks can't? Photo software, including Google's own Picasa can't work in a browser alone...at least, not today. It still requires the intermediate step of importing photos from camera to PC then uploading from PC to web. Will this workflow still be possible thanks to Chrome OS's windowing system and Linux kernel? Then there are the more complex tasks that also require an OS: video editing, using Adobe software, using Microsoft Office. Of course, we know Google's response to that last one, but there's still a good-sized userbase out there who prefers Office to Docs - will they be willing to give it up and move to the cloud at last?

3. How Much Will Chrome OS Cost?

   A lot of people are wondering if Chrome OS will be free, an idea likely brought about by the fact that everything that Google offers consumers has also been free. Free webmail, free Google Docs, free tools (IM, Calendar, Photos, etc.), free Chrome browser. But will the OS itself be free? Will it be ad-supported? If it's not free, then how much of a difference in price points will there have to be between a Chrome OS netbook and a Windows 7 netbook for consumers to switch to this new, unknown entity?

4. Will It Run Third-Party Applications?

   If we had to bet, we'd bet yes on this one, but there just aren't enough details on this yet. Although Google is open-sourcing the code for Chrome OS later this year, we don't know if that means they're going to let anyone and everyone build apps for it. Maybe they will go the Apple route and lock down the OS the way Apple locks down the iPhone and allow us to install "approved" Chrome OS apps only. A lockdown ensures that everything will "just work" - a phrasing Google even uses in their blog post about it...and a methodology that has proven very successful for Apple. (It's easy for things to work when you control it with a heavy hand). But locking down an OS seems so very anti-open source and so un-Googlely. Will we end up having to "jailbreak" Chrome OS one day?

5. Can I Use My Old Printer?

   Although less of a concern to those of us on the cutting edge who are always buying the latest gadgets and electronics, the hardware compatibility issue is still an unknown entity. Of course, thanks to its Linux kernel, the OS will include a bunch of drivers...but which ones? Since Google hasn't adopted a version of Linux that's already out there, we don't know how extensive the driver support will be. And, as everyone knows, getting manufacturers to build drivers for your OS, (nevermind getting them to provide you with ones that work properly!) is one of the hardest parts of having a successful OS.

6. Will Chrome OS Run Firefox?

   Ha! As if! It's highly unlikely that Google would want to support competitive browsers on an OS built to run Chrome. But wait...this leads to a grey area when it comes to antitrust issues like those Microsoft currently faces in the EU. Over there, European officials are demanding that Microsoft not bundle IE with Windows, claiming that doing so is anti-competitive. But what about when the browser becomes the OS (in a sense)? Will Google now be forced to support alternatives? They might. Chrome isn't a prerequisite for a web OS: Firefox's latest version also supports HTML5, so it could just as easily run web apps both online and off.

7. Does this mean Google and Apple will No Longer be Friends?

   As noted on VentureBeat, Google and Apple currently share an alliance of sorts. Their boards share two directors, Google chief executive, Eric Schmidt, and former Genentech chief executive, Arthur Levinson. How can this relationship last now that Google is clearly gunning for the OS market? Although people like to pit Google versus Microsoft, it's really Google versus Microsoft and Apple. Apple has a nice, healthy chunk of the consumer OS pie - the very slice that a Google OS is aiming for, especially considering its launch is on a netbook. However, Apple has clearly shown no interest - at least so far - in doing netbooks, preferring to focus their efforts on high-end computers and portable mini computers in the form of iPods and iPhones. But Google is already competing with Apple on the phone front, too, thanks to Android, and on the browser front, thanks to Chrome. Will an OS move be the last straw in the two companies' friendship?

8. Linux on the Netbook Hasn't Sold - Will a Google Brand Sell it Now?

   We originally believed, as many open source advocates did, that the rise of the netbook would lead to uptake in consumer use of the Linux OS. However, that did not turn out to be the case. Instead, Windows XP is the dominant netbook OS and Microsoft's next OS, Windows 7, will launch netbook-ready. What was the problem with Linux on the netbook? According to major netbook manufacturer MSI Wind, the problem was Linux itself - MSI's Director of U.S. Sales Andy Tung said this of consumers: "They start playing around with Linux and start realizing that it's not what they are used to. They don't want to spend time to learn it so they bring it back to the store. The return rate is at least four times higher for Linux netbooks than Windows XP netbooks." Will branding a Linux OS "Google" and telling consumers to just load up the browser lead to simplicity, as Google hopes, or just more confusion?

9. Will Chrome OS Turn into an Enterprise Play?

   Although Chrome OS will launch on the netbook, how far does Google plan to take their new technology? To the consumer desktop? To the small business? To the enterprise? Google has already shown how competitive they are when it comes to fighting Microsoft Office, will they do the same in fighting Microsoft's foothold as the business desktop OS of choice? If so, they may have a tougher battle ahead of them than they think. It may be one thing to get the IT guys to ditch Office software for a simplified cloud version, but ditch their OS? Not so much. The Windows desktop OS is designed to work with the rest of the Windows stack, including everything from Exchange Server to SharePoint and many others. In a client-server setting, IT admins create server-based policies that control everything about the corporate OS including browser settings, backup policies, logon restrictions, file access, permissions, updates, and so much more. What can you control when the OS is the web? Not much. And that could be a big problem.

10. Does "open source" mean Google expects the community to maintain the code?

    In the open source world, the development and maintenance of code is crowd-sourced to a community of developers. By open-sourcing the Chrome OS code, is Google saying that they're not steering the OS ship? If so, that would be a very different way to do business than how Microsoft and Apple currently work. And it's somewhat an iffy one. While it's one thing to buy a Linux OS labeled as such, all consumers will see when buying Chrome OS is the big label reading "Google." They will have expectations that the company is running the show, not an amorphous community of open-sourcers. What will happen when something goes wrong? There's no "Apple Genius Bar" to take the computer to and no "Microsoft Support" hotline to call. (Or will there be?) Selling an OS is only step one. Supporting it is just as crucial. What level of responsibility does Google plan for that?

These are our questions about Chrome OS. Can you speculate on the answers? Do you have questions of your own? Let us know in the comments.

In the announcement, Google stresses that this operating system is a completely new project and not affiliated with Google's Android OS, which, according to Google, was always meant to run on a variety of devices, including netbooks. Google acknowledges that the two operating systems might overlap in some areas, but the company believes that, ultimately, "choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google."

Here is how Google describes the OS:

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

The Google Chrome OS will run on top of a Linux kernel, though the exact details about the actual implementation are still vague.

Perfect for Netbooks

This kind of operating system would obviously be perfect for netbooks, which, after all, are meant to be constantly connected to the Internet and don't have a lot of resources. Currently, most netbooks run Windows XP, which, by now, is a rather antiquated operating system. With Windows 7, Microsoft tried to release a version for netbooks that would only run three applications at the same time (though Microsoft has since dropped this limit). Maybe Google is going to take this even further and will release an OS that will only run one application - Chrome.

With this, Google can obviously put its own web apps like Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs at the center of the user experience, and this is surely part of Google's motivation behind releasing this OS. But given that Chrome is simply a browser, any other web app would obviously also be able to run on it as well.