• Reuters et al., Monday, June 21, 2010 3:47 PM

There's a chance that Dell could add Google's Chrome operating system to its laptops, Reuters is reporting. The partnership would put Chrome -- expected to launch later this year -- in a far better position to compete against Microsoft's Windows.

Amit Midha, Dell's president for Greater China and South Asia, appears to be quite bullish on the technological advancements being made by Google -- and it work in cloud computing, in particular.

"There are going to be unique innovations coming up in the marketplace in two, three years, with a new form of computing, we want to be on that forefront," he told Reuters. "So with Chrome or Android or anything like that we want to be one of the leaders."

"While Midha isn't committing Dell to anything specific, it is a blow to Microsoft that negotiations to replace Windows 7 in future netbooks are underway at all," writes Fortune. "Google doesn't charge companies to use its ChromeOS ... Microsoft, of course, charges a significant licensing fee for Windows."

Dell is the third-largest customer of Windows licenses globally, behind Acer and HP -- "both of whom were also spotted hanging around in development builds of ChromeOS last week," Fortune notes.

"The previously announced ChromeOS hardware partners are Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, [and] Texas Instruments," reports Search Engine Land. "You can now add Dell to that list," it assures.

Not so fast, says DailyFinance. "The problem with Chrome is that it's still an unknown in terms of its actual performance and competitiveness with other operating systems," it writes.

Furthermore, "Having Dell on board at launch would clearly be a big win for Google, though, things have shifted significantly in the computing space since Chrome OS was first announced about a year ago," writes Mashable. "For one, the market appears to be shifting toward tablets -- a market Google also plans to play a big role in. Second, Android is surging in popularity, leading some to wonder if Chrome OS is even really necessary."

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