Many people shy away from cloud computing because they think it is insecure. They think just because they can't touch the hardware that their data is on that it is being passed around willy nilly. However, I think they are thinking about security the wrong way. And Chrome OS will protect their data in ways they can't see. Yet.
How Will Chrome OS Be Safer Than Windows or Mac OS X?
Google is designing Chrome OS to be secure from the ground up. With vital operating system aspects in read-only memory and boot-time checkups on your system, Chrome OS will be much safer than current systems. Google has released an overview of security here: Chrome OS security overview.
"The perfect is the enemy of the good". The developers of Chrome OS point out that they are not searching for some "mythical perfect system" for security in the operating system. They know that a good system has many fallbacks in the case that one part fails. This means that a virus cannot infect your machine if the creator beats a single security feature.
"Don't scapegoat our users". Oftentimes I hear "Well they shouldn't have went to that website or downloaded that program". Google wants to make it to where we can take calculated risks with our web browsing and not be infected with malware. When using Chrome OS, you won't be blamed for "doing something stupid". The system will be secure enough for you to do what you want.
Is the Cloud Safe?
As for cloud computing, I trust a locked server farm more than my backpack. And I bet your briefcase doesn't have security guards that are paid to protect it 24/7. So why are people so worried about keeping their data in the cloud? If it's that "private" encrypt it before uploading. And if your data isn't on your laptop, then it can't be swiped by some dude that is just walking by. Google has spoken of plans of encrypting all user data in Chrome OS. Just another way Chrome OS will present security features that are unheard of today.
