Although it is not expected to appear in any devices earlier than next year, Google is offering a sample of the Android OS for x86 PC sytems through the downloadable Android LiveCD. Google's Android OS has already caught the eye of several netbook makers, although it was originally aiming at smartphones.

The Android OS can now be downloaded as a LiveAndroid disc image that should run on any x86 PC. The image can be burnt to a disc, stick it in a CD-ROM drive. After a reboot, users can check out Android without installing it or affecting any files on their PC. The LiveAndroid image is available free of charge and it can also be booted by virtualization software.

When liveandroid booting up, users can use alt+F1 or alt+F7 to switch GUI and console. The developers have added a busybox to liveandroid, so users can do everything in console. More information on how to use the OS is available at http://code.google.com/p/live-android/wiki/howtouse .

The v0.2 of the Android OS can be downloaded here.

For more information about the whole project visit http://code.google.com/p/live-android/.

Google is also working in a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome - the Google Chrome Operating System. Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year, Google plans to open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for in the second half of 2010.