Chrome OS... What it means for real people?

Chrome OS for the clueless: What it means for real people.
Tuesday night, Google, the company that became a tech giant through search and advertising company, announced that it's branching out into an unrelated direction, the operating system business. It will release next year the Chrome OS, a free competitor to Microsoft's Windows operating system. It will be targeted at Netbooks, a class of small, inexpensive computers, although eventually it will make its way to full-powered notebooks and desktop computers. It will be designed for accessing Web applications (like Google's own GMail and Google Docs), and it will take a lot of design and technology cues, as well as its name, from Google's browser, Chrome.
What does this mean to people who are thinking about buying a new computer now, or next year? Is the Chrome OS something to get excited about, or even wait for?
Full story at: http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10283555-250.html?tag=rtcol;pop
Source: CNET NEWS, Rafe' Radar, Rafe Needleman, July 9, 2009