SplashTop Linux web OS with Chrome, Bing available for download

Add another offering to the burgeoning netbook OS market.

SplashTop Inc. has made available its namesake Linux OS that reportedly makes it quick and easy for consumers to get on the web fast with only browser and instant search preloaded.

That's about it. The company's claim to fame is its lightweight OS footprint, which features next to zero pre-installed applications aside from the Chrome browser, Bing instant search, Adobe Flash and other key plug ins.

"This new product is streamlined to include no native applications beyond the Chromium-based browser, and boots directly into a start screen featuring a Bing-powered search box in seconds," the company claimed in a press release issued today.

The software, which was made available for beta testing in November, is currently pre-installed on more than 60 million white label PCs from Dell, Acer, HP, Lenovo and others.

“For people who spend all their time using web apps and services like Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox Google Docs and Gmail, adding a fast, safe and secure browser-centric environment to the traditional desktop-oriented environment makes total sense,” said Phil Sheu, CTO and co-founder of Splashtop Inc, in the statement issued today.

The OS boot menu, SplashTop claims, allows users to choose between SplashTop and Windows at startup and imports critical settings from Windows for streamlined set-up.

The OS -- which is said to run on notebooks and netbooks released in the last three years --  can also be customized with apps from the Chrome web store. SplashTop Inc. was founded as DeviceVM in 2006.

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