Google's Chrome OS platform sure has come a long way.From the early days, when Chrome OS was little more than an experimental "browser in a box," to today — with the platform powering first-class hardware and supporting a diverse range of productivity applications — Google's once-crazy-seeming project has turned into one of the world's most intriguing and rapidly expanding technological forces.I've been covering Chrome OS closely since the start.

I lived with the first Chromebook prototype, the Cr-48, and have used Chromebooks as part of my own personal computing setup in varying capacities ever since.

I write about the field not only as someone who's studied it professionally from day 1 but also as someone who has used it personally that entire time, up through today.To read this article in full, please click here