New Google Inc software will start up a computer as fast as a television can be turned on, the search company said as it showed off its Chrome operating system designed for PCs that do their work on the web.

Google gave the first public look at its Chrome four months after declaring its intention of developing the PCs main software, a move that puts it directly against Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc.

True to Google’s internet-pedigree, the Chrome OS resembles a Web browser more than it does a traditional computer operating system like Microsoft Windows, matching Google’s ambition to drive people to the Web – where they can see Google ads.

The software will initially be available by the holiday season of 2010 on netbooks that meet Google’s hardware specifications, such as using only memory chips to store data instead of slower hard drives.

Sundar Pichai, vice-president of product management for Google’s Chrome OS, said computers running it will be able to start in less than seven seconds. “From the time you press boot you want it to be like a TV: You turn it on and you should be on the Web using your applications,” he said.