Chrome notebooks will be available from Samsung Electronics Co. and Acer Inc. in the first half of 2011. Companies and agencies including Virgin America Inc. and the U.S. Defense Department will test the new laptops, Google said. Windows, Microsoft’s flagship product, runs about 90 percent of the world’s personal computers.

“With Chrome OS we have the development of a viable, third choice in real operating systems,” Chief Executive Officer  Eric Schmidtaid at the event.