Tech @ Ten was back Wednesday after a short hiatus.

This week, I focused on a few big stories in the tech world.

First of all, Google made an announcement that has been speculated about for years:  they’re going to release an operating system.  Google says ‘Chrome OS’ will be very web-centric, storing data and even running programs through the web.  They’ve said very little else about it, other than that it’s based on Linux.  It’s supposed to start showing up on netbooks next year.

I have a Dell Mini 9 netbook, and am looking forward to trying Chrome OS out on it.  I just hope it will give you a certain amount of web independence, if you’re stuck somewhere without wifi and don’t have another way to connect.

Also in the news this week, Microsoft Office 2010 will have an online version that will be FREE!  By the sounds of things, Online Office will have nearly all the same features as the installed software version.  Google already has a similar product with its Google docs, and there are other free online office suites, but with the familiarity and brand name, Microsoft Office online for free will be hard to pass up.

So do you think Blu-ray will ever end up in the home of virtually every American, like DVD is today?  Sony’s hoping so, but the format doesn’t seem to be generating a ton of excitement.  Maybe Wal-Mart’s $98 price point on this Magnavox player will help.  (at last check, the Rib Mountain store had plenty in stock)

I think a lot of people simply don’t see the reason to switch from DVD.  You can’t even notice the difference unless you have an HDTV, and even then, many people are willing to put up with DVD quality.  There’s also the problem of Blu-ray movies being priced too high, with many costing more than $30.  And many avid film fans have transitioned to downloading or streaming films, and don’t even want to bother with physical discs.  Is a sub-$100 player enough to tempt you?