Google Chrome OS will be with us before the end of 2010. You will be able to buy a new netbook running it instead of Windows. But what if you are worried about being able to use some apps that currently run on Windows after the switch? Apparently Google has you covered with something being referred to as Chromoting.
With this functionality (unofficially named 'chromoting'), Chrome OS will not only be [a] great platform for running modern web apps, but will also enable you to access legacy PC applications right within the browser.
You will not be able to actually run applications, you will just use a remote desktop connection sort of thing, to connect to your Windows\Linux\Macintosh computer and use it remotely. The data will stay on the remote computer, not on the Chrome OS computer.
Although it's not a perfect solution it does mean you will be able to gain access to software on other platforms. The only prerequisite is you need to have another machine running those apps for this to work.
If you have a Windows or Linux PC already then this may work for you, but it does seem a bit of a waste. Why remote access something when you can just use the other machine?
Where this may come into its own is if you need to monitor say, a Windows app on a remote computer. Chrome OS will have the built-in ability to access it and use that app. It's not so much a feature to allow legacy app support, but for users to manage other machines.
As Chrome OS runs on Linux there's nothing to stop proper support of Windows/Linux apps using a solution like Wine. Google would have to figure out someway of adding support though the browser, though. I doubt they will do this as Google just want users to focus on web apps.