Twitter abuzz with news of a beta Google Chrome OS. Yep, it’s a hoax.

Gizmodo posted news of a leaked Chrome OS download with a number of popular open source applications including OpenOffice, and GIMP preinstalled.

Naturally when a site like Gizmodo, posts something this bloggable, you’d expect geeks to stop whatever they’re doing and get downloading. You would be right. Twitter’s lost the plot and other respected sites including the likes of Daring Fireball reported the story (albeit inquiringly).

One look at the URL should have rung alarm bells, but you should note – this is definitely NOT a Google Chrome OS. The site has been around two weeks and all it is is GNOME with a Chrome browser, and if you’re still not convinced, the footer says “Chrome OS is not related to Google. Service provided by SUSE Studio. See the license.”

Now spread the word to these lot.