By SCOTT MORRISON

Google Inc. said Thursday the Internet search company is “a year away” from making its anticipated Chrome computer operating system available to users.

Vice President Sundar Pichai, speaking to reporters at a briefing on the company’s Mountain View, Calif., campus, said rumors that Google was close to launching its new operating system were not true.

In July, the company said it was working to develop a new operating system that it hopes will drive Internet users to its Web services and applications.

The new operating system, which Google said would be available to consumers in the second-half of 2010, is a direct assault on software maker Microsoft Corp., which has long dominated the computer software market and is now trying to muscle in on Google’s core business: Internet search advertising.

The new OS also comes as Google looks for ways to diversify its business. Internet search advertising constitutes 97% of the company’s $22 billion in revenue and efforts to cash in on its software applications and video-sharing site YouTube have generated limited results.

Analysts said Google’s operating system push was an ambitious long-term strategic move to broaden the company’s reach and increase use of its search engine and other revenue-generating services. But any impact on the company’s financial performance would be years away.

Write to Scott Morrison at scott.morrison@dowjones.com