Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Report: Google To Fold Chrome OS Into Android (wsj.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the wonder-twin-powers,-activate! dept.

An anonymous reader writes: According to a report at the Wall Street Journal (paywalled) Google plans to merge its Chrome operating system into Android. Google engineers have already been working on this transition for two years; the company expects to have a functioning preview next year, and a finished product in 2017. "The move is also an attempt by Google to get Android running on as many devices as possible to reach as many people as possible. The operating system runs phones, tablets, watches, TVs and car infotainment systems. Adding laptops could increase Android's user base considerably. That should help Google woo more outside developers who want to write apps once and have them work on as many gadgets as possible, with little modification." This doesn't mean Chrome OS is on its way out. According to public statements from Google execs, it will continue to exist and see active development.

2 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I'm conflicted about this by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The app ecosystem's the thing, and while many can survive with Google Docs, some of us need offline tools. If this spurs a proper overhaul of LibreOffice or Apache OpenOffice to a lightweight, Android-friendly version, we could be on the cusp of something very interesting indeed.

    --
    Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
  2. Re:I'm conflicted about this by nine-times · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not clear to me that this needs to create a big practical difference for you. I guess I don't really know what's been going on with ChromeOS lately, but my understanding is that both Android and ChromeOS are basically Linux, so merging the system codebase itself doesn't need to make a big difference for users. They could even potentially use the same display system across both platforms while customizing the UI to fit each. ChromeOS could still be, essentially, a simplified Linux distro where the UI is mostly just just Chrome browser.

    On the other hand, it would possibly make it easier for Google to update/maintain both systems if they shared a codebase. It would also possibly make it easier for Android developers to create desktop versions of their phone apps, in cases where that made sense.

    So all in all, it seems like this is probably a good thing. Not that they couldn't screw it up.