Intel ChromeBooks Can Now Run Wine and Steam (codeweavers.com)

"With Google Play and Android app support hitting Chromebooks, it's now possible to run Windows applications/games on Chromebooks via CrossOver For Android," reports Phoronix. Slashdot reader grungy writes: The first Intel ChromeBooks have access to the Play Store now, and the Android version of Wine apparently runs on them... Pictures show the Steam client running, and a clip of a D3D game. Of course, the Play Store is only available on the ChromeOS developer channel so far, but that should change later this year.
CrossOver for Android also hasn't been officially released, but Thursday CodeWeavers' president blogged excitedly that "we are staring at a Leprechaun riding on the back of a Unicorn while taking a picture of a UFO. We are running CrossOver through Android on a ChromeBook running a Windows based game launched from the Steam client. THIS HAS NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE...EVER!!!"

Comments

Re:Exciting, but dumb...

[Sax Russell 5449D29A]

Most people have been using Chromebooks wrong. When you go out and buy a $500 laptop or tablet, you don't really expect it to run games or applications that require intensive graphics processing or physics computing. But for some reason, when it comes to $200 Chromebooks, people expect them to do everything a $3k gaming rig can do. I mean, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever, and it's been like this since their launch.

I'm happy with my slightly customized $200 Chromebook that has a good keyboard and touchpad, 6.5h battery life and it's very light and durable. I'm using it right.

Re:Exciting, but dumb...

[BronsCon]

People don't expect that from a tablet because the tablet form-factor has never been primarily comprised of machines that could do those things. Laptops not being able to do those things is a relatively new phenomenon and isn't widely accepted by a populace used to technology becoming more capable over time. To most people, it's just another laptop and everybody knows laptops can do everything desktops can do, just sometimes not as fast.

In other words, people don't always understand the finer points of fields in which they're not educated. Most people aren't educated enough in the field of computing to know the difference between x86 and ARM, or Windows, OSX, Linux, and Chrome OS. Hell, I've met people who think iOS and Android are the same OS and don't understand why apps bought on their iPhone don't appear in their Play store purchases; after all, they used the same email address for both.

When that's who you're selling to, you can expect any and all limitations of your platform to be viewed as flaws, mistakes you made, that you must fix in order for your platform to not be complete crap in the eyes of the consumer.

I'm not saying it is right, just that it is.