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Android Chief Squashes Rumors of Android Merging With Chrome OS (pcworld.com)

Posted by msmash on from the making-sense dept.

If you were holding out hope that Android and Chrome would one day merge into some kind of super OS that marries the desktop and mobile worlds once and for all, Google's senior vice president for Android, Chrome, and Chromecast Hiroshi Lockheimer has some bad news for you: It's not happening. From a PCWorld report: Speaking on the All About Android podcast, the mobile chief threw a giant bucket of cold water on the idea that the two platforms would eventually converge, despite recent rumors that suggest such a project is already in development at Google. "There's no point in merging them," Lockheimer said, pointing out sales of that Chromebooks overtook Macs in the first quarter of this year. "They're both successful." He added, Google's aim is "to make sure that both sides benefit from each other. ... You'll see a lot more of that happening, where we're cross-pollinating, but not a merge."

43 comments

  1. Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Do I want two seperate OSs designed specifically for desktop/mobile or do I want a mashup of the two. Tough choice...

    1. Re:Hmm by Tx · · Score: 3, Funny

      Do I want two seperate OSs designed specifically for desktop/mobile or do I want a mashup of the two. Tough choice...

      It was an easy choice for Microsoft; are you saying you don't appreciate the genius design of Windows 8.0?

      --
      Oh no... it's the future.
    2. Re:Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To be fair, look at what MS did to their Mobile OS. Not much win on either side.
      Android has a much better start with far less legacy baggage to worry about. My Android phone is more powerful than my "old" netbook. It really isn't hard to see a day when we finally converge mobile and "desktop" ...Processors are powerful-enough. "Desktop" should become a niche for heavy-lifting... and games.

    3. Re:Hmm by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

      There's also the whole "ChromeOS actually gets updates and has a fairly respectable security track record" thing.

      I'm not sure why you'd risk letting Android touch that; unless it was purely to provide Android app compatibility in ChromeOS as a prelude to killing Android with fire.

    4. Re: Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "My Android phone is more powerful than my "old" netbook. "

      I'm sure it loads pron and Candy Crush at blinding speeds. Real productivity is definitely a niche compared to that use case..

    5. Re:Hmm by bondsbw · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Windows 8 is yesterday's news and should never have been released for desktops. It was a tablet OS only, regardless of what MS marketing would have liked you to believe.

      Windows 10 has a much better hybrid UI. Not perfect obviously. It still has too much of a mix of old and new (reminds me of old OS X, some of the OS was brushed metal, some was smooth gradient, and some was skeuomorphic). But 10 has removed some of the strict (ugly) design guidelines of Metro that resulted in very uninspired UIs, and the adjustments between desktop vs. tablet modes make it much more useful on the desktop than Windows 8 ever was.

      It doesn't please everyone, but nobody else is even trying. (Well, Ubuntu was for a while, where did that ever go?)

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    6. Re:Hmm by Hydrian · · Score: 1

      Then come the bean counters...

      --
      No good deed goes unpunished.
    7. Re:Hmm by bondsbw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      People here hate Microsoft and Windows for a host of reasons. I know. Many of them are very valid reasons.

      But we're talking UI here, specifically its hybrid capabilities. Please save the comments on telemetry and updates and how Satya Nadella personally ate all your puppies for another thread.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    8. Re:Hmm by kelemvor4 · · Score: 1

      Windows 8 is yesterday's news and should never have been released for desktops. It was a tablet OS only, regardless of what MS marketing would have liked you to believe.

      Windows 10 has a much better hybrid UI. Not perfect obviously. It still has too much of a mix of old and new (reminds me of old OS X, some of the OS was brushed metal, some was smooth gradient, and some was skeuomorphic). But 10 has removed some of the strict (ugly) design guidelines of Metro that resulted in very uninspired UIs, and the adjustments between desktop vs. tablet modes make it much more useful on the desktop than Windows 8 ever was.

      It doesn't please everyone, but nobody else is even trying. (Well, Ubuntu was for a while, where did that ever go?)

      Poppycock. With a free program like classic shell, or the $5 start8 (I used the latter) win8 and win10 are virtually indistinguishable. I still use start8 (err, start10 now) on win10.

      That's one of the main reasons windows is popular. You can do what you want to it.

      Personally, I'd love to have a phone with an x86 instruction set processor. The lack of x86 and therefore support for most good programs is the only thing seriously limiting windows phone. If we had that, we wouldn't have to live with more limited "mobile" operating systems like android and ios (meego, blackberry, etc, etc).

    9. Re:Hmm by MightyMartian · · Score: 0

      Windows 10 is fucking awful. It's tablet mode is broken. I have a Win10 tablet, and it just plain sucks when running anything but the Win8/8.1 optimized Metro apps. The way the new start menu works is also a pain in the ass, not to mention the ease with which the underlying XML files can be damaged.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    10. Re:Hmm by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      We had to abandon Classic Shell because it became unreliable and tended towards lock ups. Even uninstalling it on Win10 could be... interesting.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    11. Re:Hmm by maestroX · · Score: 1

      Windows 8 was alright for anything but the desktop (mobile, home theater).
      Windows 10 is more polished and suitable for desktop, and price/quality wise a good choice without the telemetry.
      Anyhow, I don't see me going back to OSX in the future with Jobs gone, Linux for development because that's where the server's at,
      not because Linux was ahead, as it used to be.
      Despite the achievements Linux Desktop is still feels like kludges.

    12. Re:Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      These companies need to stop trying to do something new a focus on what works. Linux Mint and elementary OS are good example of flawless UI. They rely upon tried and true interfaces, but they are modern, clean and far more customisable than any other OS.

    13. Re:Hmm by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      They are both just Linux skins.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
    14. Re:Hmm by Waccoon · · Score: 1

      What I find amusing is that MS has been collecting telemetry for years, and Windows 8 was the result.

    15. Re:Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you follow up on their forums to fix the instability? Part of the reason it is unstable is because Windows 10 itself is so unstable.

  2. How does it feel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    ChromeBooks outsell Macs.

    Apple fanfags btfo.
    How does it feel girls?

    1. Re:How does it feel by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      To be fair, Chromebooks while outselling Macs, aren't really full desktop computers. Being what they are, they are good for most casual users for doing things that require internet, but suck on anything less than a full size screen, and that require a real keyboard. Macs are more than a Chromebook, but most people don't need them anymore, or have learned out to do less while saving 1500 on computer purchases.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    2. Re:How does it feel by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      It must blow your mind when some of us buy both, and sometimes even use the Mac to run Windows (gasp!).

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    3. Re:How does it feel by Streetlight · · Score: 1

      But aren't desktop Macs just laptop hardware attached to the back of a monitor sold as desktop computers?

      --
      In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
    4. Re:How does it feel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Mac Mini is made from laptop components; the Mac desktop is a normal computer. The iMac is mostly components that you would expect from a desktop computer.
      Kind've a moot point as Apple seems to only care about the laptops and doesn't seem to

  3. The denials always come first by Tony+Isaac · · Score: 2

    Then comes the reality. I take this as a sure sign that the two OSes WILL merge!

    1. Re:The denials always come first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah, but I take your denial of his denial as proof that his denial is true and the OSes won't merge!

    2. Re:The denials always come first by almostadnsguy · · Score: 1

      You took the words right out of my post. :-)

    3. Re:The denials always come first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was hoping that mobile os would die a death and my phone would be a general purpose device that I could run the operating system of my choice on independent of artificial restrictions and that the general populous would see the advantage of learning how to use and program the devices they claim to love rather than its utility to me being constantly reduced as the device and os providers cater for the lowest common denominator until.... oh what's the point..... (deep breath from run on sentence)

    4. Re:The denials always come first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's worse than that, the os's you despise are coming to the general purpose devices you currently use, not the other way round.

    5. Re:The denials always come first by thsths · · Score: 2

      Yes. Just like "Orkut is here to stay", or "Google Wave is the future", or "Google Talk will remain open", or "Google+ is our new way of integrating services". Sure. Until it isn't any more.

    6. Re:The denials always come first by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Yup. The more they deny the more they confirm.

  4. more like.... by mario6915 · · Score: 0

    If you are hoping that android and chrome would merge, you are a fucking idiot. Everything doesn't need to be built on HTML/JS.

  5. Increasing integration but always two platforms... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What WILL happen is:
      - future versions of Android and especially Android hardware will adopt a more ChromeOS-like update model
      - ChromeOS will be increasingly capable of running Android apps over the top
      - stored data will be abstracted to interoperate between apps on either platform (if it isn't already) and to stream from one device to the other
      - You'll still need a real Windows device now because of bassackwards .Net developers

  6. ChromeOS is trash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It freezes frequently, and lacks the ability to play some of the media files it even purports to play.

    The only good thing about ChromeOS is that if you try hard enough, you can still replace it with a real operating system.

  7. Why do they need to merge? by Streetlight · · Score: 1

    If a Chrome OS device can run Android apps, why should these two OSs need to merge?

    If Chrome OS could run well native versions of Micorsoft Office and Adobe apps and there were desktop machines running Chrome OS, Chrome OS might be on more computers than those running the kluge called Windows 10.

    --
    In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
    1. Re:Why do they need to merge? by fateblossom · · Score: 1

      Windows biggest advantage is that it can rung Windows programs.
      If all programs was made cross platform. Then a lot of people would not stay on Windows.
      If all games could run on linux. Then most gamers would run Linux.
      And if all office programs (MS Office, Adobe, What ever special program the company uses). Then company's would start switching away from Windows.

      ChromeOS would be a good choice for some. But also many other Linux distros would be out there.

  8. Here's a better idea... by nightfire-unique · · Score: 0

    Provide Android and Chrome runtimes on top of a proper *nix system. Dump busybox or whatever godawful toolbox they've built from scratch. Move to systemd (which I personally hate, but it is a good choice for desktop/mobile). Root out of the box. Proper package management.

    --
    A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
    1. Re:Here's a better idea... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You clearly don't understand the market for Chromebooks.

    2. Re:Here's a better idea... by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      ChromeOS does run over a "proper *nix system", no Busybox at all. It's just almost all access to it is locked down by default - unless you switch the device into developer mode, you can't access a shell, and the file manager doesn't let you run arbitrary executables. The only binaries you can "run" are NaCl tools via the browser. Which... oddly works.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    3. Re:Here's a better idea... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Clearly s/he doesn't understand why 'the market' would preclude other uses. Locking down a device for the intended market segment leads to landfill is is therefore immoral and the people who advocate it or excuse it are.... the rest of the sentence is left to the reader to fill in.

  9. This is great news! by JohnFen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you were holding out hope that Android and Chrome would one day merge into some kind of super OS that marries the desktop and mobile worlds once and for all

    I certainly wasn't hoping for that. I was fearing that it might come to pass.

  10. Andromium OS by Kryptonut · · Score: 1

    For those interested
    Andromium OS looks interesting.

  11. Android Chief Squashes [...] Android Merging [...] by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like some potential sci-fi movie plots.

  12. chromebooks selling more than macs? by crow5599 · · Score: 1

    sales of that Chromebooks overtook Macs in the first quarter of this year

    Um, holy shit?

  13. It will happen if decision is made by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not going to happen.

    Until someone above him wants it to happen and it will happen.

    He's not the one that will make that choice. If that choice is made, he will follow.

  14. thank god by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ChromeOS is great. It has a record of security, it performs well, it respects user privacy with both multi-user and "multi profiles," and no routine access to permanent cookies like serial numbers, it has good disk encryption and sane use of TPM, it has few enough regressions that it can auto-update instead of presenting users with notifications, "do you want to update?" so they can "choose" between regressions and features, it has SD card slots, it publishes the development source publicly instead of making big source drops every christmas, its app platform is the web so you are not tied to silly "stores," and it supports a diverse set of devices for 5 years after start-of-sale so the monthly cost of an up-to-date top-of-the-line chromebook is less than the monthly cost of a budget Nexus phone.

    Android compromises the user left and right to everyone who asks: developers who want to track people with hardware serial number and single profile per phone, manufacturers who want to push bloatware or remove sd card slots, carriers who want to "approve" builds or push customer service spyware onto phones or tie core functions like GPS to their network. It has a much worse record of quality. It doesn't support crouton. The devices are expensive. The encryption is less good, with no real TPM. and Chrome browser on Android has certain features blocked and no source.

    If the OSes ever "merge", obviously bugs and code quality will be lowest common denominator. Which side do you think will get the deciding word on all this squishy necktie business stuff?