Android Chief Squashes Rumors of Android Merging With Chrome OS (pcworld.com) 43
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."
Hmm (Score:1)
Do I want two seperate OSs designed specifically for desktop/mobile or do I want a mashup of the two. Tough choice...
Re:Hmm (Score:4, 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?
Re:Hmm (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?)
Re:Hmm (Score:4, 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.
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What I find amusing is that MS has been collecting telemetry for years, and Windows 8 was the result.
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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
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We had to abandon Classic Shell because it became unreliable and tended towards lock ups. Even uninstalling it on Win10 could be... interesting.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Then come the bean counters...
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They are both just Linux skins.
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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.
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It must blow your mind when some of us buy both, and sometimes even use the Mac to run Windows (gasp!).
The denials always come first (Score:3)
Then comes the reality. I take this as a sure sign that the two OSes WILL merge!
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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.
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Yup. The more they deny the more they confirm.
Why do they need to merge? (Score:2)
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.
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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.
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This is great news! (Score:5, 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.
Andromium OS (Score:1)
Andromium OS [google.com] looks interesting.
chromebooks selling more than macs? (Score:1)
Um, holy shit?