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Operating Systems Google

Chrome OS Did Lots of Growing Up in Its First Decade -- and There's More To Come (fastcompany.com) 42

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
FastCompany has a feature story on Chrome OS, which has turned 10. The story talks about a new feature of Chrome OS: A new version of Chrome OS rolling out starting today will introduce a long-under-development Phone Hub feature that'll let you see and interact with notifications from your Android phone on your Chromebook, without any complex configuration or clunky software required. You'll also be able to silence your phone, adjust some of its settings, and see and access recent Chrome browser tabs you had open on the device right from your Chrome OS desktop.

Carefully examined clues in Google's open-source Chromium code suggest the system could eventually do even more -- with some indications that full-fledged phone-mirroring that would let you get access to all the apps and files on your phone from your Chromebook could be in the cards. I asked John Solomon's (VP and GM of Chrome OS at Google) colleague, Chrome OS Product Manager, Engineering, and UX Lead John Maletis, if and when such a capability might come online, and while he wouldn't outright confirm any future plans, he did allow that what we're seeing now is only scratching the surface. "You're just seeing the beginning," he says. "That little tiny Phone Hub real estate -- I would put a big 'Watch This Space' on it, because there's a lot of stuff we can and will do there." The publication also touched on Fuchsia, a new operating system that Google has been working on for several years: My final pressing question about the future of Chrome OS is simply how much of it there will be. In a familiar twist, the Android- and Chrome-OS-watching communities are once again filled with speculation that Google could be working to bring the two platforms together -- this time by way of a mysterious underdeveloped Google operating system known as Fuchsia.

Officially, Google says only that Fuchsia is an "open-source effort to create a production-grade operating system that prioritizes security, updatability, and performance" across a "broad range of devices." But the vague nature of its ultimate purpose along with some eyebrow-raising bits of progress in its development -- such as the recent move to allow the operating system to support both Android and Linux apps as native programs -- raise some interesting questions about what, exactly, Google is actually up to with the effort. Solomon declined to answer directly about if or how Fuchsia might one day replace or otherwise relate to Chrome OS (and there are certainly more nuanced, less black-and-white possibilities to consider), but he did offer up some broad thoughts on what Google hopes to accomplish as time wears on.
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Chrome OS Did Lots of Growing Up in Its First Decade -- and There's More To Come More

Chrome OS Did Lots of Growing Up in Its First Decade -- and There's More To Come

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  • Purpose of Fuchsia (Score:3)

    by Mononymous ( 6156676 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2021 @03:22PM (#61141708)

    Don't we all know what the purpose of Fuschia is? Google hates the GPL. They're bothered that a few of us can use Android without Google.

    • Agreed. It's sad how far google has fallen.

      I really which I could just run a linux phone.

      I just looked at pinephone and they are all out of stock :(

      https://pine64.com/product-cat... [pine64.com]

      Google gave me a few other suggestions but it definitely gets pricey for a screen smaller than I am use to. That said, does anyone have any experience with it?

      https://shop.puri.sm/shop/libr... [shop.puri.sm]

      (I just remembered this is about chromeOS and I am severely offtopic but would still love any feedback if possible.)

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        Chill on the Linux phone, the big push is yet to come and with it a veritable flood of Linux phones, all coming out of China the big early leader likely to be Huawei but once it starts plenty of others will jump on the bandwagon. When you stop to think about even M$ could jump on the Linux Phone bandwagon, at least it ain't Googles Android (add in an xbox layer for gaming and you will understand why M$ is likely to jump to a Linux Phone).

    • Seriously?

      Well, it seems Google hates GPL so much that they have opted for a BSD-kind license... which is also open-source.

      https://fuchsia.googlesource.c... [googlesource.com]

      • Yes. What Google objects to is copyleft. They release a lot of software under non-copyleft free licenses.

        • Yes. What Google objects to is copyleft. They release a lot of software under non-copyleft free licenses.

          They don't object to it, they contribute huge amounts to copyleft projects.

          They release a lot of software under non-copyleft free licenses.

          If you have something of value to add you can create your own fork with your additions and license it under a copyleft license. So what exactly are you complaining about?

          • Once Fuchsia replaces Android there will be no more custom ROMs.

            • Can't you just use Android and all the custom ROMs? Sure if you want to add features you'll have to add them yourself rather than relying on Google to do it for you but that's part of the value of open source: not having to rely on a corporation.

  • Fuchsia (Score:4, Interesting)

    by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2021 @03:23PM (#61141718) Journal

    a mysterious underdeveloped Google operating system known as Fuchsia.

    It's not mysterious, the source code is right here [googlesource.com]. It's also not going to be production-ready any time soon, the team has gotten lost in micro-kernel messaging queue distractions.

    • It's also not going to be production-ready any time soon, the team has gotten lost in micro-kernel messaging queue distractions.

      That's a good thing because last I read (on slashdot), they excluded certain security features specifically to enable data harvesting.

  • And turn them into real desktop Linux. They have the infrastructure and hardware support, even the apps. Currently Linux apps run in a container instead of natively, being a Chrome Subsystem for Linux. Also why are there still no 17 inch Chromebooks?

    • Re:Google needs to flip the switch (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Mononymous ( 6156676 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2021 @03:29PM (#61141736)

      Chromebooks are for schools. How's a 17" machine gonna fit in a 2nd grader's backpack?

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
        Larger backbacks, givethe kids some screen real-estate plz

        • Larger backbacks, givethe kids some screen real-estate plz

          I'm sure you're being facetious, but it was sad when my kid was in middle school when you had 70 pound girls carrying 40 pounds of stuff in their backpacks

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by udittmer ( 89588 )

        A major uptick in school use is the reason Chromebooks are in short supply right now, but in general they've come a long way. For many people they're a perfectly adequate replacement for a laptop, cheaper and with a much longer battery life. Not to mention regular hassle-free improvements for 5 years or so. If you're already using the Google ecosystem, and don't need the full app selection that comes with MacOS or Windows (or are fine with installing Linux software), they're quite capable machines.

      • Are you kidding? I remember the days of carrying 30 pounds of books between classes.
    • If they make it too much linux, how will they ever be able to announce one day theyre pulling the plug on the whole damn thing and upend everyone? Thats kinda what they are getting known for. If you use a google product, at any time they could just decide to end it, for reasons they never say, and frankly most people cant figure out sometimes. Sometimes they are like the iconic ADHD hobbyist carpenter that starts like 10 projects at home, they are all incomplete, and theres holes everywhere.

    • And turn them into real desktop Linux. They have the infrastructure and hardware support, even the apps. Currently Linux apps run in a container instead of natively, being a Chrome Subsystem for Linux. Also why are there still no 17 inch Chromebooks?

      I likes me some Linux. I have no intention of running with me as the product Google is selling.

  • Keep adding features until... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Tuesday March 09, 2021 @03:32PM (#61141752)

    Netscape was the #1 Browser, they kept on adding features until, Internet Explorer was available. It supported the Standards Better than Netscape, and it didn't have all that extra Crap that bogged it down, making it the #1 browser, Then they kept on adding features until Firefox shortly got some foot hold, it was the the small and light browser without all that Extra Crap that bogged down IE making it really popular, but Firefox started to keep on adding features until Google Chrome released its small and light browser...

    Just make a browser that supports the standards. Updates to the browser should be incorporating the new standards , fixing bugs, improving performance. Not adding a slew of features that will suppose to make it the Next OS.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Merk42 ( 1906718 )
      You do know that the Chrome browser and Chrome OS, while related, are two different things, right?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by antdude ( 79039 )

      Who will take over Chrome? I hate Chrome. :(

  • Airdroid for android phones right now.

    It's especially handy for file transfers, and making calls/texts from your browser. (There are also desktop Mac and Win clients)

    Airdroid can also handily dump apk files so you can save them, in case... I still have the tricorder app running...

  • and it's still barely an OS. It's more of an engine to lock people into Google's mainframe cloud mentality. One day that shoe will drop and all that data will be held for a monthly ransom.

    • that's fine, my gmail is pulled down by Thunderbird hot and backed up. My pictures and docs never existed solely in google's cloud.

  • I know this is going to sound snarky, but it really isn't.. Who is using Chrome OS? For what? In 10 years I haven't ever seen a computer with it. Is this something for schools?

    • I'd venture a guess that about half of people use their laptop solely to run a browser. They check Facebook or whatever social media, their Gmail or other web email, look things up, watch YouTube, whatever. You and I might program Arduinos from our laptops, but most people don't. For most people, the computer is the web is the computer.

      My wife liked her Ubuntu desktop, so I stuck Ubuntu on her Chromebook. She could boot either OS. It ended up she never had any reason to boot anything but ChromeOS. Ever

    • I do.

      My Asus C302 Chromebook has killer battery life, is beautiful, lightweight, delightful ergonomically, has everything I want in a laptop that I can quickly wipe back to bare metal at an international border, or back over with the car without worrying about my data. It works with my Yubikey, so only I get into my stuff. Well, Google and I.

      Destroy it or steal it and I just get another one, without breaking the bank, and everything comes right back on it. This is almost the way Sun's JavaStation was suppos

  • They are encouraging the low end of computing to be stagnant by being lax on Chromebook requirements .. especially when it comes to displays. They need to revise up the standards so that even low end hardware is required to be of a certain standard. That is, they ought to make it such that to call itself a Chromebook a laptop should ensure it has sufficient RAM and display resolution to play back HD video without stutter and also run an IDE. That way manufacturers won't be encouraged to keep making shitty d

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