Here's what I'll miss about Chrome OS once it turns into Android
[...] Chrome OS has an expiration date. It's not right around the corner — it'll probably take a couple of years, but one day, all Chromebooks will run Android over Chrome OS so that Google can better compete with Apple.
While I can understand why Google streamlining its operating systems is probably a good thing in the long run, losing Chrome OS will come with some growing, or rather, shrinking pains. It will force Google to choose between Android and Chrome OS for the future of several useful features, and I'm nervous that some of my favorites will disappear.
[....] Right now, regular updates are one of my favorite reasons to recommend Chromebooks. You don't usually have to worry about how many years of support your light, fast laptop is promised because it will get a brand-new version of Chrome OS every four weeks.
[....] The problem with Google shifting from Chrome OS to Android is that, well, Android updates don't work in quite the same way. Rather than pushing one update to every device, each OEM has to take the time to optimize Google's latest product to work with its own Android skin. That optimization delays the update schedule, sometimes to the point where a phone will fall behind by a version or two. And, when that happens, it almost never really catches up.
[....] Right now, organizing files on a Chromebook feels like it should — it's very desktop-coded. Everything lives inside a folder like you'd find on a Windows or Mac laptop, and you can quickly sort by everything from title to file type for easy access. When you find what you need, you can then pin it to your Chromebook's taskbar, keeping it just a tap away. Want to do that on an Android phone? There's no space for more icons at the bottom of your display.
One useful feature of Chrome OS is that you can run a Linux VM within it if you have decent Chomebook hardware.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by every on Thursday November 28, @05:16AM
I tunneled into this site from a containerized Debian instance running under ChromeOS. Would hate to give that up...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by shrewdsheep on Thursday November 28, @09:32AM (2 children)
I am flabbergasted as to why you would even consider that. Chromebooks are crippled hardware wise, real laptops can be had with better specs for (almost) the same price. Rather do it the other way round. Run chrome OS as a VM under Linux, if you must, I promise you will be happier.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RamiK on Thursday November 28, @10:30AM
It's also WAY off the mark seeing how Android 14's addition of the Android Virtualization Framework is now a hard requirement for Android 15 and beyond and, as the name suggests, you're going to have app-level and os-level virtualization supported: https://www.androidauthority.com/android-15-virtual-machine-mandate-3498428/ [androidauthority.com]
e.g. A WSL-style Debian terminal app is currently in the works by google targeting android 16: https://www.androidauthority.com/android-linux-terminal-app-3489887/ [androidauthority.com] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeQSxUlHcho [youtube.com]
compiling...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 28, @11:20PM
About a decade ago, laptops sucked, so one could wait for Google to discontinue their premium Chromebooks and grab one of them really cheap.
In those days, everybody making laptops was doing 16:9 and TN displays with pwm dimming and dogshit trackpads made out of plastic.
But buy a Chromebook Pixel or whatever they were called, and you could get a HiDPI 3:2 display with premium finish and it was just a hop skip and jump away to install a real Linux distro.
But in the mid-2020's, the gap has narrowed for anyone paying attention. Everyone has a HiDPI option and IPS displays without pwm. Nobody is really doing 16:9 any more.
These days, I assume people running Linux on a Chromebook are recycling trash hardware.