6 ms·

I'm curious why they didn't mention something so game changing as this in the keynote.

kzahel 10y ago
Managing expectations, I think. Google tends to release early and with sometimes experimental products where the quality/UX is not super great. I expect this will have some rather rough edges.
- stinkytaco 10y ago
  That doesn't stop them from announcing all sorts of things that have rough edges. Some of them keep their rough edges for years.
untog 10y ago
Chromebooks in general don't seem to get that much attention. I'm not sure why, maybe they're not as ground-breaking as... another messaging app... that isn't even out yet...
- ljk 10y ago
  Everyone wants to be the only walled garden... https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/
JustSomeNobody 10y ago
What game is this changing, really?
- kakarotoismygod 10y ago
  Having offline apps is game changing because not everyone has access to the Internet all day long, and doing tasks like image and video editing on your laptop will be much easier and faster than using web services.
  - NetStrikeForce 10y ago
    So, like having a Mac or Windows laptop, but restricted to either webapps or walled garden. This is not game changer. It is exciting and might help grow the Android ecosystem. I just hope Google learned from the Honeycomb fiasco.
    - VikingCoder 10y ago
      You can side-load Android Apps on Android. I'd be pretty surprised if you won't be able to side-load Android apps on ChromeOS.
      - benley 10y ago
        You can already side-load Android apps on ChromeOS, as well as with Chrome on other platforms. All you need is the ArcWelder chrome extension, which I'm pretty sure is provided by google themselves, to package up an apk into a chrome app: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/arc-welder/emfinbmielocnlhgmfkkmkngdoccbadn https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/arc-welder/emfinbm...
  - elliotpage 10y ago
    But chromebooks already have lots of offline apps? They have been available for the majority of the Chromebooks' lifespan at this point.
  - JustSomeNobody 10y ago
    Sorry, not trying to be argumentative but this doesn't change the game. It's cool, but not game changing.
  - proyb2 10y ago
    If it's get too affordable with a low-end hardware, most users will still opt for LAN cafe which is popular in China and some countries and is cheapest option for gaming and surfing Internet. The cheapest notebook is about US$200.
- ja27 10y ago
  Touchscreen support. For example, I use Zinio to read magazines. The webapp can't zoom, doesn't handle portrait mode well, and is pretty bad with touch. Actually it's pretty broken in general. But the Android app runs great on my Chromebook and has a good fullscreen touch UI. Similar with something like Google Play Books. The Android app has a good fullscreen touch UI and has a notes feature that the webapp doesn't.
- Kiro 10y ago
  Literally? Hearthstone. You can now play Hearthstone on a Chromebook.
- discordance 10y ago
  Perhaps not game changing, but it is interesting to look at the overall 'universal' app trend between Apple, Microsoft and Google. Microsoft's UWP platform - for Microsoft it's about bringing users from their strong desktop market to Windows Phone. Google - Android apps on Chrome OS. Google seem to be doing the opposite of Microsoft and making a play for the desktop market. Apple and the iOS-ification of OS X - Similar to Google, Apple seem to be preparing to pull in their phone market stronghold onto the desktop. Seems like Microsoft and Google are directly competing here, and Apple is competing with themselves.
  - pantypants 10y ago
    >Apple and the iOS-ification of OS X - Similar to Google, Apple seem to be preparing to pull in their phone market stronghold onto the desktop. Is this what the relatively recent bitcode stuff with iOS apps is for?
- rpdillon 10y ago
  It's a pretty huge deal, at least in my eyes. Chromebooks have this enormous following because of the price. Now, every app in the Play Store is installable to this huge group of laptop users. That means when a company wants their app to be on Android, they consent to it being on laptops as well. This means Microsoft Office and Apple Music are on ChromeOS laptops. It's a very effective strategy to vastly increase the viability of Chromebooks for regular users using other companies' apps. I never expected to see Apple developing apps for a Google-controlled laptop OS, but here we are.
bitmapbrother 10y ago
They run out of time apparently.
hackaflocka 10y ago
Anyone know what would happen if one were to install BOTH the Android AND Chrome OS version of an app (e.g. Gmail)?
- y4mi 10y ago
  urm, there is a gmail app on chromeos? it just links to gmail.com if i use the gmail shortcut on my tray and i couldnt find another app on the store.
  - hackaflocka 10y ago
    I was under the impression they had built an offline version of Gmail for Chrome OS. I suppose not.
- sonnyp 10y ago
  probably nothing, you'll have two different Gmail apps
  - hackaflocka 10y ago
    I see -- kinda like having OpenOffice and Microsoft Office on the same PC I guess -- either one can open a .doc document.
- Natanael_L 10y ago
  Best bet, they're kept separately. Different runtimes (one JRE, one browser environment).
  - monocasa 10y ago
    Well, ART not JRE.
nl 10y ago
Because they are killing Chromebooks. http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/29/9639950/google-combining-android-chromeos-report http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/29/9639950/google-combining-...
- Robelius 10y ago
  I thought this was a big rumor for a few days that ended up getting extinguished by a Google exec.
  - nl 10y ago
    Yeah. But then they build devices like the Pixel C, which were clearly supposed to be Chrombooks[1] and they have both groups reporting to the same managers. So.. read the actions. [1] http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/12/the-pixel-cs-bumpy-road-from-chrome-os-concept-to-android-adoptee/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/12/the-pixel-cs-bumpy-ro...
    - dragonwriter 10y ago
      The Pixel C is a tablet with an optional keyboard available, so if it was (as it clearly seems) planned to be a ChromeOS device, it was a third form factor from the existing Chromebooks and Chromeboxes. But making a decision not to expand ChromeOS devices to include "Chromeslates" is not the same thing as killing Chromebooks.
- shemnon42 10y ago
  Did you even read the article?

Managing expectations, I think. Google tends to release early and with sometimes experimental products where the quality/UX is not super great. I expect this will have some rather rough edges.

stinkytaco 10y ago
That doesn't stop them from announcing all sorts of things that have rough edges. Some of them keep their rough edges for years.

untog 10y ago

Chromebooks in general don't seem to get that much attention. I'm not sure why, maybe they're not as ground-breaking as... another messaging app... that isn't even out yet...

ljk 10y ago
Everyone wants to be the only walled garden... https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/

JustSomeNobody 10y ago

What game is this changing, really?

kakarotoismygod 10y ago
Having offline apps is game changing because not everyone has access to the Internet all day long, and doing tasks like image and video editing on your laptop will be much easier and faster than using web services.
- NetStrikeForce 10y ago
  So, like having a Mac or Windows laptop, but restricted to either webapps or walled garden. This is not game changer. It is exciting and might help grow the Android ecosystem. I just hope Google learned from the Honeycomb fiasco.
  - VikingCoder 10y ago
    You can side-load Android Apps on Android. I'd be pretty surprised if you won't be able to side-load Android apps on ChromeOS.
    - benley 10y ago
      You can already side-load Android apps on ChromeOS, as well as with Chrome on other platforms. All you need is the ArcWelder chrome extension, which I'm pretty sure is provided by google themselves, to package up an apk into a chrome app: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/arc-welder/emfinbmielocnlhgmfkkmkngdoccbadn https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/arc-welder/emfinbm...
- elliotpage 10y ago
  But chromebooks already have lots of offline apps? They have been available for the majority of the Chromebooks' lifespan at this point.
- JustSomeNobody 10y ago
  Sorry, not trying to be argumentative but this doesn't change the game. It's cool, but not game changing.
- proyb2 10y ago
  If it's get too affordable with a low-end hardware, most users will still opt for LAN cafe which is popular in China and some countries and is cheapest option for gaming and surfing Internet. The cheapest notebook is about US$200.
ja27 10y ago
Touchscreen support. For example, I use Zinio to read magazines. The webapp can't zoom, doesn't handle portrait mode well, and is pretty bad with touch. Actually it's pretty broken in general. But the Android app runs great on my Chromebook and has a good fullscreen touch UI. Similar with something like Google Play Books. The Android app has a good fullscreen touch UI and has a notes feature that the webapp doesn't.
Kiro 10y ago
Literally? Hearthstone. You can now play Hearthstone on a Chromebook.
discordance 10y ago
Perhaps not game changing, but it is interesting to look at the overall 'universal' app trend between Apple, Microsoft and Google. Microsoft's UWP platform - for Microsoft it's about bringing users from their strong desktop market to Windows Phone. Google - Android apps on Chrome OS. Google seem to be doing the opposite of Microsoft and making a play for the desktop market. Apple and the iOS-ification of OS X - Similar to Google, Apple seem to be preparing to pull in their phone market stronghold onto the desktop. Seems like Microsoft and Google are directly competing here, and Apple is competing with themselves.
- pantypants 10y ago
  >Apple and the iOS-ification of OS X - Similar to Google, Apple seem to be preparing to pull in their phone market stronghold onto the desktop. Is this what the relatively recent bitcode stuff with iOS apps is for?
rpdillon 10y ago
It's a pretty huge deal, at least in my eyes. Chromebooks have this enormous following because of the price. Now, every app in the Play Store is installable to this huge group of laptop users. That means when a company wants their app to be on Android, they consent to it being on laptops as well. This means Microsoft Office and Apple Music are on ChromeOS laptops. It's a very effective strategy to vastly increase the viability of Chromebooks for regular users using other companies' apps. I never expected to see Apple developing apps for a Google-controlled laptop OS, but here we are.

bitmapbrother 10y ago

They run out of time apparently.

hackaflocka 10y ago

Anyone know what would happen if one were to install BOTH the Android AND Chrome OS version of an app (e.g. Gmail)?

y4mi 10y ago
urm, there is a gmail app on chromeos? it just links to gmail.com if i use the gmail shortcut on my tray and i couldnt find another app on the store.
- hackaflocka 10y ago
  I was under the impression they had built an offline version of Gmail for Chrome OS. I suppose not.
sonnyp 10y ago
probably nothing, you'll have two different Gmail apps
- hackaflocka 10y ago
  I see -- kinda like having OpenOffice and Microsoft Office on the same PC I guess -- either one can open a .doc document.
Natanael_L 10y ago
Best bet, they're kept separately. Different runtimes (one JRE, one browser environment).
- monocasa 10y ago
  Well, ART not JRE.

nl 10y ago

Because they are killing Chromebooks. http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/29/9639950/google-combining-android-chromeos-report http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/29/9639950/google-combining-...

Robelius 10y ago
I thought this was a big rumor for a few days that ended up getting extinguished by a Google exec.
- nl 10y ago
  Yeah. But then they build devices like the Pixel C, which were clearly supposed to be Chrombooks[1] and they have both groups reporting to the same managers. So.. read the actions. [1] http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/12/the-pixel-cs-bumpy-road-from-chrome-os-concept-to-android-adoptee/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/12/the-pixel-cs-bumpy-ro...
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    The Pixel C is a tablet with an optional keyboard available, so if it was (as it clearly seems) planned to be a ChromeOS device, it was a third form factor from the existing Chromebooks and Chromeboxes. But making a decision not to expand ChromeOS devices to include "Chromeslates" is not the same thing as killing Chromebooks.
shemnon42 10y ago
Did you even read the article?