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> Microsoft has still arguably achieved something that its competitors have not. Rumors that Google will somehow merge ChromeOS and Android have been circulatin
by mmastrac 10y ago
> Microsoft has still arguably achieved something that its competitors have not. Rumors that Google will somehow merge ChromeOS and Android have been circulating for some time, but it hasn't happened just yet
Uhhh.. ChromeOS and Android are both Linux. This is just as merged as running a stripped down Windows kernel.
- sandworm101 10y agoI'd call linux a direct competitor of MS. There may be no single entity who as done as much with linux, but linux as software is certainly more pervasive than windows.
- pjmlp 10y agoLinux is a kernel. I cannot run GNU/Linux applications on Android/Linux nor on ChromeOS/Linux.
- zxcvcxz 10y agoYou can if the applications are packaged properly.
- 0x6c6f6c 10y agoAndroid has a custom Dalvik/ART stack for running apps. Typical Linux distros consist of Xorg/Wayland with GNU packages. They're not related in any regard other than the Linux kernel.
- Dylan16807 10y agoMost of the GNU packages do not have GUIs. They work fine on android. You can easily chroot into a full Debian install, among other options. And there are X server apps to provide you the full experience.
- DrPizza 10y agoSure, if you install a GNU stack (glibc, for example, being an important part) you can run typical Linux software on Android. It's not the default, however. While the Linux kernel has proliferated, the userlands are more varied; Android/Bionic on phones and tablets, uClibc on routers and other embedded roles, GNU/Linux for most servers and desktops--though even in that final category, we see substantial variation such as systemd versus init. Sometimes this is to Linux's advantage; it underscores its flexibility, and the ability to use, for example, busybox uClibc on small systems is definitely an advantage. But other times, like having no standard UI toolkit that works across desktop, tablet, and phone, or having different approaches to managing services/daemons, the advantages are less clear. Canonical was heading hard in this unified direction, but I'm not sure what their current phone/tablet plans are. Their stupidly implausible kickstarter seems to have disrupted these efforts.
- digi_owl 10y agoFrankly the UI toolkit is a lesser issue. The bigger issue is that the big desktop toolkits, GTK in particular, can't keep their APIs straight. Every other release or so they change some behavior or remove/replace something. This in contrast to the kernel where once something is in, its in, and stays in that shape. Thus you can run a CLI binary from the early 90s against a modern kernel. But you can't run a GTK binary from a year or two ago against a current lib version. Edit: hve you taken to defending your own articles on third party sites now? Dueling in the Arstechnica comments not enough?
- thebigshane 10y agoI think you might be underestimating just how aligned Windows 10 is across these devices, certainly more than Android vs ChromeOS is. (Then again, from what I hear, ChromeOS is starting to creep more toward Android... So maybe that is changing). This is more than a shared stripped-down kernel.
- creshal 10y agoGoogle is experimenting with an Android Runtime for Chrome: https://developer.chrome.com/apps/getstarted_arc https://developer.chrome.com/apps/getstarted_arc Assuming this does take off, ChromeOS (and any desktop OS running Chrome) will have direct app sharing.