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Do you mean Chrome OS? Google is a web company; they want people to use the web. They made a laptop/desktop operating system built around their web browser, be

• RivieraKid 6y ago
  No. I mean a full-fledged alternative to the major operating systems. Do people in charge of Chrome OS say "In 5 years, we want developers, designers and project managers at Google use this OS"? I don't think so - it's not their ambition to compete with Mac OS or Linux.
  • kgersen 6y ago
    why 5 years? They can already if they want to.
    • deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  • mav3rick 6y ago
    Developers , PMs already use Chrome OS at Google. Designers can / will also happen.
    • RivieraKid 6y ago
      So Chrome OS team's explicit ambition is to provide a full-fledged alternative to Windows and Linux distributions?
      • mav3rick 6y ago
        I don't know what the ambition is. But it sure looks like it's a perfectly fine machine for developers and PMs.
  • Guest0918231 6y ago
    They don't say that, because that's not their goal. Google makes money from consumers being online, searching, browsing the internet, and using Google apps. It doesn't matter if that person is using Windows, Mac, Linux, or some imaginative Google OS to connect to the internet. They profit either way.
    • stouset 6y ago
      … which is kind of his point, yeah?
  • skybrian 6y ago
    It's already the case that ChromeOS can run a Linux environment in a VM. The question is whether this is enough for most developers?
  • deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  • cbeley 6y ago
    I'm really enjoying ChromeOS for software dev. The Linux container is tightly integrated with the rest of the OS. On top of that I can run all my favorite Android apps as well, making it an excellent OS for personal use. One interesting example is that if I have a file I want to open, it doesn't matter if it's Chrome, Android, or Linux that has the executable to open it. I just click the file and it opens in the right app. I can also open it in any other apps via a dialogue that lists things I can open it with. The list shows all relevant Android and Linux apps. The app launcher is similar -- all apps, regardless of how they are run, show up together. I'm still not sure I could give up my Mac for my day job, but for personal use, I love it.
    • millstone 6y ago
      Ok, but the Linux container is completely at odds with Google's ChromeOS pitch. Google says that ChromeOS has "simple setup" - but not the Linux parts. They say you can "search anything on your Chromebook" - but not Linux. They talk about "Chrome sync" - doesn't apply to Linux. Etc. I think that ChromeOS has value as a web-browser host, and also as a development machine for vim-jockeys. What's missing is the middle part: a real desktop OS.
      • mav3rick 6y ago
        What part of the Linux setup is not simple ? Turning "on" is as simple as it gets. You can search linux files and apps as usual. As for sync, feel free to look at open bugs and features and see the work being done.
    • Osiris 6y ago
      So you don't need to turn on dev mode and use crouton to install a chroot for Linux anymore?
      • atrus 6y ago
        Nope, it's just a toggle now.
      • mav3rick 6y ago
  • brianyu8 6y ago
    Another data point: I was an intern at Google last year and they gave most of the interns Pixelbooks. It worked fine for development (granted, development consisted of SSHing into a dev box and using a web-based IDE).
    • millstone 6y ago
      ChromeOS is not compiled on those Pixelbooks.
      • joshuamorton 6y ago
        While true, it's equally true that chrome os usually isn't compiled on Google employees Linux workstations either.
      • dahfizz 6y ago
        You don't think _Google_ has the resources for a proper build server? They're not doing builds on a dev machine anyway.
  • opportune 6y ago
    Actually many engineers use chrome OS at google. Perhaps even a majority. What makes it work is that everything you could possibly want to run either runs in the browser or in a remote machine.
  • de_watcher 6y ago
    The whole point is that you can't fight the old "full-fledged" OS with a new one. The aim of the Google's web is to reduce the role of the OS to the "BIOS".
• pwdisswordfish2 6y ago
  Do you mean Chromium OS? Chrome OS is not 100% open source and the bits that are not in Chromium OS are significant. It is also effectively tied to certain hardware. Users cannot easily install it on whatever hardware they choose. The Chromium OS FAQ contains no link to download the source code and contains this little gem: "Keep in mind that Chromium OS is not for general consumer use." https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chromium-os-faq https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chromium-os-faq
  • mav3rick 6y ago
    What a disingenuous comment. "The Chromium OS FAQ contains no link to download the source code" - https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/developer_guide.md#Get-the-source-code https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/docs/+/master/d... LOL a whole guide "secretly hidden" on the Internet, to get and build the source code. Right above that line - "Where can I download Chromium OS? If you are the kind of developer who likes to build an open source operating system from scratch, you can follow the developer instructions to check out Chromium OS, build it and experiment with it. A number of sites have also posted pre-built binaries of Chromium OS. However, these downloads are not verified by Google, therefore please ensure you trust the site you are downloading these from."
    • pwdisswordfish2 6y ago
      What if the user is not "the kind of developer who likes to build an open source operating system form scratch"? The fact is that this FAQ on www.chromium.org gives no pointers into Google Git to find the files to which you refer. It does not even give a link to chromium.googlesource.org, aside from the BSD license. If the reader following the "For everyone" link is not a developer, not a "UI designer" and not a "Contributor", she does not want to be treated like those types of people, she just wants the source code. If she were a developer she would have followed the "For developers" link at www.chromium.org. Interestingly, there is no "For users" link at www.chromium.org. Not everyone looking for source code is a "developer", or thinks like one, and even if they are a developer, they may not be one "who likes build an open source OS from scratch". I am an end user, not a developer, and I have been building an open source OS from source code for over 15 years. This FAQ makes some bold assumptions about end users. I do not believe that calling this out is "disingenuous", a "put down", nor "snark", at least, not according to the definition of that term I found on FOLDOC. I have always run my customised systems in a configuration similar to what Google calls "developer mode" (in fact, I use a more flexible, simpler configuration), however I am not a developer. The name "developer mode" is suggestive and silly. One does not need to be a "developer", or think like one, to read, edit, write or compile software. Google seems to prefer to pretend such users do not exist. A Chrome OS user who is not a developer, UI designer nor contributor who wants the source code gets funnelled to the Chromium OS website, and then is provided with the advice to "follow the developer instructions". No link to the source code, or even to the "For developers" section. Too add to this, the user is given the caveat that "Chromium OS is not for general consumer use". This "For everyone" page is a dead end for non-developer users who want source code. Imagine you are a "general consumer", i.e., an end-user, who is told Chrome OS is "open source". You go looking for the source code tree and tarballs and you are directed to Chromium OS. Then you arrive at www.chromium.org and are told Chromium OS is "not intended for general consumer use" and "if you a developer who likes to build an open source operating system from scratch you can follow the developer instructions". This is extremely presumptuous. Nor everyone who wants to see the source code wants to build Chromium OS. Building "modern" web browsers like Chrome from scratch is unreasonably resource intensive. Some people may not want to read through all the opinionated developer instructions whose primary audience appears to be Google staff. Some people just want the source code to Chrome OS. That's it. Yes, people not working for Google can get it. I can get it (with some effort). I never said otherwise. However, as I pointed out, it is "Chromium OS" not "Chrome OS" and there is a lot of cult-like mumbo jumbo for non-Google staff to wade through in order to find what one is looking for. The "open source" OS is Chromium OS not Chrome OS. That is not a "half-truth" it is a fact. Is all this a deterrent for those interested in Chrome OS source code? That is for the reader to decide. I think it could be made easier but that is only my opinion. .
• oldlinux 6y ago
  The problem with Chrome OS is that it's designed around treating your hardware like a kiosk. This is evident from design decisions like including an SSH console, but then disabling the escape sequences (see: https://codereview.chromium.org/5183004/ https://codereview.chromium.org/5183004/).
• Abishek_Muthian 6y ago
  ChromeOS does solve many of criteria listed by the GP, if one doesn't mind Google ecosystem; then a Chromebook is a good computing device at lower-medium price range[1]. Btw, people are already doing some interesting projects with Fuchsia like this desktop shell written in Flutter for a Fuchsia fork[2]. [1]https://abishekmuthian.com/reviewing-the-chromebook-google-sent-me-for-free-after-2years/ https://abishekmuthian.com/reviewing-the-chromebook-google-s... [2]https://github.com/dahlia-os/pangolin-desktop https://github.com/dahlia-os/pangolin-desktop