4 ms·

> In the current situation, whenever the Chrome browser needs an update, say for a security patch, Google has to push that to Chromebooks in a ChromeOS update.

> In the current situation, whenever the Chrome browser needs an update, say for a security patch, Google has to push that to Chromebooks in a ChromeOS update. Surely they saw this coming from a long way away. It makes me wonder about the conversations that set them down this path in the first place.

ithkuil 3y ago
I guess it started something like: "<Insert your favourite emacs is an OS/window manager/whatever>" "Uh, wait, what if the browser was actually the OS? After all most people work in the browser most of the time right?" "<Mind blown meme>" "How hard would it be to run chrome directly kn hardware?" "Nah, just put a little Linux kernel and a bit of strictly necessary user land and we can pretend chrome runs natively" ... Time passes "We need a file manager, we need a notification bar, we need a dock, we need a clipboard, we need support for Android apps, we need ... an OS that's not just a browser"
- kotaKat 3y ago
  > "We need a file manager, we need a notification bar, we need a dock, we need a clipboard, we need support for Android apps, we need ... an OS that's not just a browser" That's what 100% absolutely kills me with Chrome OS. When I first used the CR48 it felt like a companion device to my main desktop Chrome environment. Now it's trying too hard to be a primary device, and now with Google deploying Android tablets and Chrome OS-powered tablets it's like nobody knows what platform needs to be on what endpoints anymore. Will the laptop run Chrome OS? Lacros? Android? Who knows! I really really wish I could have a ChromeOS fork that goes back to the simple "the browser window is the OS, no more, no less".
izacus 3y ago
The ones that enabled them to launch the most popular Linux distribution in the world by far? One that's really really hard to break because it uses phone-like A/B partitioning with read-only OS installation making separately updateable system browser hard. It was a tradeoff, and a good one based on history. Remember that, as long as the device isn't EOL, ChromeOS updates with the same cadence as Chrome the browser.
- pjmlp 3y ago
  In US, in the world, not really.
  - ajross 3y ago
    I'm not following. Is there a particular market you feel isn't getting updates? I'm sure there are exceptions somewhere (I'm certainly no expert, I do firmware) but effectively there are no market-specific ChromeOS builds. A Chromebook is a Chromebook anywhere in the world, and gets the same images off the same internet as any other Chromebook.
    - pjmlp 3y ago
      Chromebooks are only relevant in the US school market, not "most popular Linux distribution in the world", unless we are talking about the usual World == US as in some sport activities.
      - izacus 3y ago
        Chromebooks are most used Linux distribution across any kind of metrics and locales.
        pjmlp 3y ago
        From American point of view, surely.
insanitybit 3y ago
Building the browser in allows for tighter integration, which I imagine is particularly important for an OS that's as constrained as ChromeOS (there are no native apps on the host that can just read/write to whatever files - it's not a typical Linux distro). So the upside is a super constrained host, the downside is that any native app needs to be built in and shipped with the system. This means Chrome updates tend to be a few days to a few weeks behind on ChromeOS, which I don't think is a crazy trade-off. The major issue is that a few weeks is usually enough time to weaponize an exploit, although weaponizing one against Chrome on ChromeOS does feel particularly difficult and probably more than a few weeks of work to deliver reliably for end-to-end exploitation.
bagacrap 3y ago
I think it's pretty typical to make decisions early on in a project based on expediency, especially when you don't know how popular that project might end up being. The article actually understates how long this has been in the works. A predecessor of lacros was started around 2015ish. It's not an easy change to make on a fast-moving codebase.

ithkuil 3y ago

I guess it started something like: "<Insert your favourite emacs is an OS/window manager/whatever>" "Uh, wait, what if the browser was actually the OS? After all most people work in the browser most of the time right?" "<Mind blown meme>" "How hard would it be to run chrome directly kn hardware?" "Nah, just put a little Linux kernel and a bit of strictly necessary user land and we can pretend chrome runs natively" ... Time passes "We need a file manager, we need a notification bar, we need a dock, we need a clipboard, we need support for Android apps, we need ... an OS that's not just a browser"

kotaKat 3y ago
> "We need a file manager, we need a notification bar, we need a dock, we need a clipboard, we need support for Android apps, we need ... an OS that's not just a browser" That's what 100% absolutely kills me with Chrome OS. When I first used the CR48 it felt like a companion device to my main desktop Chrome environment. Now it's trying too hard to be a primary device, and now with Google deploying Android tablets and Chrome OS-powered tablets it's like nobody knows what platform needs to be on what endpoints anymore. Will the laptop run Chrome OS? Lacros? Android? Who knows! I really really wish I could have a ChromeOS fork that goes back to the simple "the browser window is the OS, no more, no less".

izacus 3y ago

The ones that enabled them to launch the most popular Linux distribution in the world by far? One that's really really hard to break because it uses phone-like A/B partitioning with read-only OS installation making separately updateable system browser hard. It was a tradeoff, and a good one based on history. Remember that, as long as the device isn't EOL, ChromeOS updates with the same cadence as Chrome the browser.

pjmlp 3y ago
In US, in the world, not really.
- ajross 3y ago
  I'm not following. Is there a particular market you feel isn't getting updates? I'm sure there are exceptions somewhere (I'm certainly no expert, I do firmware) but effectively there are no market-specific ChromeOS builds. A Chromebook is a Chromebook anywhere in the world, and gets the same images off the same internet as any other Chromebook.
  - pjmlp 3y ago
    Chromebooks are only relevant in the US school market, not "most popular Linux distribution in the world", unless we are talking about the usual World == US as in some sport activities.
    - izacus 3y ago
      Chromebooks are most used Linux distribution across any kind of metrics and locales.
      - pjmlp 3y ago
        From American point of view, surely.

insanitybit 3y ago

Building the browser in allows for tighter integration, which I imagine is particularly important for an OS that's as constrained as ChromeOS (there are no native apps on the host that can just read/write to whatever files - it's not a typical Linux distro). So the upside is a super constrained host, the downside is that any native app needs to be built in and shipped with the system. This means Chrome updates tend to be a few days to a few weeks behind on ChromeOS, which I don't think is a crazy trade-off. The major issue is that a few weeks is usually enough time to weaponize an exploit, although weaponizing one against Chrome on ChromeOS does feel particularly difficult and probably more than a few weeks of work to deliver reliably for end-to-end exploitation.

bagacrap 3y ago

I think it's pretty typical to make decisions early on in a project based on expediency, especially when you don't know how popular that project might end up being. The article actually understates how long this has been in the works. A predecessor of lacros was started around 2015ish. It's not an easy change to make on a fast-moving codebase.