http://www.wsj.com/articles/alphabets-google-to-fold-chrome-operating-system-...Same info is being bounced all over the web tonight -- Google is going with Android and combining Chrome OS into it according to Wall Street Journal and other sources who are quoting Sundar Pinchar. The first beta will be released next year (2016) for testing with the finished product to come out in 2017.
"The Wall Street Journal just released a doozy of a report saying that Android and Chrome are merging. The venerable paper says that a unified operating system will be released in 2017, but Google will show off an early version next year.
The report says that the merger has been underway for "roughly two years," and it refers to the end result as "Android," which makes it sound like Android will play host to the merge and integrate parts of Chrome OS. The Journal says the unified OS will "run on PCs," and Chromebooks (which will now run Android) will be given a new name.
As a "browser only" OS, Chrome OS has struggled to get the app ecosystem traction that Android and Google Play have excelled at. Most of the software innovation we've seen from Google over the years has been on Android, with Chrome OS remaining "just a browser," with few major exciting features. It's been clear that Android has been the OS with all the momentum, but it's still a shock to hear that Chrome OS is going away.
A merger like this is going to bring massive changes to Android. The mobile OS is awful with a mouse (or touchpad) and keyboard, and it would need a big UI revamp to work on Chrome OS-style hardware. Android also has no scalable update solution, while Chrome OS has a controlled, seamless, silent update process. Part of the allure of Chrome OS for schools and businesses is that it's relatively bombproof, easy to manage, and easy to update."The article writer is assuming that Google is going to follow MS's path of throwing everything and the kitchen sink into the OS itself -- instead Google may go modular and let the devices each carry whichever load they need to carry, that way they stay faster and cheaper to do for the job at hand.
Whatever Google does, it must be released into the wild just about as soon as it is debugged and running well.
This one is going to be the quintessential battle between poorly written, huge and over-controlled (MS Win 10) and organic fast growing FOSS with hundreds of hands in it writing away --
with how well Google does the skeleton itself saying which one will eventually win.
The people's OS vs Microsoft's OS --- this one will be interesting to watch develop.
=======================================
Clarification for the hordes of educators emailing and tweeting in about the fate of Chrome OS on Chromebooks --- it isn't going to change beyond getting additional functionality over time. Their investment in hardware and software is totally sound rolling on out into the future.
This gives a bit of boost to my idea that Google may "modularize" the new OS instead of going the kitchen sink approach (a la MS).
There is no reason to burden a device with more OS than that particular device needs. Phones need a sleek minimalist Android OS and full bore laptops need a lot more to do all that they can do -- but no law says all stuff needs to be on all devices all of the time.
Google already has the ability to move modules into a device as needed
through the net seamlessly with you not even noticing it has happened. Google also is good at doing data farm supported "big calculations", etc and just giving your device the answer to display, they do that already too, both on Android phones and Chromebooks.
If Google has been working on this for two years, likely they already have something interesting and compelling that they are now getting ready to start talking about. And already have business partners lined up to build and support.
Now they need to start with the user base (having watched MS fumble through alienating their Beta Testers in both PC and Mobile implementations, I bet Google does a much better job of it).
It also explains why Google wouldn't support anybody else's attempts at a multi-user windowing full laptop environment in Android, they already had one under development.
Once they name the thing we can have another ?????Wars to track for a year or three.Microsoft is struggling to force enough users to go to Win 10 in order to have their promised billion Win 10 devices. Right now they are hung at 130 million PC and phones and holding. The new device sales of Win 10 are not that good right now as
people are realizing that Win 10 isn't right yet and Win 10 certainly can be viewed as unstable in the broadest viewpoint. And Win 10 is falling behind more and more on the list of "completed features" that were promised to be done by the end of this year.
On the Android side, Organic Android initializes a billion devices brand new every year and has done so for well over a year now ......
in one month alone Android initializes more devices than are running on Win 10 right now, period.
So far free Win 10 has only served to put a positive blip into MS's slide into obscurity, a short term reversal that MS is having to drive with whips and shock prods at this point in time.
What will happen when Android becomes a full featured OS ???
Pages: 
