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Title: Google Is Turning Chrome OS Into Android To Compete With the iPad

Link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/18/2131...

Google is reportedly working on a multi-year project to migrate Chrome OS
into Android, aiming to unify its operating systems and better compete with
the iPad. This transition involves incorporating Chrome OS features like
extensions and Linux app support into Android, with upcoming updates focused
on improving desktop functionality and device compatibility. Android
Authority reports: To better compete with the iPad as well as manage
engineering resources more effectively, Google wants to unify its operating
system efforts. Instead of merging Android and Chrome OS into a new operating
system like rumors suggested in the past, however, a source told me that
Google is instead working on fully migrating Chrome OS over to Android. While
we don't know what this means for the Chrome OS or Chromebook brands, we did
hear that Google wants future "Chromebooks" to ship with the Android OS in
the future. That's why I believe that Google's rumored new Pixel Laptop will
run a new version of desktop Android as opposed to the Chrome OS that you're
likely familiar with. While Google hasn't publicly confirmed its intentions
to turn Chrome OS into Android, it did mention back in June that Chrome OS
would become more like Android by "embracing portions of the Android stack,
like the Android Linux kernel and Android frameworks." Chrome OS already
makes use of some Android tech, such as the operating system's Bluetooth
stack code-named "Fluoride," so the announcement that it would start to use
even more of Android came as no surprise. However, Google's announcement
didn't tell the full story, as we've since discovered that not only is Google
building a new version of Chrome for Android with extensions support but also
a Terminal to run Linux apps on Android. The former is intended to achieve
feature parity between Chrome for Android and Chrome OS, while the latter is
intended to deliver a Crostini-like experience when Chromebooks transition to
Android. However, there are still a lot of things that Google has to do to
achieve feature parity between Android and Chrome OS. The desktop windowing
changes that Google is introducing in the first quarterly platform release of
Android 15 are just the beginning, as Google is working on a huge number of
new Android features including improved keyboard and mouse support, external
monitor support, multiple desktops, and more. All of these changes, we're
told, are part of Google's internal Android-on-laptop project, though they'll
also obviously benefit tablets like the upcoming Pixel Tablet 2.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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