Telling the story of Google Chrome and how it inspired an operating system. Produced by Epipheo Studios.

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Chrome OS to Support "Legacy" PC Apps Via Chromoting


Chrome OS is the Chrome browser running atop a Google-customized Linux variant—Goobuntu. You access Web-driven applications via the browser and, though you can "install" or save these Web apps into Chrome OS, you just can't grab your average application CD, throw it in an optical drive, and expect something magical to happen.

According to a message posted to a public mailing list dedicated to Chrome OS, however, a new feature is in the works that will grant users access to "legacy PC applications" through some kind of remote desktop connection process. Google software engineer Gary Kačmarčík, who first spilled the beans on the feature, calls the process, Chromoting.

"We're adding new capabilities all the time. With this functionality (unofficially named chromoting), Chrome OS will not only be great platform for running modern web apps, but will also enable you to access legacy PC applications right within the browser," wrote Kačmarčík. "We'll have more details to share on chromoting in the coming month."


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Should one decide to switch to Chrome OS how would this affect BOINC? I assume the well run projects such as AQUA or the well established production projects would get on board early with Chrome specific applications. The chromating thing could only be efficient for so long one would assume.

From the tech sites the buzz on Chrome OS is that it is just a repackaged and marketed variation of Linux.

Why you'll be evaluating Chrome OS enterprise PCs

The less-than-free price point and increasing feature set in Chrome OS and Google Docs will be difficult for PC makers to ignore


Although a niche offering today, the open source Chrome OS is likely to follow Android's success -- so IT decision makers should plan on evaluating Chrome OS-based devices for at least some portion of their user base in the next 12 to 18 months.

As PC World's Ian Paul reported earlier this week, Dell revealed it intends to use Chrome OS as the basis for future offerings. Details surrounding Dell's Chrome OS plans and, more important, Google's offer to PC makers are still murky at best. However, it's likely that Google will follow much of the same game plan as it did with the mobile Android OS.

Take a tour of the Chrome OS in InfoWorld's slideshow.


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Chrome OS Knows Your Every Move

Google's new operating system will provide the company with unprecedented data and advertising opportunities.


In early December, Google sent out thousands of free laptops as part of a program to test Chrome OS, an operating system that relies on the Internet for all its software applications.

Computers running Chrome OS don't let users download data or install applications. Instead, everything happens in the cloud. So the laptop—called the CR-48—needs very little storage space, but it requires a constant Internet connection, and it has 3G wireless connectivity built in.

The design of Chrome OS changes such fundamental things as where a user's data resides and how it is managed. It also gives Google access to an unprecedented amount of user data. The company hasn't said how it will use this information, but some clues can be found in the company's previous products and in the rights it has reserved in the Chrome OS terms of service.


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