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Heard this one before. It makes sense though, it's been a while since Google has killed something that worked and re-branded it into something worse. They could only help themselves for so long.

There's no reason to do this, and as other posters have said, if their target is iPadOS they need to aim higher.

ChromeOS is already as good as iPadOS in its way. Not sure what this would even accomplish. Even Apple seems to admit, though there's little difference in their case, that phone OS and tablet OS should be distinct. ChromeOS already works without a keyboard attached, runs Android apps, and can be completely locked down like a tablet.

If anything they should lean more into making ChromeOS a real Linux for the desktop. But as I type that I think of what Chrome did to the web and I want them to keep their distance from Linux.
 
Wasn't there a story earlier about wanting to force Google to sell Chrome for anti-trust reasons.

I doubt that tying Chrome to android would be looked on as favorable in an anti-trust trial.

The "we can't remove it, it's integral to the OS" worked for Microsoft when we did all this decades ago. They probably figure it will work now.
 
Wasn't there a story earlier about wanting to force Google to sell Chrome for anti-trust reasons.

I doubt that tying Chrome to android would be looked on as favorable in an anti-trust trial.
From what I have been reading they are not tying Chrome to Android. They are replacing ChromeOS with Android.
 
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So, Chrome OS is relatively successful in the simple, inexpensive laptop segment where netbooks once reigned (terror), and in Education.

OTOH, Android tablets are mostly a failure for anything other than media consumption at the low-end, they are not used for productivity or creation.

And Google’s solution is to replace the successful case (the mostly lightweight Chrome OS), with the failed, Android tablet (heavier, chunky) one?

All the advantages of a light linux-based experience vs all the baggage of Android. Just as an example: a good Chromebook runs reasonably decent with 4-8 GB of RAM, while an Android tablet requires 12 GB to make anything productivity oriented / multitasking.

Remember, this is Google. They live in Bizzarro world. This all sounds great to them. They can't help but shoot themselves in the foot.
 
The initiative would apparently see future Chromebook devices shipping with a desktop-optimized version of Android rather than Chrome OS

So instead of continuing to sell an actual successful product like Chromebooks with Chrome OS, Google's master plan is essentially to... sell Android tablets/laptops?

Guess we can add Chrome OS Chromebooks to the "list of good products that Google shut down and replaced with inferior alternatives." 😞
 
What is important to know here is that Chrome OS and Android are both based on Linux. Perhaps what Google is doing is porting the upper layers of Chrome OS (including the browser and applications) to run on top of Android so that both Android and Chrome OS can share the lower system layers. It would certainly make things easier to maintain and features easier to port between the two platforms.

On a similar note, both iOS (and its derivatives) and macOS share similar lower layers, including Darwin, the XNU kernel, and many operating system frameworks (e.g. Core Audio/AVFoundation, Core Animation, QuickTime). However (with the exception of SwiftUI and Mac Catalyst) the upper UI layers are very different. My guess is that Google wants to do a similar thing since it would make unifying lower level features across its platforms a lot easier.
 
Hard to believe your are missing the point so consequently and completely. Companies merge products to save money in development. Not to rival anything ... maybe just leave the thinking to chatGPT
 
android 3.0 was designed for tablets but even android 12L that is supposed to be designed for tablets does not seem to gain users...

Now, they are looking to follow what Apple did with iOS and iPadOS... Will it gain users or make iPad users switch camp? We'll see...
 
Don't dismiss ChromeOS

It's remarkably capable and need fulfilling for a LOT of usage types

Like..? What can ChromeOS do that an iPad, iPhone, Mac or PC can't? There are absolutely 0 unique selling points for ChromeOS. Except it's "cheap". And even then you'd rather buy an actual Linux laptop.
 
I don't quite understand why.

Google don't make much of their profits form hardware but instead by hoovering up browsing data, relardless of platform.

Surely Google would be better off pointing out you can make a decent Google tablet by buying an iPad and replacing all the default apps?
There’s a lot of data that Google don’t have default access to on iOS. They also don’t want Apple (or anyone else) to decide what data they can and cannot have from their users.

Whenever you think about a Google initiative just think about how they get data and you will see all of googles motivations. Right now there is a whole category of users (iPad) who they don’t have as much data on. And they want it.
 
A bit too late. I think they are a bit late to the game if they are still chasing the iPad. My guess is that while iPad sales will continue to be acceptable for the near future, Apple is looking ahead to other things.
 
I understand what you say.
To put my point in a different perspective, a Toyota Corolla can't compete with Ferrari but it's not because it is a worse car: it's because nobody would ever say "I wanted to buy I Ferrari but changed my mind and got a Corolla instead".
On the other hand, since as I mentioned most people could use very cheap devices exactly like they use their expensive iPads, someone may actually discover that the cheap one is good enough and stop buying iPads. They do very much play in the same league in this sense.

Actually, that happened to me.
My mother loved her iPad but the CPU just died during a hot summer day, with normal usage. It hasn't lasted a lot so I got pissed and got her a 160€ Samsung tablet and it did all the things she needed just as well. The extra 200€ for an iPad would have been an absolute waste, no matter how good it is.
Got you point as well - and it does make sense.

FYI - Finally! A normal person who you can talk to online who can have a conversation.
My respects.
 
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I have Apple everything except tablet (iPhone, MBP, iMac). I have a Galaxy Tab S9 with 12gb of RAM. You can already run Linux on it with Termux. It's extremely flexible. I run normal desktop Firefox on it with Ublock Origin.
 
Apple needs a real competitor!
If they can make Android good on a desktop OS, they have an advantage that only Apple has compared to other desktop OS's.

But sadly, this could be scrapped if Google is forced to degoogleify Android...
 
Just as it's too late for someone else to enter search to compete with Google in terms of the same paradigm, it's also too late for another operating system. It needs to be something that leapfrogs established apps and systems at this point. This doesn't look like something that leapfrogs anything. At this point, with the possibility of Chrome being cut off from Daddy Warbucks and competing on its merits without a hefty wallet to continue to bankroll, it spells doom for both Chrome and Android if sold. Separating search from Chrome makes it worthless. Ask Yahoo and Alta Vista
 
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Sounds like a good idea.

Having a mobile OS is what cripples iPad the most, as much as I love iPads for some use cases but that's just a fact.

Google does the same but worse. Merging Chrome OS and tablet Android into one powerful operating system for non-mobile-but-still-portable computing devices is going to make Google's offerings somewhat more attractive.

Plus, capitalists hate open web (bc you can easily block ads and tracking), so of course they want to push ChromeOS users towards using apps. Makes sense for everyone involved.
 
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Let's be honest, high end iPad's are mostly for media consumption as well. I know I'll hear it from "content creators" or "influencers" who "make their living on an iPad", however creating anything on an iPad Pro is tedious at best (email, Numbers, Pages, Keynote, iMovie, GarageBand, etc.), and impossible for stuff like software development, Fusion 360, PrusaSlicer, transcoding video such as DVD/Blu-rays etc.

Yes, there are unique situations where the iPad excels, but let's be honest, those are few and far between. That's all on Apple for putting a phone OS on a tablet. For anyone who does work, you need a Mac well over 98% of the time, if not more.
I do 98% of my professional job on the road with my iPad Pro + Magic Keyboard and have very few issues. I finally upgraded from 11" to 13" last week but that's just personal preference.

Could you tell me why this is unique to me? I use Office, Teams, Acrobat, web apps, etc, all of which are handled just fine by the IPP, and it's so much more enjoyable to use than a Mac laptop because of the size/convenience/touchscreen.

So..what am I missing?
 
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