Consider this post apropos of nothing given that nothing has been formally announced, but it seems that long-rumoured merger of Google’s two operating systems is indeed happening.

Sameer Samat, who works at Google as president of the Android Ecosystem division that oversees Android, casually mentioned the merger in an interview with TechRadar, saying:

“…we’re going to be combining ChromeOS and Android into a single platform, and I am very interested in how people are using their laptops these days and what they’re getting done.”

OMG! being read on Chrome OS in 2011

Combining operating systems would mean the end of one, since they are fundamentally different. It’d clearly be ChromeOS; Android is the brand with marketshare and mindshare, and does most of what ChromeOS can (Android 16 added GPU-accelerated Linux VM and a terminal).

Rumours about Google rebasing ChromeOS on Android have been kicking around for years, stretching as far back as 2014 when Google created ARC as a way to run Android apps via Chrome as ‘extensions’ (something you didn’t need ChromeOS for).

So why is a merger only being confirmed now, over a decade later?

Samat namecheck Apple in his chat, the blurring of iPadOS and macOS, and the productivity synergy of the Apple ecosystem (by virtue of running on All The Things™ – things Android could very easily run on too).

Anti-trust actions on the horizon may also hasten a merger.

If Google is forced to sell off its Google Chrome browser—and what happens to the Chromium codebase is unknown since Google is the biggest financial and technical contributor, idk—it would complicate Google’s ongoing involvement and support commitments to ChromeOS.

Users can already install Android apps on Chrome OS, but they run in a tightly-integrated subsystem and container (ARCVM). Users can also choose to enable Linux Developer mode to access a Debian-based container to install Linux apps on Chromebooks.

Why am I mentioning this news on a blog dedicated to a specific Linux distribution? Should I not blow the dust off mothballed sister-site1 OMG! Chrome and write about it there instead?

Ubuntu is not an island, and splashes made within the wider Linux ecosystem do ripple out. Plus, the news may still be of interest more generally. Google is a key contributor to Linux kernel development, and each new kernel release adds or improves support for Chromebook hardware.

In the early days of ChromeOS, Canonical was contracted to provide engineering support as ‘Chrome OS’ (back then, the brand used a space) was initially based on Ubuntu (‘Google OS’, the search giant’s internal system, was also Ubuntu-based).

Phasing out Chrome OS and Chromebooks in favour of a desktop-friendly Android OS with better desktop-style multitasking could lead to a glut of newer, cooler Linux-friendly hardware on the market (whether said hardware can be made to run regular Linux, unknown).

So Chrome OS is a Linux-based desktop operating system. It runs a (heavily-patched) Linux kernel, but it uses a read-only, signed system image and atomic updates from a single, Google-maintained source. There is no end-user package manager, heavily restricted shell access, and a custom desktop.

It is not what I class a Linux distribution, but other opinions are available2 ;)

Arguably, if this merger happens—no timelines, dates, other details have been revealed—it is overdue.

Chrome OS is directionless and without purpose. What began as a low-cost, thin-client and web-first OS has snowballed into a hodge-podge of containers and conflicting user experiences in an effort to appeal to everyone.

Chromebooks run web apps, Android apps and Linux apps, but none best-in-class.

Most Android apps are designed for phones; Linux apps behave, run and look better on a proper Linux desktop; the simplicity and opportunity of a web-focused OS is diluted by tacked-on subsystems running non-web apps.

In a sense, there is no point to Chrome OS: Android does everything Chrome OS, but better; Chrome OS does some of what Android does, but worse.

Being subsumed into a unified, more coherent Linux-based OS (even if it is more Android than Chrome OS) is clearly the smarter move — should this melding of machine systems happen, of course. Google does have a habit of having—or buying—a good idea only to fudge it.

  1. For those who don’t know, I launched a spin-off of OMG! Ubuntu called OMG! Chrome that ran between 2011 and 2016 (sporadic posts thereafter as my enthusiasm for Chromebooks waned). ↩︎
  2. As is Chrome OS Flex, which anyone can download to install Chrome OS on modern-ish Intel and AMD-based PCs and laptops. It lacks some of the more appealing features found in the mainline version preinstalled on Chromebooks, like Android containers. ↩︎