From Android to iOS, Google and Apple have changed the rules of the game in mobile IT. But what if the rules of the game changed again? Specifically, what if Google made Chrome OS available for MacBook notebooks? Here’s the update.
Chrome OS has recently been compiled for the MacBook Air, thanks to a blogger/hacker named Hexxeh. Apparently, his work ensures driver support for all of Apple’s parts so everything apparently works flawlessly (save for Bluetooth). The very same intrepid individual also put Chrome OS on the iPad 1 back in September 2010. That project was/is a lot less stable, so Hexxeh never released it to the general public, but his Chrome OS build apparently works well enough that you can now download the image and install it on your Apple device.
Next Move?
This gave me an idea: Whenever Chrome OS goes mainstream, could Google offered pre-compiled ready-to-go versions of Chrome OS for whatever particular Apple notebook you had? If one individual could create a package for a single Apple MacBook Air, certainly Google could do it for the entire MacBook line.
But would such an effort be worth Google’s time and money? Plus, would Apple channel partners bother deploying Google Chrome OS for their MacBook customers? Hmmm…
Adoption most likely wouldn’t be huge, but the offering would show that Google wants customers to plug into their ecosystem regardless of the underlying hardware. Google could even run a little program like: “Love Apple hardware but hate the operating system? Try Chrome OS. It’s free.” For customers that leverage older MacBooks, Chrome OS could breathe new life into the notebooks. And for owners of the current generation of ultra-slim MacBook Airs, it could create greater productivity and battery life.
Business Perspectives
Now, let’s look at a potential Chrome OS for MacBooks from an enterprise perspective. As you may recall, Google is targeting Chrome OS for Business — a special netbook and notebook offer — toward enterprises and schools. If a company wanted to deploy Chrome OS across an entire existing line of computers, Google could provide hardware compatibility for both Macs and PCs, creating a truly unified work environment that requires little effort to install or maintain, and zero investment in new hardware. Theoretically, entire enterprises could avoid traditional operating system licenses and desktop software upgrades, and move their capital expenses into the data center.
It’s a unique utopia, and one that won’t likely exist anytime soon. But the alleged smoothness in which the MacBook Air runs Chrome OS is worth watching. In fact, I’ll give it a whirl on my MacBook Air sooner or later, just to get a feel for it. Way back in December of 2010, I installed JoliCloud on my MacBook to get an idea of what it would be like to run Chrome OS, but to be fair, it wasn’t Google’s modern Chrome OS. I’m interested to find out if my complaints and annoyances about JoliCloud would be mitigated by a more mature and stable version of Chrome OS.
Stay tuned. A full Chrome OS review is coming soon…
Read More About This Topic
Share This Post
Tags: Chrome OS
Interact: Add a Comment | Trackback Link | Permalink
Subscribe: RSS Feed
Don't miss Charlene O'Hanlon's weekly columns...
Google has already penetrated Mac OS X (and Windows) with its Chrome browser. And, given that the only local app present in Chrome OS is the Chrome browser, I’m not sure I see the point other than an after-market ‘instant on’ option for users. And neither Apple nor Microsoft would be happy with their partners adding Chrome OS to PCs.
In the end, though, I don’t think that Google wants to go where desktop Linux has gone regarding hardware compatibility. Poke around at any desktop Linux forum and you’ll see what I mean. That’s why they have partnered with a few OEMs for ChromeBooks. They don’t want the headaches and expense associated with trying to be compatible with all of the hardware out there. They probably don’t want a bloated kernel in Chrome OS either.
Perhaps a new Linux distro (derived from open-source Chromium OS) will be created to achieve the vision you have outlined. Similar to the SRWare Iron web browser (derived from the open-source Chromium web browser).
Hi RHM,
You’ve got a great points, and I’d have to agree with you on all of them.
I do, however, think there will be a small but powerful community that will emerge developing Chrome OS for specific Apple hardware. Since many parts of Apple hardware tend to be similar through revisions (wifi, bluetooth, controller manufactures, etc…) it’s certainly possible.
But let’s wait and see…
The real problem for Chrome OS is that the price of devices running Chrome OS are way too expensive and they need to have awesome battery life.
Perhaps it is time that Google aggressively pursued a move to ARM-based machines.
Perhaps the hold-up with ARM-based Chrome OS systems has something to do with influence from Paul Otellini, Intel CEO and a member of Google’s Board of Directors! However, until Google works with its partners to release ultra low cost systems with really long battery life, it is ‘shooting itself in the foot’.
ChromeBooks have been on sale for a while now, and there are no news of being a success. At least not a success just like those of Apple with news such as “1million units sold on the first (hour/day/week/month)”.
ChromeBooks are a crippled netbooks/laptops, they do less that a netbook with Chrome Browser installed YET they cost more money.
For that reason Chromebooks are VERY expensive.
If they were sold on the $100-$200 range they could be BIG (you could give away functionality that you may not use so often for that price) but paying more (actually twice) for less? It makes no sense.
AND Why would you want to cripple your VERY EXPENSIVE Macbook Air into being JUST a Chrome browser… a browser you probably have already installed and is running just fine?
Makes no sense either.
Even on older hardware it makes no sense. You just install a decent Linux + Chrome and your hardware is recycled, or even you just DON’T touch the original OS (XP, Linux, whatever) and install Chrome on top and you have your old HW “upgraded” to the Chrome apps ecosystem.
It’s hilarious to see those google chrome videos in which people lose their chromebook or it gets destroyed but they are just happy cause their data “is safe in the cloud” (well, safe in Google’s hands, I mean, servers), “they just get a new Chromebook, login and they are good to go…” they say
Yes, data is VERY important, but hardware costs money too. If you just lost $400 worth of hardware and you suddenly need to re-spend that amount you will probably get QUITE PISSED anyway!
(Maybe they should rethink chromebooks as a rental service instead of a product, but even so, they would be forced to charge some penalty ammount to prevent people from crashing their chromebooks to get a new one every week or month!)
Hey Folks,
The VAR Guy appreciates all the comments and insights. Yes, Google has been VERY quiet since launching Chromebooks. But let’s keep it in perspective: Chromebooks are completely new. It will take time for CIOs and channel partners to test Chromebooks for business. This won’t be an overnight success story.
Instead, Google itself will learn from real-world customer feedback, and adjust the Chromebook strategy accordingly. The VAR Guy will keep asking his Google sources for Chromebook updates…
-TVG