Are Google Chrome OS and Android Destined to Converge?

25 November 2009 by Juventino Quinones

Worth Reading?

A lot of you probably saw this one coming, I mean, after all, what is the point of having two separate OSes for almost all the same devices. Unless Google wants to go all out with Chrome OS into computers and Android for mobile devices only.

google_chome_os_android_merge

Google’s execs have agreeing that Chrome OS and the Android platform have “a great deal of commonality” and “may merge even closer.” And now Sergey Brin, one of Google’s founders, has told reporters – after last week’s Chrome OS reveal – that “Android and Chrome will likely converge over time”.

Brin also said: “A subsequent version of Android is going to pick up a lot of the Chrome stack. My guess is we’ll have ‘Chrome Lite’ or something similar.” He cited among other things, the common Linux and Webkit code base present in both projects. But Google’s Sundar Pichai, Vice President, Product Management, said in his presentation:

We’re reaching a perfect storm of converging trends where computers are behaving more like mobile devices, and phones are behaving more like small computers. Having two open source operating systems from Google provides both users and device manufacturers with more choice and helps contribute a wealth of new code to the open source community.

That last statement from Google was in response to questions about how and when the two projects would merge. Seems like they wanted to downplay Brin’s statement. What do you think, do you like the idea of merging both projects? Let us know in the comments.

[Via SlashGear]

Join the Discussion (3 comments)

thefran1996

11-25-2009 10:16 PM

well, do you think this will be a good converstion?
johnkzin

11-26-2009 02:27 AM

If Android and Chrome merge, then we should eventually get the best of both:

1) Fast booting/splashtop features in Android
2) Netbook type resolutions and device features (USB host/otg, video out, etc.) in Android
3) A full type browser (Google Chrome Browser) in Android
4) Dalvik, for local applications, in Chrome
5) Screen Rotation and (multi-?)touch screen features, for tablets and convertible tablet netbooks, in Chrome
6) Hopefully, variant distributions (like Cyanogen) for Chrome

only it wont be “in Android” and “in/for Chrome”. It’ll all be one thing (hopefully). Or the only difference between them will be “Android has the mobile browser, Chrome has the desktop browser”.

I'd consider that to be a good thing. I'm all for it, and I hope it happens quickly.
InsightGoalie

11-26-2009 07:37 AM

That seems like a pretty large step for a company to take. To take two separate operating systems and make them so alike that you eventually merge them. That's not how things like this typically work. Usually the two separate softwares will find their niche's and continue to grow and develop into their unique role; thusly becoming much more different. Its usually a common base you grow away from. Not start with a common base and then merge.

Either way, it's exciting to see Google making a splash in the market and maybe even changing the way people think about devices. Whatever they do will be awesome to see I'm sure.