Posted on 10/03/2016 11:01:41 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Veteran fans of thriller author Michael Crichton may recall that his career kicked into high gear with the 1969 release of a novel entitled “The Andromeda Strain.” The book described the impact of a deadly microbe strain delivered to earth from space via a military satellite.
Tomorrow in San Francisco, Google is expected to announce the release of a new strain of operating system code-named “Andromeda.” The new OS is expected to combine elements of Chrome with Android. Unlike current efforts to bring support for Android apps into Chrome, however, the new Andromeda OS is expected to bring some of the desktop-like capabilities of Chrome into Android to form a super OS that could work across smartphones, tablets and notebook-style form factors.
The development of a single Google OS is an obvious one, but its impact is bound to be profound and will cause a fair amount of stress and, yes, strain, for users, device makers and developers alike.
Though details remain sketchy, the new OS is expected to offer true multi-modal windowing, as well as a file system and other typical accoutrements for a desktop-style operating system. In essence, this means that Google’s next OS — expected to be released late this year or sometime next year — will be able to compete directly with Microsoft Windows and MacOS X.
On many levels, the development of a single Google OS is an obvious one. In fact, I (and many others) thought it was something the company needed to do a long time ago. Despite that, its impact is bound to be profound and cause a fair amount of stress and, yes, strain, for users, device makers and developers alike.
For consumers and other end users, Andromeda will first appear as yet another OS option, because Google isn’t likely to immediately drop standalone versions of Android or Chrome OS after the announcement or release of Andromeda. Over time, as the transition to Andromeda is complete, those potential concerns will fade away, and consumers, in theory at least, should get a consistent experience across devices of all shapes and sizes. This would be a clear benefit for users, because they should have access to a single set of applications, consistent access to all their data and all the other obvious benefits of combining two choices into one.
At the same time, however, the transition could end up taking several years, which is bound to cause confusion and concern for end users. Trying to choose which devices and operating systems to use, particularly as device lifetimes lengthen, could prove to be frustrating. Plus, if Google does move away from Chrome, as some have suggested, existing Chromebooks become relatively useless.
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hardware products, and that takes away potential market opportunities for some of its partners. At the same time, the launch of a new OS with new capabilities and new hardware requirements seems like the perfect time for Google to make a serious play into their own branded devices.
For developers, Andromeda will undoubtedly prove to be a strain for a longer period of time because of their likely need to rewrite or at least rework their applications to take full advantage of the new features and capabilities that will inevitably come with a new OS. Plus, any confusion that consumers face about which version of the different Google OSes to use will negatively impact future app sales and, potentially, development.
The launch of a new OS from a major industry player is always fraught with potential concerns, but the merger of two existing options (including the most widely used OS in the world) into a single new one heightens those concerns exponentially. As with Mr. Crichton’s book, the initial drama and tension are bound to be high, but eventually, I think we’ll see a positive ending.
Maybe, my wife will want to wait until this comes out instead of getting a Tracfone I phone.
Exclusive: Google is planning a 'Pixel 3' laptop running the 'Andromeda' OS for release in Q3 2017 ^
Very Interesting!!!AMD "s Z#N APU would be available by then....for Laptops.
ZEN is the new X386 chip from AMD!
I am almost convinced that Google is going to play a very key technological role in rule of the antichrist.
Google is working on a MacBook killer running a special breed of Android
It is interesting that Costco is no longer carrying my Acer Chromebook 15 CBS-571!
Acer is rumored to be coming out with an aluminum case Chromebook with more horsepower and ? at the end of October or early November.
I bought my Acer in May 2015 and it just came out.
What? BeOS is still around?
Well...um...uh, technically, it's...uh...
No.
;-)
Don't remember their names however.
Isn’t the Chrome OS itself based on Linux? From what I’ve read while you can install full versions of Linux on a Chromebook you defeat its security features when you do so. But I’m certainly not qualified to know if that’s accurate.
Android is based on the Linux kernel.
The Chinese distro Remix OS, has tried to port Android to the desktop and now has a stable build.
Lots of work remains to be done to make Android apps more desktop-friendly.
Haiku OS is the open source successor to BeOS.
Work on it has been slow and there is talk of rebasing it on the BSD kernel so it can take full advantage of the latest hardware drivers as well as modern BSD applications.
Whether it can happen remains to be seen.
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