{"id":13990,"date":"2022-02-16T19:19:07","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T19:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/16\/google-wants-you-to-try-chrome-os-on-your-old-pc-or-mac\/"},"modified":"2022-02-16T19:19:07","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T19:19:07","slug":"google-wants-you-to-try-chrome-os-on-your-old-pc-or-mac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/16\/google-wants-you-to-try-chrome-os-on-your-old-pc-or-mac\/","title":{"rendered":"Google wants you to try Chrome OS on your old PC or Mac"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The big picture:<\/strong> Chromebooks are no longer selling like hotcakes, but Google believes Chrome OS is a good way to breathe new life into an old machine. The company is adapting to a world where the operating system is slowly fading into the background and users only care about being able to run their favorite apps. <\/p>\n

Google\u2019s latest desktop effort is a new version of Chrome OS called Chrome OS Flex<\/a> that can supposedly install within minutes on a variety of PCs and Macs. The company is positioning it as a business and education-oriented operating system that can breathe new life into older machines, but it is otherwise a similar experience to what is offered on Chromebooks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The idea behind this is simple \u2014 a lot of what we do on a computer nowadays happens in a web browser, so running a full-fat operating system like Windows or macOS would be overkill. Chrome OS Flex is free, can be run from a USB drive, and is easier to deploy and manage since it\u2019s little more than a web browser built on top of the Linux kernel.<\/p>\n

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Google says you can run Chrome OS Flex on most Intel or AMD-powered systems with at least 4 gigabytes of RAM and 16 gigabytes of storage, and the company is working on creating a certified models list<\/a>. As you\u2019d expect, not all Chrome OS features will work depending on the hardware it\u2019s running on, and features like Google Play and Android apps won\u2019t be available at all.<\/p>\n

Chromebook shipments<\/a> were down in 2021 due to a slowdown in education spending<\/a>, so it makes sense for Google to try and improve Chrome OS market share by pitching it to people who own a device that\u2019s no longer supported on the latest version of Windows or macOS. After all, Google did buy Neverware<\/a> in 2020 for its CloudReady software, which helps individuals and organizations convert old machines into Chrome OS devices.<\/p>\n

Those interested in trying out Chrome OS Flex can do so free of charge<\/a>. It\u2019s worth noting this is currently in early access, so expect some bugs while diving in. That said, you can run it directly from a USB drive before you decide on a permanent installation.<\/p>\n

A stable version is expected to launch in the coming months, and existing CloudReady users will then be migrated to Chrome OS Flex.<\/p>\n

Masthead credit: Konstantin Savusia<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n