alt Hacker NewsGoogle ending ChromeOS support two years early
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Extremely sarcastic take but - shouldn't the 10x productivity boost of LLMs like their own in-house Gemini make maintaining software easier?
Nothing in terms of feature release / quality / maintenance I am seeing out Big Software would lead me to believe there's been any productivity increase.
> it’s hard to imagine many Chromebooks currently in service or acquired in the next year or two will still be in service come 2034
While there won't be many there definitely will be some; I know of an ~8 year old Chromebook currently in active use.
Of course they are.
One more datapoint to reference in the future when evaluating Google's long term promises and commitments. "No, we mean it this time."
There's simply no real reason that a mobile device can't function as a desktop from a technical level either in software or hardware. Simply dock your phone or it could be even wireless. Boom! Go from mobile experience to desktop experience. It seems they want to cram the mobile experience into a traditional desktop environment (mouse and keyboard driven with windows paradigm). IOS and Android have not embraced desktop paradigm. We simply need a unified SDK to support both experiences and the store downloads the appropriate assets. We're beginning to see somewhat of these concepts with foldables phone coming into the market.
So for new devices, they will support ChromeOS for another 8 years and then offer an upgrade to Googlebook OS.
I get that this is not 10 years support for ChromeOS. But it is 10 years of supported software upgrades for these devices.
Perhaps the real issue is not the OS that runs on the devices themselves but support for the existing device management approach.
So, if I read that correctly, they're promising that whatever Chromebooks run in 2035-6 will work on the hardware that was sold with ChromeOS in 25-26. And there'll be an upgrade path. Right? That's what they're saying?
It's funny, I bought a tower computer 13 years ago that is my homelab server and it is still going strong -- two times I have migrated the storage array to new disks and I probably should do it again but I have not looked at the pricing. Much younger i3 machines became e-waste pretty quickly, but a quality PC can keep going and going.
I understand the various justifications for why school districts choose Chromebooks, but those devices were... dying since the day they were born. In other words, I'd confidently bet that the useful life of any school issued Chromebook ends the very second the student no longer needs it for school (whatever the reason may be.) I'd be just as confident that the vast majority also see zero use aside from directly pertinent school tasks. Basically the technological equivalent of No Child Left Behind.
When I left $DAYJOB-1 they let me keep my Dell Latitude 7270. I have upgraded its RAM to 16GB (the max it takes) and downgraded to a smaller SSD.
It runs ChromeOS Flex and it runs it very quickly indeed. It's a quad-core Core i7, so it should.
This 10YO laptop is in daily use and it runs well enough that an EOL for ChromeOS that is 8Y away is a concern for me. I expect the laptop will still be in use then; I still have several 15Y old Thinkpads in frequent use.
I guess we should just not trust tech companies for long term support of the stuff they make. How do they think they'll fare after squandering goodwill with shit like this?
As per usual, this is a tech industry product naming mess, with a layer of technology consolidation spread on top.
It probably means that low spec hardware won't support whatever they're calling the operating system for a higher spec laptops. Whatever they call it it's an evolution of ChromeOS with an Android runtime, which is nothing new in Google's products.
This seems to be about ending support for ChromeOS early, but they also have a new OS that might run on the same machines?
And assuming the new OS also runs Chrome, Chromebook users might not see that much of a difference.
Are they planning on replacing ChromeOS Flex? It has been a fantastic choice for me to put onto older computers that some relatives own.
...Unless I'm misunderstanding, I don't think any promises were broken here. Google said they would provide ten years of software updates. Now they're saying existing ChromeOS devices will be upgraded to the new "GoogleOS" within that ten year window, they will continue to receive said updates.
This is annoying if you don't like GoogleOS, but also par for the course. You can't stay on iOS 26 and continue to receive security updates, you have to upgrade to iOS 27.
I stopped buying Chromebooks and switched to MacBooks after my fantastic Samsung Chromebook Plus ARM units stopped getting updates after a few years, around the same time the 10 year from release support commitment for new devices was made.
Unfortunately Samsung no longer make Chromebooks, they had some fantastic hardware.
Intentionally misleading title.
They are changing the support horizon for new sales only, not ending anything early.
My Father in Law had one that ran out of support, but its been way over 10 years, anyone install a different distro over theirs?
I didn't know that they would end support for ChromeOS after releasing googlebooks.
Are there still cheap Chrome box that can be rooted to install other Linux?
My students Chromebooks can't run python online. 1 tab. Ad riddled. IT won't install ad blocker. The misery so many of us deal with. I'm happy has to know. Depressing.
> The newer Googlebook range uses more powerful processors than their predecessors, plus a new OS called Googlebook OS … $899
Gobbledegook. Planned obsolescence? This is accelerated obsolescence!
Why would anyone go for that instead of a MacBook Neo or even an iPad?
Huh. Apparently if you Google "GoogleBook", the first 2 results aren't for GoogleBook but for Google Books.
Old Chromebooks can still be salvaged by just installing Linux/FydeOS on them.
These new "googlebooks" (what a name), with their fancy gimmick chips, won't offer the same liberty.
Google really speed running the "be evil" playbook recently.
What the hell is the actual difference between ChromeOS and GooglebookOS?
(no longer updated?) https://gcemetery.co
Yet another market that is never going to trust Google with long term support for a product again!
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And this is why when Pixel phones started promising 7 years of support, everyone with a brain said “uh huh, suuuure” and kept buying iPhones which DO deliver that.
Why the hell anyone bought into the Chromebook idea I don’t know. Possibly saw the price and thought they’d get away with it.
Sounds reasonable.
8 years is still a long time for a cheap Chromebook.