Google Changing Its Stance on Chrome OS Windowing?
Published By thechromesource Editorial Team
The concept of Chrome OS is clear: fast, easy to use and simple. But in order for it to become a legitimate operating system competitor, will Google need to make some modifications to its cloud operating system’s windowing concept?
The concept right now is no windows at all. You can get notifications that rise from the bottom of your screen, and you can even set up something called panels which give you additional areas that can store media and other information below. Other than that, you have to use ALT-TAB to move to other screens. Even pop-ups, that annoyance from the late 90s web that somehow has survived all these years, come in new browser tabs.
The Chromium Team is increasingly making a realization: if Chrome OS is to be implemented in larger screen devices there may need to be a shift in UI methodology. One idea is to make the system implemented on the Chrome browser for Windows and Chrome OS identical; as of right now the browser take cues from the operating system itself.
Is this the best way to move forward? I thought that making Chrome OS a Windows alternative included making it very simple, a key difference from what Microsoft is already offering. But the lure of putting the Chrome platform on larger screen sizes may be enticing: earlier this week we had heard rumblings about an Acer 24″ display running Chrome OS. Sounds like an intriguing concept, but a system like that without any windows might be, well, boring.
Does Chrome OS need a windowing system?