
Play Store and Android Apps Coming to Chromebooks - ojn
https://chrome.googleblog.com/2016/05/the-google-play-store-coming-to.html
======
spot
from the post:

> Schools in the US are now buying more Chromebooks than all other devices
> combined -- and in Q1 of this year, Chromebooks topped Macs in overall
> shipments to become the #2 most popular PC operating system in the US*.

that's pretty amazing actually. congrats to google & the chromebook team!

~~~
jalami
Congrats on the adoption, although I still don't think it's moving our public
institutions in the right direction. It's really just moving a lot more kids
into a walled garden. I know Google has been in hot water for collecting
student data recently and has since taken steps to fix it. That's their
primary business model though. " _Anonymizing_ " promises always follow and
then it's a trust game again.

I can see a future where a mandatory Google account follows you up the grades.
Educational software is released exclusively in Google's Play store.
Assignments and homework are handed in with Google Drive and Google Docs.

Sure this is great for Google, but I think our public institutions suffer from
such a third-party centrality. I remember at UW-Madison, it was annoying
having to pay for a semester long subscription to whatever the professor
decided was a good cms for the class, but at least the costs were explicit and
there wasn't a monopoly player in the field that everyone had to use. IMHO,
Google is more interested in getting people into the garden than it is in
selling hardware or fostering education.

~~~
danieldk
They took a page from Microsoft's playbook. They know that you have to capture
the next generation in schools.

I agree with your worries. But it also tells that other parties in the market
have utterly failed to compete. iPads used to get traction, but are more
expensive, and Apple doesn't provide a complete ecosystem like Google Apps for
Education. Microsoft has been sleeping, they have all the pieces but wanted to
push Windows as-is. The open source solutions require you to hire some
sysadmins, while Google Apps did exactly the opposite: it cut out some
personnel that used to maintain the infrastructure.

~~~
kuschku
> The open source solutions require you to hire some sysadmins

That is rarely an issue, though – even my German (combined middle and high)
school had a dedicated sysadmin and two teachers teaching computer science who
had a PhD in compsci.

Developing custom systems, running them, etc comes a lot cheaper longterm than
going into vendor lock-in (especially with privacy laws, where even looking at
Google can cost you millions)

------
radarsat1
I'm curious just on the technical side, what does this mean for the many apps
that include ARM code? (i.e. apps that use the NDK) Will there be some
emulation, or do apps generally ship with multi architecture?

Edit: Ok, the answer is, both. Thanks ;)

~~~
bitmapbrother
Most apps ship with multiple binaries for the appropriate architecture. For
those apps that don't have the necessary binaries the native code will be
translated on the fly to the host architecture instruction set. Since
Chromebook's are significantly faster than smartphones the small performance
hit shouldn't be noticeable.

~~~
thescriptkiddie
Source? On Android and under ARC you're SOL if an NDK app doesn't provide
binaries for your architecture. This is rarely an issue though, as most apps
just opt to ship with binaries compiled for every supported ABI.

[https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/abis.html](https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/abis.html)

~~~
izacus
That's not really true - x86 devices mostly come with libhoudini layer which
can load and translate ARMv7 binaries on the fly. Hence if the app ships
armeabi code you're pretty much set.

------
caffinatedmonk
I'm curious why they didn't mention something so game changing as this in the
keynote.

~~~
JustSomeNobody
What game is this changing, really?

~~~
kakarotoismygod
Having offline apps is game changing because not everyone has access to the
Internet all day long, and doing tasks like image and video editing on your
laptop will be much easier and faster than using web services.

~~~
NetStrikeForce
So, like having a Mac or Windows laptop, but restricted to either webapps or
walled garden.

This is not game changer. It is exciting and might help grow the Android
ecosystem. I just hope Google learned from the Honeycomb fiasco.

~~~
VikingCoder
You can side-load Android Apps on Android.

I'd be pretty surprised if you won't be able to side-load Android apps on
ChromeOS.

~~~
benley
You can already side-load Android apps on ChromeOS, as well as with Chrome on
other platforms. All you need is the ArcWelder chrome extension, which I'm
pretty sure is provided by google themselves, to package up an apk into a
chrome app: [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/arc-
welder/emfinbm...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/arc-
welder/emfinbmielocnlhgmfkkmkngdoccbadn)

------
sharms
This is a big move and will majorly impact desktop / laptop computing. Now the
entire ecosystem of Android apps (even Microsoft Office, Snapchat, Photoshop
Express) is going to be available, and arguably this platform is much more
complete than say, Universal Apps (Microsoft)

~~~
Nullabillity
_All_ mobile applications, regardless of platform, are inherently crippled.
It's not as bad as iOS (at least there are user-accessible generic files...),
but there's still a lot of stuff that's crippled because of crap like
"simplicity" or "we don't have enough screen real estate".

~~~
Splines
Hopefully it will push the Android ecosystem to accommodate larger screen
sizes.

------
magnumkarter
This is great!!! I wonder if it will be possible to install the Play Store in
Chromium OS. I know that Chromium has some support for installing Android .apk
files.

~~~
Nowyouknow
Also would love to know if this works. This might eliminate my desire to buy
the Android Pixel C device. On the flip side, if this is limited to
Chromebooks, this might increase the desire to buy the Chromebook Pixel.

~~~
0x6c6f6c
Personally looking at HPs new Chromebook line coming out [0]

Very sleek design, better than the Pixel imo, and several tiers if you don't
want to start at $1k.

[0]:
[http://store.hp.com/us/en/ContentView?storeId=10151&catalogI...](http://store.hp.com/us/en/ContentView?storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&eSpotName=chromebook13)

~~~
colemickens
That HP does look enticing and I know it seems small, but I really like the
Pixel 2015 having the USB Type-C on each side of the laptop. I can always plug
in the cord without having to double back to run it under the laptop based on
where the port is. Sometimes the extra foot lets me reach the power socket.
(And less stress on the connector).

(Though the lack of upstream kernel support means that I will probably go back
to MBPs for my next personal device. I've reverted to just ChromeOS + mosh
client for now)

~~~
astrojams
I have the 2015 Pixel and sadly the USB type C ports on either side are my
favorite feature. I LOVE not having the chord wrap under the notebook.

------
hackaflocka
To the Googlers on here -- any idea when it'll come to Chrome browser on other
platforms. I really hope Google doesn't artificially delay that to boost
Chrome OS penetration.

~~~
dmitrygr
[http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/05/the-play-store-
comes-...](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/05/the-play-store-comes-to-
chrome-os-but-not-the-way-we-were-expecting/)

"The new model dumps the native-client based implementation for an unmodified
copy of the Android Framework running in a container."

Will you run chrome as root on your other platforms so it can start a
container?

~~~
pritambaral
I wouldn't mind running _chromium_ as root. Well, maybe a separate, small
binary whose sole purpose is to manage the containers.

------
bonaldi
No support for the original Pixel? It's more powerful than quite a few on the
list. Damn.

~~~
eugeneionesco
Nowhere says there is not support for the original Pixel. It just does not get
it at this point just like other chromebooks.

>Google Play will start rolling out in the developer channel with M53 on the
ASUS Chromebook Flip, the Acer Chromebook R 11 and the latest Chromebook
Pixel. Over time, this will roll out to other Chromebooks in the market too

~~~
mitoyarzun
I doesn't appear on this list:
[https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/6401474](https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/6401474)

------
stkoelle
Intellij for Android, would help a lot some developers ;-)

~~~
jshevek
I assume you are suggesting you want to work on a tablet, or run pure Android
on a laptop/desktop.

The other interpretation of your words, given the topic of this article, is
that you'd like IntelliJ on a Chromebook, so that: IntelliJ on Android +
Android apps on Chromebooks brings IntelliJ to Chromebooks.

~~~
stkoelle
Yes I was thinking about getting IntelliJ on a Chromebook as android app.

~~~
jshevek
Oh, great! Since IntelliJ-based Android Studio can be run on a Pixel via
Crouton, I would think that doing so with pure IntelliJ wouldn't be that hard.

------
dharma1
I hope they will open source this, so we would get Android apps on other Linux
distros too. That would be a great win for Linux app ecosystem

------
chrisper
Is there a way to try out ChromeOS without owning a chromebook?

~~~
Qerub
Yes, with Neverware CloudReady:
[http://www.neverware.com/](http://www.neverware.com/)

~~~
jimmcslim
Interesting, can that be virtualised I wonder?

~~~
newjersey
What would be the use case? Better sandboxing than what Chrome/Chromium
provides? Im not trying to make a snarky comment. I'm curious what the use
case is for you. Thanks

~~~
benley
Trying it out before committing to reinstalling your laptop with it?

~~~
jimmcslim
Yes, this.

------
gvurrdon
Does anyone know how permissions would be handled? There are some Android apps
I'd like to install on a Chromebook but I certainly don't want them to get
access to my contacts.

------
jimmcslim
Why are Chromebooks such a US phenomenon... Here in Australia retail
availability is pretty dire. I wonder if this development might see that start
to change?

~~~
reustle
I don't think they are as successful in the state as you might think

~~~
bigtones
Errr, yes they are. From the article: In Q1 of this year, Chromebooks topped
Macs in overall shipments to become the #2 most popular PC operating system in
the US.

~~~
voltagex_
Shipments to stores? What about overall sales?

------
pgrote
While this is a great step forward, I am disappointed in the list of
chromebooks supported.

I looked over the list and cannot find a common thread as to what is supported
and what isn't. Does anyone know?

My Acer C720 with an i3 isn't on the list, but my Toshiba Chromebook 2 with
lesser specs is on the list.

~~~
sunnyps
Three Chromebooks are supported initially including the Pixel 2015. Other
Chromebooks will be supported later this year. Source:
[https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/6401474](https://support.google.com/chromebook/answer/6401474)

~~~
buro9
Pixel 2015?

So there is a new one coming?

~~~
sunnyps
You know 2015 was last year, right?

------
ralmidani
Hopefully this leads to the release of ARM devices with more than 32GB of
storage.

------
pawelkomarnicki
Well, time to shred my "Samsung Chromebook", and maybe get something newer or
just give up with this "gazillion of models and revisions" bullshit I hated
about Windows years back :/

------
jbigelow76
I'd be more interested in seeing Electron apps on ChromeOS before Android
apps, not expecting that to happen mind you, Electron on ChromeOS probably
does nothing to move the Google ecosystem forward.

~~~
izacus
I guess people want more than 45 minutes of battery out of their Chromebooks.

~~~
old-gregg
Could not agree more. Electron apps do not feel like desktop apps at all,
they're closer to VMs in how they start, how they stop and how much resources
they require.

~~~
cozzyd
For some reason that I do not care enough to figure out, the Slack "native"
Linux application uses something like 5 GB of RAM on my desktop.

~~~
city41
Are you certain it's Electron based? The OSX Slack app is built with MacGap.

------
asimuvPR
Google: What does this mean for ARC users?

------
headmelted
Obviously there's no-one in the world that didn't know this was coming, but
even so, I feel for the Remix OS guys.

I assumed at the time their objective was to be acqui-hired by Google, but I
can't see why there would be a reason for that now, or how they'd hope to
compete in this situation.

Congratulations to the Chrome O/S and Android teams. I was briefly on a
Chromebook when my laptop packed in, and but for the absence of solid
developer tools, I'd have stayed forever. There's a lot to be said for
convenience.

~~~
jshevek
"but for the absence of solid developer tools, I'd have stayed forever."

Are you saying that Arch or Ubuntu and everything that runs on them aren't
enough for you? Or that crouton hadn't evolved far enough at the time?

These days you can run crouton in a window or a tab within ChromeOS. Launch an
xterm or IntelliJ or whatever each into their own windows, displaying within
ChromeOS.

I'd say that the 2015 Pixel (plus crouton) is one of the best ultrabooks for
devs.

~~~
david-given
Crouton in a window doesn't really work so well --- on my Asus Flip it
frequently forgets to redraw the window after changes, which makes it nigh
unusable.

I haven't tried rootless mode, though.

I'll agree with you about Chromebooks for developers, though (well, if you
like doing everything from text mode, which I do). My ARM-based Flip is a
lovely machine. Cheap, ultraportable, completely silent, ludicrous battery
life and the quad-core ARM flies.

I just wish they'd get X running in a VC working. (The Flip uses a special
graphics stack which apparently makes this hard.)

~~~
jshevek
That's too bad about the Flip and the screen not redrawing. The Pixel doesn't
seem to have this problem, and its runs android studio on X no problem.

It can do AS on X in a window or tab, or as a separate desktop. The last mode
seems to require the two systems to handing over low level control of the
hardware to each other, whereas the first two modes are more seamless. So yes
trying the other approach might solve the redraw problem.

Yes, for text mode only things are even easier. The "crosh window" app (plus
tmux, etc) is all I need to perfectly happy with Crouton.

~~~
david-given
Okay, yeah, the Pixel's obviously using the older graphics stack. The new
one's called Freon and is apparently loads simpler and faster... but has a few
side effects.

(It still has a VC, although the VC2 shell is actually a user-space program
called frecon which draws text via Freon. Switching from VC1 to VC2 is super
seamless. So it's obviously possible _somehow_ to draw full-screen graphics
through Freon.)

Also, I agree; the crosh window is surprisingly good, and interacts nicely
with full screen. Bit slow, though. `ls -lR` will wedge the window for a while
until it flushes its buffer.

------
genieyclo
After the Android Chrome app gets extensions, what's the point of keeping
ChromeOS alive? It's the only thing Android's missing that ChromeOS has.

~~~
sangnoir
> It's the only thing Android's missing that ChromeOS has.

Except for instant boot times, really paranoid security and a long list of
supportive laptop OEMs

~~~
azakai
Are those boot times still so good if the first apps you use are Android ones?
That would be an apples-to-apples-comparison.

If that's true, then I wonder why ChromeOS would boot up so much faster than
Android? I suspect it doesn't.

------
headmelted
For anyone that hasn't yet played with a Chromebook and is interested in this,
x86 builds of Chromium OS:

[http://chromium.arnoldthebat.co.uk/](http://chromium.arnoldthebat.co.uk/)

This isn't exactly the same (no play store yet), but it'll let you get a feel
for the OS and it's merits.

------
koolba
Will apps run natively on Chromebooks or will my fart app slow down because
it's being emulated?

~~~
albasha
Natively. In most cases, faster than the phone version.

------
jimjimjim
year of the linux desktop?

~~~
zxcvcxz
Well it already dominates everything else. I realized every aspect of
programming had me interfacing with a Linux system in some way and then
decided to just make the switch. I was already using Android, RasPi, IoT
devices, linux web servers, linux containers, linux in a VM on Windows, and
I'd probably be trying to use "bash on windows" now if I still used Windows. I
finally realized that Windows was just getting in the way and decided to get a
Linux computer. Honestly using Windows is a much more painful experience than
Linux at this point for me.

But I'm not doing advanced document formatting like half the people on HN so I
have the luxury to just get by with google docs.

~~~
userbinator
It's ironic that, despite its intrinsic openness, the biggest users of Linux
are in the most closed ecosystems like smartphones/tablets, Chromebooks,
various proprietary IoT devices, etc. where being open-source essentially
means very little to the ease of users modifying, recompiling, and tweaking
the software on them.

------
superobserver
This is really great news and I hope they execute this right. As liberating as
crouton is, I still find myself wanting an Android apps for the ease of
access.

------
TazeTSchnitzel
Coming soon: Chrome OS made into merely an alternative Android home screen,
and Chromebooks becoming “Droidbooks”.

~~~
hendersoon
Don't see why not. ChromeOS is a perfectly fine windowed UI, which is exactly
what Android needs on convertible and laptop form factors.

Chrome becomes one app that runs on ChromeOS, and all the android apps are
first-class citizens too.

Sounds great to me.

~~~
Aleman360
Sounds like Windows 8 where the desktop was an "app" on the Start screen.

------
ncr100
I assume Google IAB be supported on Chromebooks, too?

Cross-device purchase restoration, etc?

------
_pmf_
There's virtually no app that I feel thrilled to use on my laptop.

------
dandare
Finally Sonos on Chromebook!

