One of the unique aspects of Chromebooks is the tight integration of the Chrome Web browser into the ChromeOS operating system. This architecture has both been lauded as elegant in its simplicity and derided as reducing those computers to a 'browser in a box'. I have to admit I fall into the latter category, and have always regarded Chromebooks as lesser computers with severely limited functionality.
Fortunately, Google has been steadily moving toward expanding Chromebooks' functionality, first by making it possible to run Android apps on them, and more recently by allowing Linux apps to run in a virtual machine environment, code named 'Crostini', but also referred to as the Linux Developer Environment. It's a little clunky and requires at least rudimentary knowledge of the Linux command line interface, but once you get everything set up, you can run almost any Debian Linux application, including LibreOffice, Thunderbird email client, GIMP photo editing software, and Firefox Web browser, on your Chromebook. Officially Google says it's just for developers, but in reality, it marks a huge leap forward in functionality for those who prefer desktop apps to their Web-based counterparts.
Google is now poised to take the next step in the maturing of ChromeOS by separating the Chrome browser from the operating system. The project, known by its code name Lacros (Linux and ChromeOS) is intended, according to Google, to extend the useful lives of older Chromebooks by allowing them to receive browser updates even after they pass their official 'expiration date', after which ChromeOS updates will cease. This project has been under way for a couple of years, and has been available under an experimental flag that gave users the choice of running the integrated Chrome browser or the separate Lacros browser, which is actually a natively running Linux application that does not require Crostini for life support.
The separation process will begin with ChromeOS 116, out next week, where Lacros will be turned on by default, no flag required, but it may be a little while before the integrated Chrome browser goes completely away. At that point, the Lacros browser will be renamed as Chrome and will sport the multicolored Chrome icon, instead of its present yellow Lacros icon. Once the process is complete, average users will hardly notice the difference.
That is all well and good, but I see an even larger possibility that I hope Google decides to leverage. If they can make a Linux version of Chrome run natively without Crostini, how hard could it be to allow other Linux applications to run natively as well? ChromeOS is based on Gentoo Linux, after all. To my mind, this would truly turn Chrome OS into a 'grown-up' operating system, in which the user can choose to run full-featured Linux applications with ease, just as one can with any desktop Linux distribution.
I realize this move is not without some controversy among the Chromebook faithful, many of whom regard ChromeOS' Web-based approach as the future of computing, and see the separation of the browser from the OS as a step backward, potentially eviscerating what makes ChromeOS unique, but thin clients aren't for everyone, myself included. In fact, I avoided Chromebooks for almost a decade after they came out, because I felt I wasn't missing anything. I could do everything on a Mac, Windows or Linux machine that I could on a Chromebook, plus a whole lot more. And although I am now a Chromebook owner, I still feel that way, and only use it for specific tasks.
I don't have any special knowledge about the future of ChromeOS, but I am hopeful that the implemention of Lacros in ChromeOS 116 will be a decisive step in the evolution of the ChromeOS platform.
UPDATE: I wrote the above shortly before ChromeOS 116 landed on my two Chromebooks, and the most amazing thing is how little of a difference it has made, day-to-day. Chrome behaves just the same, and because I had opted to use Lacros exclusively when I activated it in the previous version of Chrome OS, it implemented itself as the default, and the only way to know the difference is to check the version of the Chrome browser I'm running. So far, I'm pleased.
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