Windows Weekly — Chrome OS Updating

Some discussion of Chrome OS updates.

I own a Chromebook which is now 6+ years old. Last summer, when it hit 5 years, it displayed a notification on the last 2 updates I received saying my Chromebook had reached end of support. I don’t recall whether it said I should buy a new one, but it definitely hasn’t received an update since then.

FWIW, it doesn’t have all the latest features, but it still works well enough for how I use it. That said, I won’t be replacing it with another Chromebook. Mine is so old it predated the now standard keyboard layout, and I can’t stand that keyboard layout.

Conversation 9 comments

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    14 March, 2019 - 1:01 am

    <p>The problem is, because it doesn't have the last year plus worth of security updates, it is using a slice of Swiss Cheese for security, just waiting to be exploited.</p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      14 March, 2019 - 2:47 am

      <p><a href="https://www.thurrott.com/forums/google/hardware/thread/windows-weekly-chrome-os-updating#412089&quot; target="_blank"><em>In reply to wright_is:</em></a></p><p>When it stopped getting updates, I took everything personal off of it except what's in my DOSBox logical drives and a bit of junk in ~/Downloads I could live without. The only passwords stored on it are for sites like this and ZDNet. I don't even try running crouton on it any more.</p><p>I'm waiting to see whether it does get cracked.</p>

  • skane2600

    14 March, 2019 - 8:03 pm

    <p>Wasn't "Always up-to-date" supposed to be a selling point for Chromebooks? Is "always" now defined as &lt; 6 years?</p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      15 March, 2019 - 2:40 pm

      <p><a href="https://www.thurrott.com/forums/google/hardware/thread/windows-weekly-chrome-os-updating#412413&quot; target="_blank"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></p><p><a href="https://www.pcworld.com/article/3109868/why-google-plans-to-stop-supporting-your-chromebook-after-five-years.html&quot; target="_blank">This</a> seems to sum things up accurately. Always up to date during the support period. Well, up to date then as long as one reboots once each new update is ready to be installed.</p>

      • skane2600

        15 March, 2019 - 3:15 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#412687">In reply to hrlngrv:</a></em></blockquote><p>Well, that's their revised story. No hint of limited updates at the time they introduced Chromebooks.</p>

        • hrlngrv

          Premium Member
          15 March, 2019 - 6:06 pm

          <p><a href="https://www.thurrott.com/forums/google/hardware/thread/windows-weekly-chrome-os-updating#412698&quot; target="_blank"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></p><p>Do you have a link to anything showing Google promising upgrades in perpetuity? Or is that just your own recollection?</p>

          • skane2600

            15 March, 2019 - 6:28 pm

            <blockquote><em><a href="#412783">In reply to hrlngrv:</a></em></blockquote><p>No, not explicitly, but an unqualified always up-to-date claim is essentially the same thing. It's quite possible Google's original intention was to upgrade indefinitely, but if not, they'd have good motivation to mislead. Advertising always up-to-date <em>during the support period</em> doesn't really suggest a significant departure from the Windows experience. To the question, "Will I have to be concerned about updates?" the answer would have to be "Yes, you will".</p><p><br></p><p>The longevity of updates isn't explicitly covered in the following Google video, but the fact that it says "there are no programs" and "you can do everything on the web" indicates that they aren't following their original pitch. </p><p><br></p><p>www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVqe8ieqz10</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

  • jimchamplin

    Premium Member
    15 March, 2019 - 10:15 am

    <p><a href="https://www.neverware.com/freedownload&quot; target="_blank">CloudReady.</a></p><p><br></p><p>Gratis and respected Chromium OS build by Neverware. They don't give machines an artificial "shelf life" so you'll never stop getting updates unless an actual technical reason crops up.</p><p><br></p><p>Then they typically fix the issue and updates resume once more. Check out the blog and changelogs, which are public and typically detailed.</p><p><br></p><p>If you end up liking it, it runs on vanilla PCs and Macs as well.</p>

  • Paul Thurrott

    Premium Member
    16 March, 2019 - 9:48 am

    <p>Thanks for this.</p>

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