Google Releases Chrome OS 67
- Paul Thurrott
- Jun 11, 2018
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65
Following on the heels of Chrome 67 for desktop, Google has released Chrome OS 67, adding improved support for PWAs, new form factors, and more.
The steady pace of Chrome OS improvements collectively represents what I’ve said is a clear and present danger to Windows 10. As this platform gets more and more sophisticated, the reasons for ignoring it get, in turn, more and more obsolete. Those who still believe Chrome OS is a glorified online-only web browser are woefully out-of-date. And need a wake-up call.
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With Chrome OS 67, Google is taking a giant leap forward into the future.
First, and most important in my view, you can now install Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) as stand-alone apps. As I’ve seen in Chrome 67 on Windows (after manually enabling various PWA-related flags in chrome://flags), this behavior varies a bit by app, which I suspect is related to their manifest file. But it works great overall already.
And here’s a real-world example of how this changes things. Now, when I click on a YouTube link, the YouTube PWA opens in its own window rather than in a tab or the current window. Thanks to PWA support, YouTube is now an app on both Windows and Chrome OS. (And, probably, on Mac and Linux too.)
Chrome OS 67 also supports new Chromebook form factors like tablets and detachables in a more sophisticated fashion. It provides a split screen mode for web and Android apps when used in tablet mode, detachable base swap detection, touch-friendly (and Android-like) power and quick settings interfaces, and more.
Here’s the (curiously incomplete) list of improvements that Google notes for this release.
- Android Debug Bridge support over USB in developer mode
- Progressive Web Apps can now be installed as stand-alone apps
- Extend Chrome page zoom to Google Play Apps
- Visual update for ext4 filesystem migration
- Feedback reports on sign-in screen
- Cleaner improved Bluetooth list
- Touchable material 2.0 Chrome for tablet devices
- Select-to-Speak ability to select specific text to be read aloud
- Inline touchable folders in launcher
- Split Screen support in Tablet mode
- Support for zipping files on Drive via the Files app
- Power menu shortcuts when holding the power button
- Detachable base swap detection
- Security fixes, including rolling out Site Isolation to a larger percentage of the stable population and Spectre variant 2 fixes for ARM devices on 4.4 kernels.
Conversation 65 comments
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Bats
<p>I have to admit. This post made me laugh. It was as if the situation with Chrome 67 and PWAs is comparable to the NoKo and nuclear weapons. </p><p>Chrome is a clear and present danger to Windows? I don't think so. PWAs, in general, represent THE clear and present danger to Windows. Neither Microsoft or Google control the web and the last time checked the "W" in PWA stands for web. A Windows machine is all about installing software and working offline. I know that PWAs have offline capability, but you still have to eventually go online. Also PWAs are platform agnostic. Any kind of electronic functionality, absent from Windows OS, is a clear and present danger to Microsoft.</p><p>As for the Youtube PWA, I can do that now with my Windows PC via the Chrome browser. I don't see the big deal here. </p><p>I don't see how this moves the needle for Microsoft at all.</p><p>People kinda/sorta use Chrome OS everyday. EVERY.DAY. It's called the Chrome browser. People don't actually need a laptop to run the full the Chrome OS experience. As long as they run the browser, a Windows PC can assimilate a Chromebook. </p>
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Stooks
<blockquote><a href="#283146"><em>In reply to DaddyBrownJr:</em></a></blockquote><p>"Chrome OS is lean and unobtrusive, and lets the user get the job done"</p><p><br></p><p>Until you can't because the app you need is not on Chrome OS and the "web" alternatives basically SUCK.</p>
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Bats
<p>LOL..a few hours have past and I am still getting a kick out of this "clear and present" danger stuff, Paul Thurrott stated above. I have a question. Is there a mission involved regarding this clear and present danger? With the iconic Mission Impossible theme playing in the background, I am imagining Brad Samms in this generic looking van hidden behind some bushes in Mountainview behind a number of Surface Pros and Studios to which he is operating. Meanwhile Paul Thurrott is inside the vent in one of the Googleplexes, where he just above the room where the secret code of Chrome OS/browser is stored. Again, with the Mission Impossible theme playing in the background, I can see Paul lowering himself onto the room from the vent, in Tom Cruise-like fashion, trying to sabotage Chrome <a href="about:blank" target="_blank">67 for mission codename "Redmond." LOL…"clear and present danger."</a></p><p> <a href="about:blank" target="_blank">Like I said in</a> the past, Microsoft needs to create a brand new OS designed with the easy and usability of Chrome/Android. Not just that, but they also have to create a viable ecosystem that people actually want to use for the betterment of their lives. This OS, has to be super easy to use like Android and Chrome and most imporantly it can't be called Windows. </p><p> Like I said, and has been repeated below…Chrome OS is just a glorified web browser. Whether people opt to buy hardware that contains OS is up to them, but Chrome OS can be used in Windows via the browser. </p><p> The truth of the matter is that PWAs is not going to rescue Windows. No one cares. If Microsoft thinks that this can save the OS or (foolishly) the Windows Store, then get ready for a huge disappointment. </p>
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Stooks
<p>"<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Now, when I click on a YouTube link, the YouTube PWA opens in its own window rather than in a tab or the current window."</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">OMG how amazing!!!!! </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">So when watching the video in the wrapped web page, aka PWA, is it better in some way than just watching in a tab in Chrome??</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Paul I do hope PWA's take off just for your sake, because the hype you are trying to whip up….I am not feeling it.</span></p>
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Dandyv
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