Parallels will Bring Windows Apps to Chromebook Enterprise

Parallels is partnering with Google to Windows applications to business customers using Chrome Enterprise in the second half of 2020.

“Remote-work is a new reality, making efficiency, connectivity, speed, reliability, security, and undisrupted access essential elements of a successful organization,” the firm told me. “At this key moment, our two organizations have formed a landmark partnership to equip enterprises with solutions that optimize their businesses and teams to meet the evolving challenges of modern work environments.”

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This partnership will allow enterprises to seamlessly add full-featured Windows apps, including Microsoft Office, to Chromebook Enterprise devices, Parallels says, enabling efficient, productive, and collaborative work anytime from anywhere, and eliminating additional hardware costs and minimizing the total cost of ownership (TCO).

While it’s not clear how Windows apps will be delivered on Chrome OS, it’s interesting to see the different language that Google uses to describe this capability.

“Our new partnership with Parallels brings legacy application support—which includes Microsoft Office desktop apps—to Chromebooks,” Google’s John Solomon writes.

Both firms promise more information over the coming months.

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Conversation 28 comments

  • jackwagon

    Premium Member
    16 June, 2020 - 4:41 pm

    <p>I guess this is their plan B for when/if Apple switches to ARM.</p>

  • clemens_naderer

    16 June, 2020 - 4:56 pm

    <p>Why shouldn't I buy then a real Windows 10 Laptop?</p>

    • Pbike908

      16 June, 2020 - 5:05 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#546850">In reply to Clemens_Naderer:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I was thinking the same thing…just get a Windows Laptop and a Chrome browser…Or just Chromium Edge…</p>

    • Pungkuss

      16 June, 2020 - 6:11 pm

      <blockquote>I assume they are doing this because customers are asking for it. People want the simplicity of ChromeOS, but also want to use Office. They don't want to retrain their employees and lose productivity, but like the TOC and ease to administer that ChromeOS offers.</blockquote><blockquote>"<span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 36);">we have seen a 109% year over year growth in unit sales in the U.S. for Chromebooks, and ~155% year over year growth in commercial Chromebooks in Q1 2020, fueled in part by the cost benefits and simplicity of deploying Chromebooks" </span></blockquote><blockquote><span style="color: rgb(32, 33, 36);">Quote from the blog post. I think they see an opportunity. I think Microsoft needs to get Windows 10X out asap.</span></blockquote><blockquote><a href="#546850"><em>In reply to Clemens_Naderer:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p>

    • Winner

      16 June, 2020 - 6:35 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#546850">In reply to Clemens_Naderer:</a></em></blockquote><p>Because Windows is a complex pig of an OS compared to Chrome OS?</p>

      • naddy69

        16 June, 2020 - 11:44 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#546865">In reply to Winner:</a></em></blockquote><blockquote>Because Windows is a complex pig of an OS. Period. </blockquote><p><br></p>

        • robinpersaud

          18 June, 2020 - 1:22 pm

          <blockquote><a href="#546897"><em>In reply to naddy69:</em></a></blockquote><blockquote>It has 30+ years of 'cruft' still in the codebase. For that reason, I am looking forward to Windows 10 X.</blockquote>

      • longhorn

        17 June, 2020 - 5:09 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#546865">In reply to Winner:</a></em></blockquote><p>Maybe Chrome OS is a complex pig of containers that can't run anything natively?</p><p>A website/PWA isn't a native application. It needs a heavy browser to run.</p><p><br></p>

        • chrisltd

          17 June, 2020 - 10:01 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#546914">In reply to longhorn:</a></em></blockquote><p>ChromeOS is buttery smooth on garbage CPUs and low RAM machines ?‍♂️ </p>

          • terminusaquo

            17 June, 2020 - 1:26 pm

            <blockquote><em><a href="#546958">In reply to chrisltd:</a></em></blockquote><p>So do Linux distributions ?</p>

          • Cardch

            18 June, 2020 - 2:56 am

            <blockquote><a href="#546958"><em>Unless you want to run Zoom…</em></a></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote><a href="#546958"><em>In reply to chrisltd:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      17 June, 2020 - 9:51 am

      This isn’t a solution for those who only need Windows. It’s a solution for companies that want the lower costs and complexity of Chromebooks but have one or a handful of legacy Windows apps that they can’t/won’t replace.

  • shameermulji

    16 June, 2020 - 6:47 pm

    <p>Interesting move. Should be a wakeup call to MS and Windows 10X</p>

    • jaboonday

      Premium Member
      17 June, 2020 - 1:39 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#546867">In reply to shameermulji:</a></em></blockquote><p>Why? Windows already runs "legacy desktop apps" just fine!</p>

  • geschinger

    Premium Member
    16 June, 2020 - 7:34 pm

    <p>Implementation details will be interesting. Is there a way for Parallels to do this w/o requiring a Windows license? And if not – if this is really nothing more than a version of Parallels Desktop coming to ChromeOS?</p>

  • brettscoast

    Premium Member
    16 June, 2020 - 8:04 pm

    <p>Interesting development how well they achieve this will be fascinating. Just wondering would you say parallels currently offers a better experience for windows users on mac hardware than bootcamp currently does?</p>

    • john_m

      Premium Member
      16 June, 2020 - 8:41 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#546874">In reply to brettscoast:</a></em></blockquote><p>Parallels on MacOS works fine but not for graphics intensive apps (i.e. games). In those cases it's best to use bootcamp. </p>

      • brettscoast

        Premium Member
        17 June, 2020 - 7:57 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#546879">In reply to john_m:</a></em></blockquote><p>Thanks for your feedback</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      17 June, 2020 - 9:49 am

      They’re not really comparable since Boot Camp requires dual-booting while Parallels lets you run Windows, or just Windows apps, under macOS. I prefer Parallels, personally.

      • SvenJ

        17 June, 2020 - 12:40 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#546942"><em>In reply to paul-thurrott:</em></a><em> </em>Would seem that is part of the comparison.</blockquote><p><br></p>

      • brettscoast

        Premium Member
        17 June, 2020 - 7:58 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#546942">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>Thanks</p>

  • Joshua Manring

    16 June, 2020 - 8:49 pm

    <p>I’m sure this is just Parellels Remote Access. It’s their version of RemoteApp. </p>

  • jhambi

    17 June, 2020 - 12:29 am

    <p>I really hope ChromeOS doesn't slowly turn into windows with all these tack on's.</p>

  • harrymyhre

    Premium Member
    17 June, 2020 - 12:46 am

    <p>I saw a VMware ad during prime time tv here in the Los Angeles market. </p><p><br></p><p>vmware?</p>

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    17 June, 2020 - 2:49 am

    <p>For a company that is already using Microsoft products, I don't see what the advantage is. Their Windows fleet will already be managed by WSUS, InTune or some other MDM service. Switching over to the Google based MDM will mean learning everything all over again, for no real gain and probably more compatibility headaches.</p><p>Also, what about the licensing? Is it just a VM running under ChromeOS and you have to provide your own Windows licenses, or is it some substitute for Windows?</p><p>Edit: Reading other articles, it looks like Joshua_Manring is correct, it is just a plugin for Parallels Remote Access. Given Microsoft's licensing restrictions, you might still need a RAS license for non-Windows clients.</p>

  • digiguy

    Premium Member
    17 June, 2020 - 8:55 am

    <p>if this is just parallels remote like on ipad, it will just be a competitor for chrome remote desktop, which you can use today…</p><p>if this is a VM like on mac then the implementation may be tricky, and maybe only X86 chromebooks would work…</p><p>PS apparently apps will be emulated, so it won't be remote desktop, but it will only be for Enterprise Chromebooks and probably only for Intel ones….</p>

  • melinau

    Premium Member
    19 June, 2020 - 7:53 am

    <p>I can't immediately see what added-value this provides, but I'll hold fire until people have actually used it, and can explain what it brings to the party.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      19 June, 2020 - 8:17 am

      It brings Windows app to the party. This is a requirement for many businesses and most big businesses. The idea here is that a company may want Chromebooks because they are cheaper, and inexpensive and easy to manage, but they have 1-2 legacy Windows apps that users still need. And this will provide that.

      We’ll see how/if it works. But that’s the idea regardless.

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