Enter Remix OSĪ Chinese startup founded in 2014, Jide Technology aims to “unlock the potential of Android in order to accelerate a new age of computing.” The release of the Pixel C, Google’s first Android hybrid tablet-laptop device also demonstrates Google’s plan to adapt Android to better suit desktop and laptop devices. Hiroshi Lockheimer, Senior Vice President of Android, Chrome OS and Chromecast later refuted this claim, saying “While we’ve been working on ways to bring together the best of both operating systems, there’s no plan to phase out Chrome OS.” Last year The Journal reported Google plans to fold its Chrome operating system into Android, effectively ending the Chrome OS project. In fact, a report by The Wall Street Journal suggested just that.
With Android already dominating the computing device market and its massive App Store, it may seem obvious that Google will eventually move to merge their two operating systems.
The release of Windows 10 Mobile last year as part of Microsoft’s plan to unify their platforms into a single operating system may herald a larger move towards better software integration and consistency between mobile and desktop user experiences. Chrome OS isn’t quite a mainstream desktop operating system like Windows or OS X but Android may soon be moving in to fill up the gap. Another Linux-based operating system developed by Google, Chrome OS is focused on laptop devices but has yet to revolutionize the ultrabook and netbook markets.Īlthough Chromebook sales figures have been growing steadily, the major of that comes chiefly from the educational sector, presumably because of the low cost of most Chromebooks. As of 2016, Android has the largest installed base of all operating systems, ranging from TVs, cars, to even wristwatches, and, of course, phones and tablets.īuilt on the Linux kernel and optimized for low power/limited memory devices, Google’s open platform has become the obvious choice for the many companies that require a ready-made, lost-cost and customizable OS for their devices.ĭespite Android’s ubiquity and open nature, Google hasn’t made much effort in creating an Android experience for desktop and laptop devices until recently. Since its original release in 2008, Android has grown to dominate most of the world’s personal computing devices.
Unlike the original Remix OS, which runs on ARM mobile processors, Remix OS for PC by targeting the x86 instruction set thereby is able to reach a portion of computers currently largely unreached by Android. It is an Android experience focused around productivity. Remix OS for PC extends the ideas of the original Remix OS. Remis OS is built on the Android-x86 project, an open source initiative to port the Android operating system to devices powered by processors using the x86 instruction set).
Last week Jide, a company formed by three former Google engineers officially released the alpha builds of their “Android for PC” operating system, Remix OS for PC.