Source: Android Central
What you need to know
- Chromebooks will support Windows apps from this Fall
- The upcoming integration is courtesy of a partnership with Google and Parallels.
- Both companies are currently billing this as an enterprise feature, touting the ability to run Microsoft Office and legacy Windows apps.
Chromebooks started life as web-only machines, then added Android support a few years ago. Last year, Google brought Linux support to beef up Chrome OS's developer clout, and now it's going to add Windows apps to the list of platforms Chromebooks will support.
Google's John Solomon, VP of Chrome OS, snuck the announcement in the middle of a blog post today:
We've long been saying that almost any business role can be a cloud worker, and COVID-19 has dramatically made this point. As a result, the Chrome OS team is working on new ways to make sure every company can benefit from the velocity created by supporting a cloud workforce. For example, our new partnership with Parallels brings legacy application support—which includes Microsoft Office desktop apps—to Chromebooks.
Parallels, if you're unfamiliar is a virtualization program that's most known for bringing Windows apps to macOS (check out a review of Parallels15 over at iMore to see how it performs).
The functionality will be made available to Chrome enterprise this fall, as per Parallels. Questions around whether it will also be made available to consumer Chromebooks a bit later, how well it will run, and further queries are unanswered at this time. Google promises that there is "more to come on this over the coming months," but the move already sets up Chromebooks like the new HP x360 to be more desirable business purchases than they currently are.
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.
Review: 4 months later, the Nest Audio is still a smart speaker champ
About four months after its release, the Google Nest Audio is still standing strong as one of the best smart speakers currently available. If you haven't picked one up yet, now's a great time to do so.
Why don't we see any more pop-up selfie cameras?
Pop-up selfie cameras defined 2019 phones, but the trend fizzled out shortly thereafter. Here's why you don't see many phones with pop-up selfie cameras anymore.
Jetpack Compose will breathe new life into tablet and big-screen apps
Tired of apps looking really bad and sometimes not working on your big screen devices? This new tool from Google can help developers fix things!
Here are the best sleeves for the Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook
Looking for a sleeve that will both protect your new Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook and make it easy to carry it around, either in another bag, backpack, or briefcase or on its own? Here are some great options.