Android “fragmentation” has long been a talking point about the OS. As I’ve said before, however, manufacturers are to blame for that. But now I fear that Chrome OS is going down the same path—and this time it’s Google’s fault.
How Chrome OS Updates Differ from Android
I’m going to make some connections between Android and Chrome OS early on here because it only makes sense as a starting point. The biggest difference between the two is that Android is open and available for all manufacturers to modify and redistribute; Chrome OS, by contrast, is fully managed by Google.
On Android, device manufacturers are responsible for slowing down updates. For example, when a new Android version is released, the manufacturer has to modify the source code to fit its needs before releasing it. For example, Samsung had to add all of the One UI features before it could release the Android Pie update for compatible Galaxy devices.
Google, on the other hand, manages all updates for its Pixel devices. That means as soon as a major Android release is ready to go, Google can push it out the door. This is precisely the reason every Android journalist out there (myself included) will tell you to go with a Pixel device if you care about timely updates.
So what does that have to do with Chrome OS? You can think of Chrome OS in the same way you can the Pixel phones’ Android build. The key difference is that while the Pixel is a single line of phones designed and managed by Google, Chrome OS is available on a staggering number of devices from dozens of manufacturers. But in the simplest terms, that doesn’t matter; just know that Chrome OS updates are handled by Google, regardless of the device or manufacturer to which it’s being applied—just like Microsoft handles all updates to Windows machines, regardless of the manufacturer.
Now, that’s not to say that all Chrome OS devices get the updates at the same time. Each build still has to be tweaked to work with each Chrome devices’ specific hardware. As a result, one Chromebook may get an update as soon as it’s ready, while another has to wait a couple of weeks. But the point is that they all still get what should be the same update.
But as more and more features are introduced—especially newer ones that require virtualization like Linux and Android app support—a feature gap is starting to grow between Chrome OS devices, and that’s troubling.
The Chrome OS Feature Gap Conundrum
Chrome OS users were excited when Google first announced it would bring Android apps to Chrome OS. With that one move, Google was able to bring a huge number of useful features, apps, games, tools, and more to an operating system that was long chastised for being “just a web browser.”
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Source : Chrome OS is Getting Fragmented (and This Time It’s Google’s Fault)
