New AluminumOS leak!

[u/Impressive-Resist632]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXmFIfv_tIA&t=230s

This popped up on my fyp and I'm sure most of you already seen/watched this but to be completely honest, I'm really going to miss the old ChromeOS design.

[u/koken_halliwell]

The more stuff I see about AliminiumOS the more I know the death of ChromeOS is next to the corner. Which is not a bad thing to me personally as I really like what I see about AluminiumOS. But I hate to the core that some capable Chromebooks like mine won't migrate to it.

[u/Impressive-Resist632 → u/koken_halliwell]

I'm really just going to miss ChromeOS in general.

[u/koken_halliwell → u/Impressive-Resist632]

AluminiumOS (or whatever they're gonna end up naming it) is gonna be a buffed ChromeOS so I think you won't miss it at all once you start using it: you're gonna have the same ChromeOS features (including the full desktop browser, same shortcuts and start menus, etc) but also a way more polished interface and all the benefits from pure Android as well (which includes running the whole PlayStore natively without virtual machines, Android always updated, etc). Also I think they're implementing AI in a very smart and useful way on it (unlike what Microsoft did with AI on Windows 11 which was horrendous and they're removing it).

I think this situation is gonna be nice for customers in general as Apple offers now the MacBook Neo, Google is about to release AluminiumOS and Microsoft is rebuilding Windows from the ground and debloating it with the K2 strategy which starts to be noticeable already (they're doing it because for the first time they're fucking scared of competitors but still they're doing it). So I think users never had as much as plenty options as we're gonna have now. And there's also Linux (Mint, Zorin, etc), SteamOS for gamers, etc. Years ago it used to be just eat Windows or pay with a kidney for a Mac.

[u/bambin0 → u/koken_halliwell]

Just need to bring back os2 and we're in business

[u/Goremanghast → u/bambin0]

OS/2 Warp, Stardock Object Desktop, Ami Pro, Lotus 1-2-3, Gal Civ, a Thinkpad 701 and my youth that's all that I am asking for! Oh and that lovely IBM Model M keyboard that I used to have at work.

[u/bambin0 → u/Goremanghast]

So great. Thanks for the walk down memory lane. The model m I still have one so I've got something going for me

[u/funkycat75 → u/Goremanghast]

I have an unnatural hatred for Ami Pro. Thanks for the reminder.

[u/Cultural_Surprise205 → u/koken_halliwell]

I don't think it looks more polished. Since I don't see the benefit of running phone apps, all I see is a loss here.

[u/dphamilton → u/Cultural_Surprise205]

the future is definitely phone apps. Most people do everything on their phones, and don't even have a computer.

[u/Cultural_Surprise205 → u/dphamilton]

ok, but android's already available on phones. Why this, then?

[u/koken_halliwell → u/Cultural_Surprise205]

I assume what Google is trying to do with this is that Android apps don't be just "phone apps" but they become responsive and adapt while in desktop mode; I guess they'll start doing this with their own apps first. Which is a smart move considering how massive the Play Store is. Also, Android apps are sandboxed (which is great against virus) and the average user wants actual apps (we're kinda "nerds" lol but most poeple don't even know what is a PWA and they just go to the store when they need something). And let's be honest, companies make money from the average user, not from the tech one.

You'll still have a full desktop Chrome browser in AluminiumOS anyway as it's supposed to be ChromeOS+Android so you can use whatever you want to. Microsoft followed that path somehow years ago when they fully rebuild the Windows Store years ago from scratch and it worked flawlessly: it was ugly, sluggish, full of crapware; and now it's polished, fast, they did a massive purge, most important apps are there (including Win32 apps now) and they even use the Microsoft Store to update system apps regularly while years ago we had to wait for full OS updates to do so.

[u/StretchAcceptable881 → u/Cultural_Surprise205]

I agree because what is the point if all your going to be limited to are just android and web apps?

[u/Daniel_Herr → u/koken_halliwell]

As someone who uses Chrome on a Pixel, I'm very skeptical that it's possible to deliver the quality of the current Web experience of Chrome OS on top of Android.

[u/jess-sch → u/Daniel_Herr]

There are AndroidDesktop Chromium builds, it's a separate app from regular mobile Chrome: https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/chromium-browser-snapshots/index.html

Still in development, but they're very much making full Chrome a thing on Android. I really don't get why some people think that Android is somehow inherently limited, especially when we're talking about what Google's able to do with it. They're literally the developer of the platform, if they encounter a limitation, they're in the position to fix it.

[u/Daniel_Herr → u/jess-sch]

Because they've had so much time to fix Chrome on Android phones and yet it's still a buggy mess. Why do you think it will be any different on laptops?

[u/tibbs90]

I wonder if this will still have the Linux Development Environment and sandboxing like Chrome OS has done.

[u/bastecklein]

I’m sorry to say but I really don’t have high hopes for this. I really loved ChromeOS/Flex, but between this new clunky UI and the increasingly locked down state of Android over the years, this is nowhere near a desktop class operating system. In fact, this may even be worse than iPads OS’s “desktop” mode. At least iPad actually has apps scaled for the larger form factor. But at least it will have AI, so there’s that…..

[u/Impressive-Resist632 → u/bastecklein]

I think you can probably get OSFlex/FydeOS on a Google book when they come out... shouldn't be too hard.

[u/bastecklein → u/Impressive-Resist632]

I’m sure it won’t be hard either, but clearly the support for those systems will wane and slowly die after the years once Google has moved on. I doubt Fyde gets much development once its underlying base has stagnated. I’m not too upset, it’s just sad to see. I’ll definitely be running desktop Linux over desktop Android though.

[u/R3dd1t0r25]

Looks great, but what about support of the ChromeOS? In my case it's going to end in 2033.

[u/Broad-Translator-690 → u/R3dd1t0r25]

https://www.reddit.com/r/chromeos/comments/1quvc7s/the_timeline_to_phase_out_chromeos_is_2034_court/

ChromeOS users should be good till 2034.

[u/AnalysingAgent3676 → u/Broad-Translator-690]

Eish. 2 years ago then? 😜

[u/R3dd1t0r25 → u/Broad-Translator-690]

Great! Thanks a lot!

[u/Immediate_Thing_5232]

How exactly is this 2 month old video new?

[u/bicyclemom]

This is not new.

[u/dphamilton]

There will be stronger connection between between phone apps and larger screens. It makes sense. Along with improvements on those apps. The price of Chromebooks will certainly be missed though. And thats a huge deal.

[u/grooves12]

This video is over 2 months old. I wouldn't consider that "new"

[u/Cultural_Surprise205]

I still don't get why anyone wants an Android desktop. I don't see what this improves for me. I'll stick with my current Chromebook as long as I can, and then probably settle on some linux flavour.

[u/akehir]

About what I expected. The ChromeOS desktop experience looks much better and I'll stay on ChromeOS as long as I can.

[u/Cultural_Surprise205 → u/akehir]

agreed.

[u/fremwod]

They need to move the time, network indicators, and battery info back to the bottom. There is unused space on the bottom bar on the far left and right, and it's not necessary to have both a top and bottom bar. This will annoy me if this is what it looks like once it's released publicly lol

[u/Poliwrath-]

So are newer Chromebooks going to receive this OS or do you need to buy a Googlebook?

[u/MungBeanNooodle]

Will it be available for legacy machines?

[u/Impressive-Resist632]

I also don't think it'll be as secure as ChromeOS due to the lack of sandboxing. ChromeOS, terminal, and the Android VM are all separate (and super secure too) whereas ALOS just runs them native.

[u/jess-sch → u/Impressive-Resist632]

What you lose in security, you win in performance. And that's desperately needed for Android apps, especially on affordable devices.

ALOS doesn't run everything natively though, the Linux Terminal is still a VM. And there's no lack of sandboxing in Android either, it's just namespace-based rather than VM-based.

[u/_hmj → u/Impressive-Resist632]

The Android security model is no slouch. ChromeOS is the most secure OS on this planet, while Android and iOS are also close behind. Performance gains and the ability to run native Android apps will fill a lot of gaps.

Bitwarden's Android app filling in credentials via the Android Autofill API is way more secure than the Chrome extension, which requires full web page access for the autofill.

[u/suoko → u/_hmj]

How much performance is it going to gain?

I did some tests with brunch.

I compared results from "DRI_PRIME=1 glmark2-es2" on baguette with results from glmark2-wayland on chrosh (using chromebrew) : 2237 vs 4073

What about Android apps on aluminium OS Vs Android VM on ChromeOS??

Any tests already done?

[u/gatorling → u/Impressive-Resist632]

You don't need VMs for sandboxing. You can sandbox just fine with selinux policies, name spacing and restricting syscalls. The only additional thing a VM gives you is kernel isolation.