SAN FRANCISCO ― Google has announced a new operating system called Chrome OS Flex. It’s a cloud-first OS that Google say will be fast, easy-to-manage and secure.
Notably though, it isn’t restricted to specific devices anymore like how Chrome OS is on Chromebooks. Instead, Google is making it free to download and use on PCs and Macs.
This comes on the back of their acquisition of Neverware a couple of years back. Neverware was the team behind Cloudready, an open source operating system built on Google’s open source Chromium OS code base.
As for Chrome OS Flex, it’s built on the same code base and release cadence as Chrome OS, and from the looks of things will also have similar UI and user experience as Chrome OS.
Google is targeting users with older hardware that may be struggling with how heavy Windows can be for instance, and getting them to ‘refresh’ their hardware with this lightweight and free OS.
Specifically, Google sees Chrome OS Flex as a viable alternative especially if you’re part of an organisation with a fleet of older devices, such as schools or businesses.
In their blog post introducing Chrome OS Flex, they’re touting it as a modern, intuitive and clutter-free while also being proactive against security threats.
Google adds that any IT admin can install Chrome OS Flex onto a device in minutes and with the cloud-based Google Admin console, the IT department also has a powerful yet simple way to manage all these devices.
Chrome OS Flex comes with the official Google Chrome browser, Google Assistant and a number of other features that also ship with Chromebooks, with users’ cloud profiles synced across their devices.
Perhaps most importantly, Google says that it’ll be easy to transition from Chrome OS Flex to Chromebooks running Chrome OS when your old hardware eventually gives way.
There will still be some notable differences between Chrome OS Flex and actual Chrome OS running on devices meant for Chrome OS.
For starters, all Chrome OS devices come with a Google security chip to protect the system and verify the security of the hardware and the operating system.
Meanwhile, because Chrome OS Flex is meant for non-Chrome OS devices, the verified boot procedure on Chrome OS devices is not on machines running Chrome OS Flex.
As a workaround, Google has worked together with Microsoft, and had the latter review and approve the Chrome OS Flex bootloader to optionally support the UEFI Secure Boot feature.
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