Disappointment over Google's "android apps for Chromebooks" marketing scheme

Disappointment over Google's "android apps for Chromebooks" marketing scheme

They are not making the advertised "android apps are coming to your chromebook soon" applicable to many existing chromebooks. To get the android apps for the Chrome OS you have to have Play Store which is bundled with recent Chrome OS updates. Google is only making this available only to some select Chromebooks that were manufactured within a couple years ago and to new ones being currently manufactured. They want to make sure you have to buy a new one. And rest assured, this is not a hardware issue. It is a marketing strategy.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3072...-even-if-theyre-able-to-run-android-apps.html

And of course, the HP Chromebook I own is not one of those that got the Play Store roll up.

Why am I not surprised?

trents said:

They are not making the advertised "android apps are coming to your chromebook soon" applicable to many existing chromebooks. To get the android apps for the Chrome OS you have to have Play Store which is bundled with recent Chrome OS updates. Google is only making this available only to some select Chromebooks that were manufactured within a couple years ago and to new ones being currently manufactured. They want to make sure you have to buy a new one. And rest assured, this is not a hardware issue. It is a marketing strategy.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3072...-even-if-theyre-able-to-run-android-apps.html

And of course, the HP Chromebook I own is not one of those that got the Play Store roll up.

Why am I not surprised?

Click to expand...

I cant see any other reason for Google to do such a thing either. I agree that it is dissapointing.

I have been doing a bit of reading on these chromebooks lately and wonder how you feel about the alternatives? I recently completed a DIY chromebook with an old laptop and chromium. I think its fairly nice for a dual core with 2gb of ram. I am trying to get "crouton" working with it as well, but I keep getting some sort of error about xorg Ive only recently read about Android being an option with chrome, so I dont know if that will be offered with chromium.

My point is that even though Google is being greedy doesnt mean there arent other options and some are pretty nice. Ive read dozens of articles about clones and full scale distros that mimic the feel (Budgie desktop environment is made to mimic chrome) so maybe its time to show Google what you think of their tactics

It's funny you should mention that. A friend of mine asked me yesterday what I knew about the status of Chrome (Chromium) for non android devices. I told him I knew there were various projects working on something but I hadn't checked on it in a while. I told him the last I knew the non android Chrome-like OS tools out there were very rough/crude and not far along. I went home and checked on that and found something called "Remix" but it was only for laptops. I don't have a spare laptop laying around right now that I could try it on. I have several spare desktops but no laptops.

I wouldn't be so quick to place the blame on Google. First let me say that I find the tracking that google does abhorrent, I am not a google apologist. However, google cares about your data and not necessarily about the hardware you are using, and chances are they are taking a loss with chromebooks. Its more likely a problem stemming from the manufacturers

For example the reason why the nexus 5 went EOL is because of a graphics chip problem. Most outlets blame google for mothballing the phone but its actually one of the chipset manufacturers not making drivers for Nuggat. All that to say while it is disappointing, make sure the ire is directed at the correct party, and i strongly suspect it has to do with the hardware manufacturer somewhere in the pipeline

I also am reading as I investigate this further that chromebooks that have not yet received the play store app as of yet may in time get it. This sounds a lot like how various smartphone manufacturers roll out new versions of the android OS. Google (name brand Google) phones get the latest Android OS and then there is this slow trickle down.

The Solus Project is where I head about budgie. Ive only run it for a few minutes and havent really put it through its paces yet, but I liked what I saw. Budgie-Remix is good also. ve tested them both in VM, but they were 4-core/8gb virtual machines, so of course they ran well I am more interested in a closer approximation of the chrombook experience myself (hence why I only spent a few minutes with budgie and then moved on to the more authentic looking Chromium OS). I was going to build it myself but ran into a stumbling block or 2 and decided to use a version from Arnold the Bat (highly recommended from more than 1 place). So far it has been flawless.

Ive got another old laptop that I am trying to revive and since it will not boot from USB I cannot use an Arnold the Bat build. Here is where Budgie comes in for me. If it turns out well with either the Remix or Solus I will make a post and let you guys know. Frankly though, I might go back and take another shot at building Chromium and see if I cant get it on a DVD because I would still rather have a chromium/crouton combo than a full scale distro for such a dinosaur of a machine.

Edit: I dont know where I got the idea that Budgie was made to mimic chrome because it doesnt seem to say that anywhere. I think i just read about Solus in an article while researching chromebook-like distros and made an illogical connection between the two

My sister in law just gave me back an old core 2 duo laptop I had loanded her. I'm thinking that might be a good candidate for a Chromium OS project.

Just make sure you use the real deal chrome browser to make your usb stick. none of the chrome copycat browsers will work, even if they support chrome plugins. Or if you have a linux box available dd also created a successful installer. Rufus may have been successful, but I was testing on a non supported device, and wasted days trying to figure out why my laptop couldnt see the stick.

I am still waiting on some DDR1 sticks to complete my second try. Solus and remix run VERY poorly on less than 1gb of DDR. I told you the machine I was working with was ancient