Chrome OS Has Stalled Out

'Speaking of Chromebooks, David Ruddock, opines at AndroidPolice:

Chrome OS' problems really became apparent to me when Android app
compatibility was introduced, around five years ago. Getting Android
apps to run on Chrome OS was simultaneously one of the Chrome team's
greatest achievements and one of its worst mistakes. In 2019, two
things are more obvious than ever about the Android app situation on
Chrome. The first is that the "build it and they will come" mantra
never panned out. Developers never created an appreciable number of
Android app experiences designed for Chrome (just as they never did
for Android tablets). The second is that, quite frankly, Android apps
are very bad on Chrome OS. Performance is highly variable, and
interface bugs are basically unending because most of those apps were
never designed for a point-and-click operating system. Sure, they
crash less often than they did in the early days, but anyone saying
that Android apps on Chrome OS are a good experience is delusional.

Those apps are also a crutch that Chrome leans on to this day. Chrome
OS doesn't have a robust photo editor? Don't worry, you can download
an app! Chrome doesn't have native integration with cloud file
services like Box, Dropbox, or OneDrive? Just download the app! Chrome
doesn't have Microsoft Office? App! But this "solution" has basically
become an insult to Chrome's users, forcing them to live inside a
half-baked Android environment using apps that were almost exclusively
designed for 6" touchscreens, and which exist in a containerized state
that effectively firewalls them from much of the Chrome operating
system. As a result, file handling is a nightmare, with only a very
limited number of folders accessible to those applications, and the
task of finding them from inside those apps a labyrinthine exercise no
one should have to endure in 2019. This isn't a tenable state of
affairs -- it's computing barbarism as far as I'm concerned. And yet,
I've seen zero evidence that the Chrome team intends to fix it. It's
just how it is. But Android apps, so far as I can tell, are basically
the plan for Chrome. Certainly, Linux environment support is great for
enthusiasts and developers, but there are very few commonly-used
commercial applications available on Linux, with no sign that will
change in the near future. It's another dead end. And if you want an
even more depressing picture of Chrome's content ecosystem, just look
at the pitiable situation with web apps.'

-- source: https://developers.slashdot.org/story/20/01/06/1626227

Cheers, Peter
-- 
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/
http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
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