Google ending ChromeOS support two years early

bryanlarsen

> it’s hard to imagine many Chromebooks currently in service or acquired in the next year or two will still be in service come 2034 While there won't be many there definitely will be some; I know of an ~8 year old Chromebook currently in active use.

Wowfunhappy

...Unless I'm misunderstanding, I don't think any promises were broken here. Google said they would provide ten years of software updates. Now they're saying existing ChromeOS devices will be upgraded to the new "GoogleOS" within that ten year window, they will continue to receive said updates. This is annoying if you don't like GoogleOS, but also par for the course. You can't stay on iOS 26 and continue to receive security updates, you have to upgrade to iOS 27.

5G_activated

Yet another market that is never going to trust Google with long term support for a product again!

ltbarcly3

Intentionally misleading title. They are changing the support horizon for new sales only, not ending anything early.

someperson

I stopped buying Chromebooks and switched to MacBooks after my fantastic Samsung Chromebook Plus ARM units stopped getting updates after a few years, around the same time the 10 year from release support commitment for new devices was made. Unfortunately Samsung no longer make Chromebooks, they had some fantastic hardware.

techteach00

My students Chromebooks can't run python online. 1 tab. Ad riddled. IT won't install ad blocker. The misery so many of us deal with. I'm happy has to know. Depressing.

ChoosesBarbecue

Are they planning on replacing ChromeOS Flex? It has been a fantastic choice for me to put onto older computers that some relatives own.

dmitrygr

And this is why when Pixel phones started promising 7 years of support, everyone with a brain said “uh huh, suuuure” and kept buying iPhones which DO deliver that.

jackb4040

Huh. Apparently if you Google "GoogleBook", the first 2 results aren't for GoogleBook but for Google Books.

sdcfgy

Why the hell anyone bought into the Chromebook idea I don’t know. Possibly saw the price and thought they’d get away with it.

sjs382

Of course they are. One more datapoint to reference in the future when evaluating Google's long term promises and commitments. "No, we mean it this time."

PowerElectronix

I guess we should just not trust tech companies for long term support of the stuff they make. How do they think they'll fare after squandering goodwill with shit like this?

FloatArtifact

There's simply no real reason that a mobile device can't function as a desktop from a technical level either in software or hardware. Simply dock your phone or it could be even wireless. Boom! Go from mobile experience to desktop experience. It seems they want to cram the mobile experience into a traditional desktop environment (mouse and keyboard driven with windows paradigm). IOS and Android have not embraced desktop paradigm. We simply need a unified SDK to support both experiences and the store downloads the appropriate assets. We're beginning to see somewhat of these concepts with foldables phone coming into the market.

ck2

https://killedbygoogle.com (no longer updated?) https://gcemetery.co

Razengan

> The newer Googlebook range uses more powerful processors than their predecessors, plus a new OS called Googlebook OS … $899 Gobbledegook. Planned obsolescence? This is accelerated obsolescence! Why would anyone go for that instead of a MacBook Neo or even an iPad?

Arnt

So, if I read that correctly, they're promising that whatever Chromebooks run in 2035-6 will work on the hardware that was sold with ChromeOS in 25-26. And there'll be an upgrade path. Right? That's what they're saying?

qurren

What the hell is the actual difference between ChromeOS and GooglebookOS?

Zigurd

As per usual, this is a tech industry product naming mess, with a layer of technology consolidation spread on top. It probably means that low spec hardware won't support whatever they're calling the operating system for a higher spec laptops. Whatever they call it it's an evolution of ChromeOS with an Android runtime, which is nothing new in Google's products.

drybjed

Add it to the pile. https://killedbygoogle.com/

steveBK123

Extremely sarcastic take but - shouldn't the 10x productivity boost of LLMs like their own in-house Gemini make maintaining software easier? Nothing in terms of feature release / quality / maintenance I am seeing out Big Software would lead me to believe there's been any productivity increase.