And as for the programs? It probably goes without saying, but those represent the most dramatic transformation of all. Sure brings you back, doesn't it? Chrome OS truly was designed to be the anti-operating-system - one where none of the usual computing paradigms applied.Īnd now? Well, my goodness, where do we even begin? Chrome OS has a desktop, for one - one with a taskbar, a quick settings area, and yes, even a desktop background. It portrays a Chromebook as actually being the web, 'in a computer-like object' - specifically noting that it involved no programs, nothing to start up, and no desktop ('not even a desktop background'!). I mean, this Chromebook introduction video pretty much says it all. In its official Chrome OS introduction, Google described the platform as being 'a natural extension of Google Chrome' - a 'lightweight operating system' designed specifically for 'people who live on the web.' That 'browser in a box' characterization stuck around as a misleading jab at Chromebooks for far too long, but in the very beginning, it really was accurate.Īnd you'd better believe it was that way by design, too. In that earliest incarnation, it was quite literally just a ' browser in a box' - a full-screen Chrome window with no desktop, nothing so much as even resembling a traditional app, and next to no settings or options. Let me explain: Back when it first showed up in 2011, Chrome OS was as limited and barebones as an operating system could be.
