Google recently showcased the Ferrochrome project, which demonstrated the potential of running Chromium OS on Google Pixel devices. While the concept was a dream project for users of Chrome OS, Google recently revealed that the project was primarily a tech demo.
According to recent updates, the Ferrochrome Project was a tech demo after all
Ferrochrome, the open-source foundation for ChromeOS, was designed with the potential of merging two operating systems. It was recently brought forth that the Google Pixel devices have the capability to run ChromeOS. The OS based on Chromium OS was reported to run on top of Android, but unfortunately, Google has confirmed the ChromeOS coming to Pixel 8 was, in fact, a proof of concept.
In a report by Android Authority, it was stated that Google unveiled the project at a private event held exclusively for Android partners. The Company held a demonstration that had the Chromium OS running in a virtual machine on the Pixel 8. The technical presentation heightened speculation that Google could potentially run ChromeOS on its hardware, but the company came forward to deny the speculations and confirmed the demo to be merely a technical showcase.
The purpose of the proof of concept was to check the potential of the Android Virtualization Framework (AVF) and the challenges that would arise by running Ferrochrome on Android. Google has not shared any future plans for the project. Whether the concept will be turned into a full-fledged feature remains uncertain. Irrespective of Google’s plan for ChromeOS, the company could bring the concept to fruition with the support of its hardware partners.
Google's VP, Dave Burke, put to rest the speculations about the Pixel powering ChromeOS in a recent Android Faithful podcast. Burke stated that the purpose of the demo was to make a heavy investment in virtualization on Android and gain more clarity regarding the capabilities of this integration.
We need to do a demo, what would be really cool? Let’s put ChromeOS in there. That’d be really funny. Could that really work?’ And it works. That’s as far as it went, it’s a tech demo to show the tech. What we’re excited about is the virtualization, and it was just a way of showing it.
While the Ferrochrome project piqued the tech community's interest and sparked many discussions, the concept has ChromeOS users hopeful for a potential actualization of the product, given the platform's capabilities. Nonetheless, the concept did give us a sneak peek into what Android virtualization could look like.
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