The search path to the desktop OS



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Unlike Windows, which contains a welcome page and a Start Menu sprinkled with icons, Chrome OS is simple, with just the Launcher at the bottom left. The first thing you'll probably do on Chrome OS is launch the browser and all it displays is the search bar. As the search engine continued to evolve and users did more, it began to accumulate a wealth of information to become even more intuitive. Google used your search history to automatically complete your next search, serve targeted ads, and find out everything you like. If you gave permission to the company, she also started using your email and calendar information to display your upcoming flight information or contact information in your search results.

This laid the foundation for features such as Assistant, which is somehow a personification of the search engine. If you think about it, every question you ask Assistant is essentially a search query, like "What's the weather like today" or "Chris Velazco Text". The research is deeply rooted in much of Google's ecosystem and continues to fuel more the company's empire. Wizard in Chrome OS will be a more obvious example.

"Surfaces like the Google Assistant have become and will continue to become more and more essential to the computing experience people have every day," Liu said. The AI ​​will not be just a convenient way to get answers to the questions you ask yourself. "He understands a lot better what you care about and what you do and how to help you get what you love faster," Liu said.

The march toward an AI-powered future is very much in sync with other business projects. "Machine learning is an important part of what we think the world is moving and where Google wants to get its users," said Liu.

The Google goal for Chrome OS at first seemed less ambitious. The operating system was originally intended for netbooks (as they were fashionable at the time, remember?), And was not meant to compete with Windows. People were not convinced that such a limited operating system would succeed one day, especially since it relied mainly on browser-based applications, themselves relatively new and rare. If you needed to edit a photo or video, you had to download the equivalent of a Chrome extension to do this, and these were often bad substitutes for programs that people really wanted , like Adobe Photoshop.

But then, application support came in force – Google added support for Android and Linux applications, as well as other new features and cosmetic updates. Now, the operating system has given Microsoft a real competition, at least for users who do not need to do multimedia publishing; He says something that companies like HP and Acer have started to make alternatives to Windows Chromebooks. Chrome OS also offers a better multitasking solution than iPads because iOS is not a desktop system. And the Chromebooks themselves have proliferated since the first arrived in 2011, shipping millions of units worldwide each year.

In fact, Chromebooks have a huge role to play in the growing popularity of Chrome OS. Of course, you can use Chrome OS in all-in-ones, mini-PC enclosures and some tablets, but it's mostly in laptops. Chromebooks are generally lightweight, low-cost notebooks that allow you to connect to the Web and have been most successful in schools. Hordes of students have now reached maturity using Chrome OS, and Google hopes they will continue to use it once they graduate.

Chromebooks are not all cheap, of course. Google has created the Pixelbook Premium – a striking aluminum and glass machine. This year, more and more laptop makers have followed in Google's footsteps, offering top-quality Chromebooks to a more mature audience who want Chrome OS to be something other than a cheap plastic.

Chrome OS has gone from a niche platform with very limited application support to a serious option for those looking to buy a laptop. And Google has not finished working on it. "We will continue to improve our basic principles of speed, simplicity and security, but also integrate AI features to bring a smarter and more intuitive operating system," Liu said.

But Google has not forgotten the search. On the occasion of its 20th anniversary this week, the company announced a series of updates to its search engine to better help people find information, even if they do not have the right words to express their nebulous thoughts. As Search continues to evolve, it's not hard to imagine a day when Chrome OS, powered by a highly intuitive wizard, will become a desktop operating system that competes with Windows or Mac.

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