A lightweight operating system is a great way to extend the life of an old and weak computer. Now Google has announced that it will officially support Chrome OS on the ancient hardware.
It all started with the Neverware project. This American company has been adapting old computers for education and basic office tasks for several years. To do this, Neverware engineers have developed the most lightweight CloudReady operating system based on the free open-source Google Chromium engine. The CloudReady system is quite similar to the official Chrome OS so that computers running it looks more like Chromebooks than the usual Windows PCs. But now the difference between CloudReady and Chrome OS will be completely erased.
Google bought Neverware this week. Now the Google strategy to crate CloudReady an official Chrome OS release. After the merge, current CloudReady users will receive the appropriate update. Going forward, Google will officially support CloudReady in the same way as Chrome OS.
Everyone benefits from this merger, Neverware said. The truth that until now CloudReady was not legally assisted by Google was one of the main disadvantages of this system. Now its users will have access to a wide variety of Chromium-compatible Android applications. Also, the official support from Google will create the software more appealing to businesses and schools. In any case of problems, they can take direct support from the company.
It is also very important that the union will not in any way affect the pricing policy. That is, the home version of CloudReady will continue to be free and available to everyone. It’s just that now Google will be engaged in its development, support, and maintenance. So if you have an ancient low-power computer lying around somewhere, this is a great chance to give it a second life.