The Wall Street Journal just released a doozy of a report saying that Android and Chrome are merging. The venerable paper says that a unified operating system will be released in 2017, but Google will show off an early version next year.
The report says that the merger has been underway for "roughly two years," and it refers to the end result as "Android," which makes it sound like Android will play host to the merge and integrate parts of Chrome OS. The Journal says the unified OS will "run on PCs," and Chromebooks (which will now run Android) will be given a new name.
As a "browser only" OS, Chrome OS has struggled to get the app ecosystem traction that Android and Google Play have excelled at. Most of the software innovation we've seen from Google over the years has been on Android, with Chrome OS remaining "just a browser," with few major exciting features. It's been clear that Android has been the OS with all the momentum, but it's still a shock to hear that Chrome OS is going away.
A merger like this is going to bring massive changes to Android. The mobile OS is awful with a mouse (or touchpad) and keyboard, and it would need a big UI revamp to work on Chrome OS-style hardware. Android also has no scalable update solution, while Chrome OS has a controlled, seamless, silent update process. Part of the allure of Chrome OS for schools and businesses is that it's relatively bombproof, easy to manage, and easy to update. None of those things can be said about Android.
