A comparative study of operating systems

Chrome OS

Chrome OS is a Linux kernel-based operating system that was designed and developed by Google. It was based on an earlier version called Chromium OS, which was a Linux distribution software, mostly used for browsing the world wide web. Chrome OS uses google chrome browser as its host user interface. Since the primary user interface is google chrome, it can be noted that chrome OS is mainly for web browsing and other applications associated with it, and does not support other extensive functions like gaming or high-level programming (Yang et al., 2019). Laptops running on chrome OS are called Chromebooks. The first commercial Chromebook was launched in 2011. Chrome OS was launched targeting the notebook market and offered very little support for desktop computers. Chrome OS also enables the user to access their desktop remotely and supports Chromecast- a series of digital devices developed by Google.

Android

Android is an operating system developed and designed for smartphones. It is Linux kernel-based and is open-source software available to the general public. Over the years, android has been one of the highly popular operating system preferred by the general population. It is widely available in various smartphones developed by different companies across the world. Android has been the basis of many other smartphone software (like Cyanogen OS) (Qin, F et al., 2017). Android Inc. was founded in California and was aimed towards developing software for digital cameras. It was acquired by Google in 2005 and was intended for developing a google based operating system for touchscreen phones.

Android and Chrome OS comparison

While both the operating systems are developed by Google, Chrome OS was developed mostly for notebook computers. On the other hand, android was designed for smartphones and tablet computers. Chrome OS cannot run Linux programs and android applications, whereas android can run chrome applications and extensions through the google chrome app. Chrome OS can automatically update itself through the internet, whereas updating android requires a manual process of checking updates on the web and then installing it by choice. The user can deny the update on android, but that feature is not available on Chrome OS.

Chrome OS was developed by Google to be a cloud-based software (Abdugulova, 2017). User files and data can be saved on google drive and could be retrieved later when required or when the host device s changed. Although android supports google drive and other cloud-based applications, user data and programing files are stored in the internal memory of the device, and not on the cloud. Users can back their data up in the cloud, which could be retrieved later, but the core system files of the operating system are stored in the device.

Conclusion

Although both are developed and designed by Google, Chrome OS and Android differ significantly from one another. While android was developed with the sole purpose of serving the smartphone and tablet industry, chrome OS was launched for notebook computing and for running mostly web-based applications on a personal computer. Both serve a specified clientele, and therefore, should not be confused with each other as being the same.

References:

Yang, Q., Li, Z., Liu, Y., Long, H., Huang, Y., He, J., … & Zhai, E. (2019, August). Mobile Gaming on Personal Computers with Direct Android Emulation. In The 25th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (pp. 1-15).

Abdugulova, Z. (2017). Allowing Schools Access to Affordable Computers. How Schools Can Benefit from Switching to Inexpensive, Cloud-Based Computing Technologies. International Journal of Learning and Teaching, 9(3), 326-331.

Qin, F., Zheng, Z., Li, X., Qiao, Y., & Trivedi, K. S. (2017, January). An empirical investigation of fault triggers in android operating system. In 2017 IEEE 22Nd pacific rim international symposium on dependable computing (PRDC) (pp. 135-144). IEEE.