It was one thing when Google’s Chrome apps managed to break out of the browser and become real, offline apps, but clearly that is not Google’s real long-term play. A recent update to the developer version of Google Chrome basically runs Chrome OS inside of Windows 8.
The new feature, dug up by The Verge, basically allows the “Metro” interface for Chrome to turn into its own multi-windowed mini desktop, complete with a bottom bar of Chrome apps and pretty much everything else you could expect from the browser-based OS.
For the moment, the functionality is super buggy — we had a hard time getting the desktop to display full screen, and even then the mouse cursor was oddly misplaced. And even though this pseudo-Chrome OS is running in “Metro” mode, it requires the browser to have its real roots in the desktop. That means this trick only works for Windows 8 Pro and not RT. There’s not even Chrome for RT.
Still, this is a move by Google that will make it even easier for people to rely on its apps and services — and even the interface and style of its own OS — even on a competitors operating system. You can check it out by downloading the developer version of Chrome onto a Windows 8 Pro device.
Pretty sneaky, sis. [The Verge]