Google adding 'Chromoting' remote desktop functionality to Chome OS?
By Donald Melanson 
posted June 11th 2010 1:55PM
posted June 11th 2010 1:55PM
Well, this one's come a bit out of left field, but it looks like Chrome OS could be set to get a pretty big new addition: a remote desktop feature dubbed "Chromoting" (at least for now). That word comes courtesy of an apparently authentic message from Google software engineer Gary Kačmarčík posted on a Chrome OS mailing list, which goes on to explain that the feature would let you run "legacy PC applications" right in the browser, and that it would be "something like" Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection. No more details than that, unfortunately, nor is there any indication that the feature will actually be included in the initial release of Chrome OS that's launching this fall, with Kačmarčík only going so far as to say that Google is "adding new capabilities all the time."
Cool Beans
@pishmish haha, what a dumb name. I hope that's just the code name for it.
@Kid Red
bye bye Log Me In
@pishmish
there is chrome OS and then there is chome OS..
which one to choose?
@Kid Red
WHOA! I DID NOT KNOW THEY WOULD CHANGE THE OS NAME TO CHOME OS.
WTH IS A CHOME???
/s
@pishmish And they still havent fixed it.
@pishmish Yay! Now I can finally access my favourite webapps through the net! ... Wait, err, what?
@pishmish
I thought I was going to need to buy a windows netbook... guess not!
cant wait for more info on Chrome OS!
I hope soo...
Chromoting = cringe
They were gonna call it "Kačmarčíking" but no one could pronounce it
@benz240
Here's a funky useless info:
In Turkish "Kačmarčík" literally means "The Runnies"
with the mention of running "legacy PC applications" it sounds more like a citrix app serving platform than remote desktop.
likely they can emulate any environment for an app and then serve you the windows (a la citrix), basically enabling OS-free application launching. performance would be tied to their servers, your connection (bandwidth and latency), but could be a real winner as far as breadth of applications available and future opportunity.
will be interesting to see how it pans out and what it becomes (if anything).
@keener31 Wouldn't google have to pay for hundreds of thousands of copies of windows, if they were doing a citrix style thing with windows apps?
Isn't it more likely that they are just going to have a wine style program , except maybe easier to use?
@Maxwell
very possibly. i doubt they would go the licensing route when they could go the emulation route.
they would probably opt to serve up a bunch of applications that are either old and otherwise unusable or unobtainable and create a single platform where they could serve you apps built for windows, java, osx, mobile, all sorts of different linux packages; all without the end user knowing the difference.
that is, of course, pure conjecture based solely on the name of the feature and the mention of "legacy PC applications."
but it has a lot of potential power, effectively removing the need for specifically compiled code. a universal, server-side emulator, basically.
@maxwell
as others are suggesting too, it may be a local machine app serving or desktop serving platform. where the apps that are ON your machine are served to your chromeOS device. perhaps the emulation will occur on the main machine you install the server on and can push apps installed there (be they windows or osx or linux) and then have the ability to add cross-OS apps as "chromote" packages?
lotsa possibilities.
I want a chrome netbook BAD!
Also I'd love to install Chrome on my older PC that is losing it.
@AdamSapnik It's easy. Install Ubuntu and uninstall all programs. Install Google Chrome and you have everything a Chrome OS can do (and more).
@AdamSapnik
Only reason you would want to do this is that you Google fanboi much! huh? You have not even seen the OS and yet you are cheering for it, when it will not be bringing anything revolutionary except spy on everything you do.
Chome OS? Typographical error police!
@sinistersai4d
CHOME OS FTW!!!
@sinistersai4d
LOL
Reusing an old feature, calling it something different, and acting like it's new?
What are they, Apple?
@jellotime91 What are you, lame?
@Kid Red
What are you, an idiot who replies to the first post on a page (not mine, see above) just to have your comment seen, when it's actually unrelated to the first post?
Go crawl in a hole.
@jellotime91
no one said it's new...
loser
@angelusp =/ English class much?
OH NOES! All the sudden my Windows 7 box and all its applications is LEGACY. When will I be able to upgrade my 4ghz quad core i7 to Chrome OS so I can start running all those MODERN web applications???
Running all these apps written in native API's with compiled code is cramping my style. Get with the times man, Javascript powers airplanes.
@angelusp The real benefit though could be for OEMs, wich would be able to produce devices that can potentially run all kind of applications (including windows apps) without having to pay Microsoft licences, wich might lead to cheaper netbooks (if I'm not being too naive here), and for consumers, the joy of using any application without having to worry about that OS compatibility madness...
Cool!
Now, you'll be able to access your more powerful notebook/desktop (& desktop apps), from an inexpensive ChromeOS device.
I really like where Google is going, with ChromeOS!
@HereAndNow Love this, they never cease to amaze me. Good call Google.
This is dumb.
Just put Android on netbooks/tablets already.
@Johnny Rockets
The cool thing about ChromeOS is that you have a portable "desktop" (i.e. you can log into any ChromeOS device & your "desktop" environment will appear).
With Android, if you grab another device, you have to reinstall your apps, etc.
@Chopes
English class much?
Chome OS doesn't hold a candle to Chode OS. The latter is much sexier, almost erotic.
@digitalh Alright... lol.
I could be just RDC client for Chrome OS ... like rdesktop on Linux.
"that the feature would let you run legacy PC applications right in the browser"
Sorry but no, neither this remote desktop client, nor a remote client on the Ipad (or any other small device) allow to *run* any application, instead it is just a simple remote viewer.
For example, it is funny when some person said that they can *run* windows 7 on the ipad using Citrix, sorry but it is not true and there is a world of difference between to locally run (aka emulation) versus to remote view.
i wonder if it's based on Google Neatx project.
Remote Desktop is a great idea in theory, but in execution, it's a bit flawed.
Most of the time we use Remote Desktop/VNC, it's not the remote computer's desktop and interface we want. No, we want its programs/functionality, its data, and its power.
The ideal implementation would be a "remote shortcut", for lack of a better term. You launch it like a normal shortcut, and the application that opens runs almost like a locally installed one on the client, only there's a computer elsewhere on the network that's doing the actual heavy lifting.
It needs to go farther than that, however-the interface of the remote application must adapt itself to the client in question. Keyboard-and-mouse interfaces don't make sense on a pen-only or finger touch-only device, nor does the other way around, and screen sizes are also a major factor.
Perhaps Google has figured all this out already and plans to use such ideas to set "Chromoting" truly apart from other Remote Desktop/VNC solutions?
(Bonus points to them if it matches or surpasses StreamMyGame for-you guessed it-games. There are more than a few games and 3D applications I'd run on my notebook if not for the relatively lackluster GPU. I want a better way to harness my desktop's raw power without having to be in front of it all the time.)