Chromoting To Allow Legacy PC Apps Entry Into Chrome OS

Chrome OS remains a mystery. It's Google's first desktop operating system, but even today, it's nothing more than words on pages as far as consumers are concerned. We're sure there's internal testing going on as the company prepared to launch the OS onto netbooks in the near future, and now we're seeing even more details to hopefully prove that it's coming sooner rather than later.

Up until now, no one had any reason to believe that Chrome OS would be capable of running Windows applications. Google has been a huge fan of the cloud, and no one really expected any sort of legacy/local app to be able to run. But now, there's hope that these older programs will actually have life on Chrome OS. According to a report over at Google's forums, a new feature is being worked on called "Chromoting," which will allow users to access legacy PC applications through what will basically be a remote desktop connection.


Details on the new feature are hard to find. Software engineer Gary Kacmarcík only had this to say: "We're adding new capabilities all the time. With this functionality (unofficially named "Chromoting"), Chrome OS will not only be great platform for running modern web apps, but will also enable you to access legacy PC applications right within the browser. We'll have more details to share on Chromoting in the coming month."


All of sudden, Chrome OS sounds like the netbook OS to beat. Lightweight, in tune with the cloud, and able to run legacy PC apps? That's a combination that could prove difficult to beat.