It seems both Google (via Chrome OS) and Microsoft (via Windows 10 CSHELL) are working on two independent projects that have identical names and very similar objectives. It’s called Andromeda, and both the software giant and the search giant are crossing paths in the race to eliminate the great divide between desktop environments and smartphone operating systems.
While Microsoft pursues a desktop-on-mobile agenda with it’s version of Andromeda and an adaptive shell that brings Windows 10 to any type of device, Google appears to be doing the same thing, but using Progressive Web Apps, the Chrome browser and a hybrid OS called Andromeda for a mobile-on-desktop experience.
You have to realize that very few people are privileged to have a hands-on experience of either company’s version of Andromeda, but we are given to understand that both could be one and the same thing.
Ironically, though, it’s also clear that this is not a collaborative project. Each company’s Andromeda project is being kept under wraps until the time is ripe, and that time may be upon us in a matter of months.
In another article we published today, we showed you Microsoft’s likely plans for its Andromeda, which essentially works on the back of an “adaptive shell” called Composable Shell or CSHELL that will help Windows 10 scale to any device, including smartphones, laptops, PCs and even gaming consoles.
Microsoft’s secret was uncovered by WalkingCat on Twitter, who came across some parts of CSHELL within debug symbols in Windows 10. The tweet also claims that both companies’ versions of Andromeda are essentially the same.
So Google’s rumored Andromeda is a hybrid OS designed for hybrid devices, and MS Andromeda is the same thing, hard to believe its coincident
— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) February 6, 2017
And all of that validates our own stand that Microsoft’s and Google’s objectives are essentially the same – to create a bridge between mobile and desktop.
Google’s dominant app repository – a.k.a. Play Store – for Android is its forte, as are Chrome and Chrome OS. It doesn’t have a formidable presence in desktops the way Microsoft does. So, it’s natural that their bridge would attempt to cross over from the mobile side to the desktop side.
SEE RELATED: Microsoft Windows 10 Project Andromeda Exactly the Same as Google Andromeda?
Microsoft wants the same thing, but it’s at the other end of the spectrum from Google – strong in desktop, weak in mobile – so Nadella’s company is using its Windows 10 muscle to start building the bridge from the desktop side of the river.
But these are not the same bridge they’re building. One is a bridge from desktop to mobile that will bring the desktop experience to smartphones and other small devices. Google’s Chrome OS and Android bridge, on the other hand, is an attempt to bring Android to desktops – or at least hybrid or larger devices than smartphones.
Apple prefers to keep the desktop-mobile divide as it is, because its products straddle both segments. That’s not the only reason. Apple already has two robust operating systems for different device families. They have never had the need to build that bridge for their own users.
But that might not stay that way for long.
Apple will soon be in a situation where it has to face three contenders in the mobile space – Samsung, Google and, possibly very soon, Microsoft. On top of that it has Microsoft again competing in the tablet and premium desktop PC space. It also has to do battle with Google and Samsung in the arena of smart watches.
Apple will have definitely expected competition, but this kind of competition against other three other deep-pocket companies – and a rising Chinese faction comprising Huawei et al – may be too much for the Cupertino iPhone maker to handle.
Apple may never “mate” or “bridge” its different operating systems with each other, but very soon it is going to have to give its massive base of users some kind of hybrid experience that brings the best of iOS and macOS to the table – and I don’t mean Hand-Off.
That’s how the operating system market seems to be shifting. Desktop will stay desktop and mobile will stay mobile, but now Google, Microsoft and even Samsung all have ongoing projects that attempt to fill or bridge the chasm between these disparate types of devices.
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Source: YahooTech (IBTimes)
