Earlier this yr, Google introduced ChromeOS Flex, a software that lets anybody take an previous Windows or Mac laptop computer and provides it new life by putting in Chrome OS. After launching ChromeOS Flex in “early access,” Google now says that Flex is able to “scale broadly” to extra Macs and PCs. 

The fundamentals stay the identical. You can go to the ChromeOS Flex web site to make a bootable Chrome OS set up on a USB drive to make sure that your system works correctly, and you’ll then totally substitute your previous pc’s OS with Chrome OS if all the pieces checks out. As for what’s new, Google says it has examined compatibility with over 400 totally different gadgets. That was a part of the intention of the early entry program — it let Google collect a ton of consumer suggestions and repair some 600 bugs that had been recognized over the previous few months. 

While anybody can set up ChromeOS Flex, Google is usually positioning this as a software for companies or faculties to increase the usefulness of older {hardware}. To that finish, IT departments can truly deploy Flex over their networks relatively than replace each pc with a USB drive. Google additionally notes that Flex gadgets could be managed utilizing the Chrome Enterprise Upgrade, which lets departments handle apps and insurance policies throughout a complete fleet of computer systems. 

This all comes a few yr and a half after Google purchased Neverware, an organization that first had the concept of letting customers take previous computer systems and switch them into Chromebooks. Now that ChromeOS Flex is being deployed extensively, Neverware’s CloudReady software program will likely be transitioned to Flex within the coming weeks and the standalone CloudReady product will likely be shut down. That shouldn’t be a significant situation for anybody, although, as Flex is now steady and has some options that CloudReady didn’t, like Google Assistant help.