Google, listening to customers’ pleas, partnered with Parallels – a leader in virtual-machine emulation – to bring Windows apps to Chrome OS this fall, Engadget reported.
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There is a catch, though. This new, upcoming feature will only be available for Chrome OS Enterprise devices (like the Dell Latitude 5400 Chromebook Enterprise), not the general populace. With users being able to access full-featured Windows apps on Chromebooks, Chrome OS will likely become more attractive to business users. As Parallels said in a recent blog (opens in new tab), purchasing Chromebooks will minimize hardware and employee ownership costs for business buyers. We have no idea how well Microsoft apps will run on Chrome OS, but Parallels claims it will be a “seamless” process. Parallels has proven its expertise in merging two different operating systems into one with Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac, a software system that allows macOS owners to use Windows side-by-side with their operating system. Although this Google and Parallels partnership only benefits the business world for now, we hope non-enterprise Chromebooks will one day be equipped with full-featured Microsoft apps, too.
