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Google takes ARC Welder to Android, grafts on Windows, OS X

Apps will also run on Linux. They're not ignoring you

Google has released a tool that runs Android apps on Windows, OS X, and Linux computers via its Chrome browser.

The beta-grade utility is called ARC Welder – ARC standing for App Runtime for Chrome, which works as a wrapper around Android software.

Google released a beta version of ARC last year to allow Chrome OS users to run Android apps on their desktops. Its use has now been expanded to the Chrome browser.

The tool operates via a special runtime implemented using the Chocolate Factory's Native Client (NaCl) in-browser binary execution tech.

Arc is intended to increase the scope for Android apps. In March, Google said developers don't need to do any porting to get their apps running on Chrome OS.

Google OS boss Sundar Pichai said: "These applications were built for Android for the phone, so we want them to work when there is a mouse, keyboard and touch events, et cetera."

Pichai added that "for developers, we want this to work with as little modifications as possible".

As Arc is in Beta, it doesn't support all of Google Play Services yet. ®

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