Windows is coming to Chromebooks… with Google’s blessing

Google plans to allow Windows 10 to run on its budget Chromebooks, with the Chocolate Factory’s blessing.

Chatter has been discovered in the low level source code of a branch of the Google Pixelbook firmware code that would seem to indicate that Google is working on providing drivers that Windows 10 needs to run.

The Github project “Eve” contains references to the WHCK (Windows Hardware Certification Kit) and HLK (Windows Hardware Lab Kit). XDA’s Kieran Miyamoto reasonably surmised that this information "[confirms] that this won’t be a hack job and that Google is working on getting the Google Pixelbook to pass the certification suite provided by Microsoft".

ChromeBooks have gained the ability to run Android applications, and more recently Linux binaries too.

Windows 10 support adds native printing - an alternative to jumping through hoops with Google’s cloud printing service or an OEM equivalent - and management capabilities to the humble Chromebook. Despite Apple’s foothold in education, mobile device management (MDM) remains a major grumble for anyone deploying iPads - Chromebook's big rival – as you can read here.

Not long ago, Android and ChromeOS were bitterly warring camps at Google, and executives gave serious consideration to an all-Android strategy. Instead, they’ve chosen to use the more stable, less resource-hungry minimalistic Linux OS as a host, running Linux binaries in a container, and adding Android support.

Microsoft's own plan to beat ChromeOS in the classroom and amongst budget-conscious buyers involves its own Surface Go hardware, and a forthcoming generation of ARM tablets. Dual-booting a Chromebook can be considered complementary. ®