Great interface...
... Photocopiers are warming up in Redmond for Win 11
If you've ever wondered what Android would look like as a desktop PC OS, then try this for size: Remix OS from China. It's a very rough-around-the-edges build of Android-x86 – an ongoing port of Google's open-source OS from ARM gadgets to x86 PCs – with some closed-source stuff to create a multitasking desktop with moving …
Someone over on HN contacted Jide about this and they replied:
"Thank you for bringing this to our attention. In full disclosure, we utilised the language (relevant to China and China only) and copied it over to the EULA for our international ROM. Our legal team has now reviewed this and has removed all language pertaining to legal and moral rights of the data as well as anything that mentions the Chinese government as this is not relevant to non-Chinese users. This is a very serious matter and will be corrected in all future releases of the EULA."
Whoever wrote this article has patently - not done any home work.
Android is already available for PC desktops and has been for years.
There have already been a few iterations including and appropriately named 'Android X86'.
Who would have guessed .... duh..?
Another Android / Linux hybrid is called 'Chromixium' which intends to blend the best of Linux with Android.
And of course there Google's Chrome and Chromium OS systems.
For a tech magazine of this sort of standard : I would have expected the research to be a little more thorough.
Not a very accurate pedant.
"There have already been a few iterations including and appropriately named 'Android X86'."
- Mentioned in the article - near the top.
Another Android / Linux hybrid is called 'Chromixium' which intends to blend the best of Linux with Android.
- Chromixium is a ChormeOS-Linux 'hybrid' project, not Android. http://chromixium.org/
"And of course there Google's Chrome and Chromium OS systems."
- ChromeOS, yes, Chromium is the OSS browser Chrome the browser is based on.
Really shouldn't post before the morning caffeine intake...
@Qwertius
You need to read the article in the context of continued speculation about Google's plans for Chromium OS and Android.
see: http://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2016/01/2016-google-tracker-everything-google-is-working-on-for-the-new-year/2/#h3 for the background.
As such, the article is a bit of fun, in the spirit of "What X *might* look like..."
Take it easy!
"And ChromiumOS is the OSS version of ChromeOS.
I read 'Chrome and Chromium OS systems' as ChromeOS and ChromiumOS..."
OKay, hands up, I missed/forgot about ChrormiumOS, it's not a name that's been bandied about recently, I was actually surprised (although I really shouldn't be) to see the website is still active. The intent of the original post in including the reference to them was far from clear.
"Another Android / Linux hybrid is called 'Chromixium' which intends to blend the best of Linux with Android.
And of course there Google's Chrome and Chromium OS systems."
Chromixium being a (Ubuntu based) Linux OS designed to be more like ChromiumOs/ChromeOS, and not a blend of Android (of course it's not impossible to get some android app compatibility with ARCHon in Linux), but this is not tied to one distro.
Without wishing to disparage someone else's efforts, there is on question so far unanswered.
Why?
Surely it would be far easier to bolt an android runtime onto an existing Linux?
Making a desktop version of Android sound a bit like being determined to repeat MS's mistakes with Windows 8...
Of course I think I already know that the (entirely justifiable and best) answer is, "Because...".
...and you lot are moaning about the colour of the taskbar!!!1!?
Anything you create with RemixOS does not belong to you, except that if you write about Falun Gong, or disappearing Hong Kong booksellers, The Government will be on your case. I wouldn't as much as download the ISO if you paid me, frankly, even if the OS looked gorgeous and outperformed everything else available (which it clearly does not).
Unity? Really? I don't see any Unity I've ever used in those screenshots. No sidebar dock, no Dash, no top-right notification area; instead, desktop icons and a bottom taskbar. Could be any simple windowing system -- XFCE, JWM, LXDE. It looks like a primitive desktop at this point.
The boot screen looks like AndroidX86 (with good reason, I guess). I played with that on a netbook -- it was stable and quick and all, but not especially useful. Still have the USB stick around somewhere.
Dear El Reg - maybe next time, instead of downloading a Chinese Alpha - which even has CN in the filename, maybe you should try downloading the official international version - which although dated the 11th of January instead of the 12th January, actually includes the Play Store. Of course the Chinese version is going to contain strict legal warnings, and lack of Google Play Store and Google Play Services - it's bloody China - the Jide founders would probably have their heads chopped off if they didn't comply. And in case you didn't see the link to the International version (and not the 630mb one - the 800mb one) - here it is: https://otacdn.jide.com/ota/Remix_OS_for_PC_64_B2016011102_Alpha.zip