Chrome OS version 20 hits stable release channel, brings Google Drive and Aura UI for Cr-48s along
If you're a Chrome OS user who doesn't live on the bleeding edge, it's finally time to experience the latest version 20, which most notably adds support for its Drive cloud storage.
Context & Ripple Effects
This stable-channel rollout is the payoff to a spring of staging: Google Drive first surfaced for Chrome OS testers in the developer channel back in April, and Wired reported around the same time that Google planned to meld GDrive directly into Chrome OS. The Aura windowing interface had already been put through its paces in an Ars Technica hands-on earlier that month, so version 20 is where both threads land for mainstream users.
The audience here is deliberately narrow — Cr-48 pilot devices and anyone not living on the bleeding edge — which is why the pickup across GigaOM, The Verge, Softpedia and Google's own release blog matters less for what changed than for what it signals: Chrome OS is being positioned as a delivery vehicle for Google's storage service, not just a browser.
First-order effects
- Stable-channel Chrome OS users and Cr-48 owners get native Google Drive support immediately, making cloud storage the default file layer rather than an opt-in web app.
- Cr-48 devices gain the Aura UI in stable form, giving Google's original pilot hardware the same windowed desktop experience previously confined to developer builds.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft's SkyDrive and Apple's iCloud now compete against a client that ships preinstalled on every Chromebook, turning OS distribution into a storage-acquisition channel.
- Chromebook hardware partners like Samsung and Acer get a fuller pitch for their machines, since file handling — the most common objection to a browser-only laptop — is now addressed at the system level.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, operating systems consolidate around bundled service suites, with the value of an OS measured by which cloud services it locks in rather than which applications run locally.
- Google's dev-to-stable channel cadence becomes the template for shipping OS features continuously, eroding the traditional monolithic version-release model that Microsoft and Apple still follow.
The trend: Operating systems are merging with cloud storage suites, and Chrome OS's staged release channels let Google fuse its own services into the platform faster than rivals can match through separate apps.