Google partners with Parallels to bring Windows apps to Chrome OS
The new support for Windows should arrive this fall.
For years, Parallels has provided virtualization software so you could run full Windows installs on a Mac, but today they’re tackling a new OS. The company just announced that it is partnering with Google to work on bringing full Windows application support to Chrome OS enterprise devices.
That’s a big deal for the many businesses out there that run various pieces of legacy Windows software — or just any business that wants to run Microsoft’s Office software natively. It could Chrome OS devices a lot more viable in a variety of workspaces that may have previously had to rely on Windows hardware, though of course that’ll depend on how well it is implemented.
How exactly this will work remains to be seen; Parallels only said that partnership would “seamlessly add full-featured Windows apps, including Microsoft Office, to Chromebook Enterprise devices.” And whether or not these features will become available to individuals running consumer Chromebooks outside of a managed work environment is also unclear yet, but it could open the door to that in the future. For now, we’ll have to wait until the fall, when Parallels says it’ll be ready to add this support to Chrome OS.
