Google’s relationship with sudden product closure continues. The company is ending development work on LaCros, its experimental standalone browser for Chromebooks. The decision comes as the company shifts focus to integrating more of the Android stack into ChromeOS. This announcement marks the conclusion of a four-year project aimed at improving performance and update speeds for Chromebook users.
Google began developing the LaCros browser in 2020, and it was later made available for testing in August 2023. While Chromebooks have always featured a Chrome browser, LaCros, short for Linux and ChromeOS, was designed to separate the Chrome browser from the underlying operating system, potentially allowing for quicker updates and extended support for older devices.
The tech giant also expected that the browser would help enhance the overall performance and stability of Chromebooks. When the browser was rolled out for testing, several Chromebook users enabled a flag to use it. Some believed that the company would launch the browser at any time. However, despite its promise, the company has decided to put an end to this experiment with ChromeOS version M128.
In a post on the ChromeOS Beta Tester Community Forum, Google explained, “As we refocus our efforts on achieving similar objectives with Chrome OS embracing portions of the Android stack, we have decided to end support for this experiment. We believe this will be a more effective way to help accelerate the pace of innovation on Chromebooks.”
It is worth noting that some users who relied on the browser for features like account switching may be affected by this change, while the majority of Chromebook users are unlikely to notice any changes in their day-to-day usage.
Google further reassured users that this change would not affect their Chromebook experience and added that they would continue to roll out monthly updates and security fixes for both Chrome and Chrome OS as usual.
Moreover, the tech giant credits the experiment with providing valuable feedback, leading to performance enhancements in ChromeOS, including enhanced battery life and faster login times during video playback.
The end of the LaCros experiment comes amid significant changes to ChromeOS in recent years, including a change to a four-week update schedule and extended support for new Chromebooks for up to 10 years.
In addition to that, Google’s recent announcement about building ChromeOS on the Android Linux kernel focuses on aligning development between the two platforms.
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