“Two independent and reliable sources have confirmed to us that Google is planning a new Pixel laptop to be released in Q3 2017,” David Ruddock reports for Android Police. “The project, known internally as ‘Bison’ and by the informal nickname ‘Pixel 3,’ will likely be the first brand-new device to showcase Google’s combined Android / Chrome OS ‘Andromeda’ operating system in a laptop form factor. Bison, then, would be the culmination of years of work by Google’s Pixel team and Google’s Android and Chrome OS teams.”
“We are extremely confident Google plans for the device to run Andromeda. We are also confident that Andromeda is a completely distinct effort from Google’s current campaign to bring Android apps to Chromebooks, and that Bison would not be marketed as a Chromebook,”‘ Lopez reports. “it would be more accurate to say Bison will run Android than Chrome OS, and could finally be Google’s internal commitment to releasing Andromeda.”
“Bison is planned as an ultra-thin laptop with a 12.3″ display, but Google also wants it to support a ‘”tablet’ mode,” Lopez reports. “The keyboard will be backlit, and the glass trackpad will use haptic and force detection similar to the MacBook. Google plans to fit all of this in a form factor under 10mm in thickness, notably thinner than the aforementioned Apple ultraportable. Given the MSRPs of past Pixel laptops, you might expect this is shaping up to be one costly little device, and while not cheap, Google’s planned pricing is still competitive: Bison is pegged to start at $799. As I said, the Wacom stylus would be sold separately, and Google is aiming for a retail launch in Q3 2017.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: At least somebody is making new computers* (hint, hint). 😉
Just kidding. Not much longer now for some new, real Macs from Apple!
*That’ll likely track you like you’ve never been tracked before.
So Android for phones, ChromeOS for laptops, and Andromeda for phones and laptops. Very Google of them to fragment their OS line 3 ways for 2 device classes.
You mean like MacOS, System #, OS9, OSX (PPC), OSX (UB), OSX (intel) and macOS?
Since your username makes it clear you’re just here to troll, I won’t bother explaining to you why what Google is doing with Andromeda is nothing like that.
Poor form, Joop. Valid points were made, and you took the low road in a failed response.
Apple too has increasingly fragmented OSes:
– Watch OS for watches
– TV OS for streaming media players
– iOS for iPads and phones
– macOS for laptops and desktops
– macOS Server for networks
– mystery firmware for accessories like Airports
Many of these OSes are updated on an annual basis, leading to fragmentation since anyone with 4+ year old hardware finds more and more problems or lack of reasons to use the latest version. There are many legitimate reasons not to use the latest OSes from Apple or anyone else.
Just for fun: you should add Linux to the list of OSes that Apple relies on. Leadership at Apple several years ago decided to kill off OS X server hardware and dramatically slow the pace of OS X Server improvement. Instead of creating a world class iCloud run on secure Apple hardware and OS X Server, Apple increasingly outsourced its array of web stores and iCloud services to Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud. None of these cloud services run on OS X. For the server centers that Apple does operate, it relies on TeraData servers, which are based on Dell PowerEdge machines, as well as HP ProLiant servers with NetApp arrays. In other words: for its enterprise computing, Apple itself relies almost entirely on conventional Wintel or Intel+Linux servers.
Why? Because Cook was too damn slow to improve Apple’s XServe or have Apple take the lead and architecting the next generation of servers. macOS Server scales to small businesses but not to large enterprises. Apple is behind and scrambling with Project McQueen to come up with new secure server OS and hardware, which of course is going to be highly dependent on the new APFS, which is a key technology that was greenlighted several years too late. You could say that Apple severely underestimated the data usage that Maps, Messages, and other services require. Then on top of the creaky network, Apple decided that Continuity was a brilliant idea. Riiiiiight.
Apple’s ability to hold its web services together has been complicated by the slow pace at which critical development decisions are being made. Thanks to years of outsourcing, the result has been a poor track record on internet services. Recurring iCloud glitches and, worse, some extended outages and data loss, still occur.
And still MDN is confused why Apple stock is not trading at the P/E ratio that Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are. Savvy investors know that since the iCloud is just rented from these server providers, investing in the shovel salesman is much more profitable than investing in the gold miner.
Apple’s leadership focus is far too much on fashion and social events, not enough on substance and underlying technologies that Apple keeps pushing on users.
Recommendation to users: learn about the iCloud before you trust anything to it. This announcement doesn’t exactly inspire confidence: http://www.macrumors.com/2016/04/11/apple-chinese-server-supplier-migrate-icloud/
Apple has indeed seemed to drift from its core competencies—high-end computing solutions—to embrace fashion and social activism, amongst other crimes of abandonment. But it’s worse than that. Apple hasn’t drifted off course at all, but is deliberately navigating onto the jagged shoals of the future. To passengers it may seem like incompetence, mutiny, or hijacking, but it’s only that they boarded the magical vessel without really comprehending the terms of service. Apple leadership know what they are doing alright, and that is pioneering, not coddling those already settled.
I think the difference is making progressive changes to OS (even if that means some short term overlap) and overlapping competing OS that simply confuse the user without any real understanding as to where the company is headed. PC A clearly understands why those changes were made it was so that the Os progressed so changes were made or in some cases forced upon them to move forward while the PC industry was stuck in a total rut ( and which only copying the lead has subsequently progressed at all).
Equally the iOS variety was brought in to handle mobile devices and though inherently the same OS (unlike Chrome and Android) was cut down to work on devices that could not take then (and partly so today) the full OS. It has subsequently been tweaked to operate in the way best suite to the separate specific products it is used in but to the user there is little to no fundamental difference between iOS variations as the changes are specific to the functionality of that device. That is the way it should be done surely, and is totally consistent with and easily understood by the user and their experience. Meanwhile as the hardware allows the 2 fundament varieties of the OS (Mac and iOS) come together over time to work more and more seamlessly together especially in the World of the cloud while there is little to no compromise in what each does best.
On the other hand I have no idea why you would have competing OS by the same company on similar devices that are to be called a third OS. If you don’t think this this will confuse the potential user then you are on planet Zog.
Equally if Apple took such a course, both you as resident trolls and indeed I, as a real user, would seriously criticise it for a confused mess of a strategy. At least Microsoft is going for a singular vision (i.e. theoretically the same Windows everywhere) which I can appreciate, even if (as I predicted years ago) it would be almost impossible to bring properly to fruition as planned, in the short term, if indeed medium term, or perhaps ever in a satisfactory manner. Meanwhile alternative strategies are offering the same effective end result with none of the overt complexity and bulk. Their broken promises in introducing it to Nokia phones in a usable state (or at all for most), is a shocking way to treat their customers and not surprising the backlash has hit them hard as a result. But I suspect some sheep will likely still believe them when they promote the Surface replacement in the same old way.
The only things that matter are the ones that are shipping. If it’s not shipping, it’s vaporware or fudware designed to stall a market that’s slipping away.
Once again Giggle shows why they’re the rabid leader in data-mining, tracking and oppressive unwanted ads in mobile devices.
Do you extend that criticism to MDN, a leading user of Google services?
Or to Apple, which relies on Google Cloud and others to host its own iCloud?
Your usual snark only reveals your shallow knowledge of the subject, Peter.
If the facts create “snark” then so be it. Nothing new about Google’s true intentions widely acknowledged here for some time, and is hardly new or show shallow knowledge. Are you a Google stockholder or something? Where have you been?
Never said Google wasn’t evil. What is understood need not be discussed. Why do you feel the need to use juvenile misspellings to attack a company that, despite leading evil datamining trends, remains very much an Apple collaborator? Shouldn’t you also criticize those who lay in bed with Google?
Nothing juvenile about it. You can be as stuffy and moldy about it as you want to be. Ever hear of something called “humor?” If we applied your rules to the world of comedy every comedian would be “juvenile.”
Apple doesn’t data-mine and loudly touts that fact. Perhaps you should do a little research there. Any Google agreements would no doubt have strict Apple rules about such things. Not a chance in hell Apple would let Google raid their data for their own nefarious purposes. And Apple only moved some of its iCloud and services data.
Yeah, I recall one of your arguing partners here calling you bloody dick or something to that effect. Was that a funny play on your screen name, Peter? Do you find it joyful when people refer to Apple as Crapple? I didn’t think so. When anyone does juvenile stuff like that, you’re just leading the conversation away from the important issues that need to be discussed.
Just because we all hate how Samsung and Google act doesn’t mean we are stuffy by being professional and respectful about the proper use of a name.
I still want to know that the f*ck Cook is smoking for contracting out iCloud services to Google. Any ideas, Peter?
I disagree on the name calling of companies when it falls under the category of beleaguered by their own hand & folly, karma delivering deserved punishment and companies based on evil. People call Apple Crapple just because they don’t like the company. People calling me names, well, sticks ‘n stones (usually by a troll by any other pseudonym).
Apple transferred cloud stuff from Amazon to Google so maybe they got a better deal or needed to scale up or both. I agree Apple should maintain autonomy on it’s own services and not risk the appearance of associating with known untrustworthy & evil data thieves.
This headline says Pixel 3 will debut next week but the actual article states it will go on sale Q3 2017. So Google is announcing this laptop a year ahead of time? Seems kind of odd.
Oh how perfect, name your OS after a famous movie virus.
“The Andromeda Strain”.
Microsoft merged its desktop and touchsreen OSes. It looks like Google is planning to make the same mistake.
Think, I doubt that many people working in tech today would link the name to the forgettable Michael Crichton book and movie.
You might be forgetting the Greek mythological princess who kicked off the oft-rehashed “princess saved from dragon by hero” story plot when she was supposedly saved by Perseus (who also slay the Medusa). Not to mention the astronomical constellation that bears her name, or the Euripides play that dates back to 412 BCE.
That Euripides play was lost, except for a fragment. If you have more please make it public! An important Archimedes palimpsest was recently discovered and caused an academic sensation and a revision of our self-important historical narrative about the calculus. — We humans have self-important narratives about almost everything, and it’s only through new historical discoveries that we get an opportunity to correct the record and mainly, to get over ourselves.
Think of it this way: Windows is Hillary Clinton: Mildly annoying, but gets the job done, sometimes. Google Android/ChromeOS/Andromeda: Donald Trump: STAY AWAY. And Apple iOS/Macintosh is Gary Johnson: Vote For Him and Make America Shine! (Can’t say Make America Great Again for obvious reasons) You have some choices to make…
I slightly disagree. Linux is Gary Johnson. Apple is Jesus.
Yea, but Steve Jobs was real.
“Andromeda”, I’m sorry, but it sounds like a planet you’d find on Star Trek TNG – Picard: “Set course for Andromeda, Warp 9. Engage!”
Andromeda is a galaxy. The closest one to our Milky Way.
I thought Google was creating a ‘new’ operating system. Instead it’s a mashup of awful Android and their browser OS Chrome? That’s all? That’s it?
💤💤💤