Googlethe company responsible for ChromeOS, the operating system that comes pre-installed on computers Chromebooksannounced a new expansion the support period for receiving updates, which was extended from eight years to ten. After this time, the user can retire the device and will continue to receive support.

Starting next year, Chromebooks launched in 2021 will receive ten years of updates starting from the device’s launch date. In other words, and taking into account the mentioned year, support would last until 2031, not 2034. Some devices launched before 2021 will also apparently have their update support extended for a decade, but in exchange for not get new features.

The long-term support provided by Google is mainly to ensure the security of Chromebooks: “With every update, your laptop is more secure. “These improvements automatically help keep your Chromebook useful for longer by providing improved security and stability for 10 years from the platform’s launch date.”

To offer transparency in this regard, The Mountain View giant “will publish how long the platforms will receive automatic updates” on the relevant page “after they launch, giving buyers time to make a decision. shopping”. For this reason, it recommends users to check the release date of the device before making a decision.

Google reminds that Chromebooks continue to have security even after the Automatic Update Expiration (AUE) date has passed because they “still have a verified boot. Your Chromebook will perform a self-test every time you start it up. If it detects that the system has been tampered with or damaged in any way, it will usually repair itself and return to its original state.”

Despite the damage mechanisms that ChromeOS contains, Using software without security updates poses a serious risk for users. Anti-shatter mechanisms provide resilience but do not repair vulnerabilities that may be present.

Another point that the search giant reminded is that in the case of Chrome Education Upgrade and Chrome Enterprise Upgrade, the existing and future policies may not work properly and technical support will not be provided after the AUE date.

Chromebooks have been a quiet success story in consumer computing without generating virtually any buzz or special media prominence, managed to gain more than 3% of the share, surpassing the Linux desktop in this sense the use of which has also expanded in recent times until it appears to eventually consolidate a measly 3%.

Computers with ChromeOS owe their success mainly to the education sector, where they have been relatively well received, especially in the countries of North America and Northern Europe. However, the same approach focused them mainly on the low and mid-range, although Google tried to raise the bar at the time with the Chromebook Pixel and Pixelbook and Chromebook No.