Google decided on an acquisition Cameocompany specializing in development virtualization tools that allow you to run applications compiled for Windows on ChromeOSthe search engine giant’s operating system focused on the desktop sector.

The operation was announced by Andrew Miller, CEO of Cameyo, and Naveen Viswanatha, Product Manager at Google. The company behind the search engine mentioned that the move will benefit ChromeOS, especially when it comes to running apps compiled for Windows more easily.

Google’s purchase of Cameyo shouldn’t be surprising if we see that Windows, despite the increasingly fierce criticism it receives for updates, privacy and performance incidents, continues to reign supreme on the desktop, so supporting applications built for it can be of great interest to developers other operating systems.

As expected, Naveen Viswanatha said the expectations with Google’s purchase of Cameyo are run Windows apps on ChromeOS “without the hassle of complex installations or updates”. Andrew Miller said, “By combining the power of ChromeOS with Cameyo’s innovative virtual application delivery technology, we are enabling businesses to modernize their IT infrastructure while preserving their existing software investments.”

From what we can see, the goal seems to be similar to what Valve intends to achieve with the development of Proton, a Wine-based compatibility layer that makes it easier to run video games compiled for Windows on Linux and Steam Deck. However, Founded in 2018, Cameyo is a software-as-a-service company that uses virtualization to run Windows applications on other computers or web browsers that support HTML5.while Wine and Proton basically do the translation of Windows system calls into other ones that the host system understands, which could be Linux, macOS, BSD, or another Unix or Unix system.

For example, Cameyo’s approach allows you to virtualize a Windows application and then serve it through a public cloud such as AWS or a private cloud, an on-premises data center or a hybrid cloud environment. This suggests that Google may not only have purchased Cameyo with the intention of running native apps on ChromeOS, but also that possibly also squeeze the possibilities it can offer through the cloud.

The clear dominance of Windows in the desktop sector, although it has lost some weight in recent years, is still so strong that it ends up exerting a centrifugal effect that forces other operating systems to support applications built for them.

Share of various desktop operating systems in May 2024 by Statcounter.

We mentioned recently that Linux clearly surpassed the 2% share of Steam thanks to Steam Deck, but the console would be much less without Proton, which allows running video games compiled for Windows (and other types of applications, but not its goal ) on Linux in a simple way that offers an experience out of the box in quite a few cases. Another case to mention is Winlator which, although a community project, is an attempt to make it easier to run Windows apps on Android.

In other words, Linux had to adapt to Windows in order to grow as a pro operating system playing gamesand perhaps Google’s purchase of Cameyo points in a similar direction, but apparently more focused on desktop applications.