CrossOver for Android has been built to effectively run Windows applications onto any Chromebook through its software – all for free.
Chromebooks have always been cheaper alternatives to Windows and Mac systems and with CrossOver, Chromebooks are going to be way ahead of their competition. Now, any Chromebook with an Intel-based processor will be able to natively run Windows.
CrossOver will let you run Windows apps on Chromebooks.
The people behind CrossOver – Codeweavers, previously released an app to run Windows applications on Linux and Mac systems and Crossover is just another follow up to it. The team have released a video showing Windows running just fine on the Chromebook.
Based on the video which they have shared, Steam boots of just fine and they were also able to play the popular platformer game – Limbo without any hassle. This is good news, considering it looks pretty smooth to function and it will make the Chromebook much more than just a laptop for regular web viewing but one that can take on some pretty serious applications. What’s even better is that the touch functionality of the Chromebook remains intact, making it possible to use touch interfaced apps from Windows to Chromebook. How cool is that?
The build is still a work-in-progress – two years and nine months in progress, but it is showing good performance and most Windows apps should work. The team stated that applications like Steam and Office 2010 work just fine.
As mentioned earlier, the software will only be able to run on Intel-based devices, meaning only a handful of Chromebooks currently in the market will support this software; like the Chromebook Pixel, the Asus Flipbook and the Chromebook R11. But that is only a temporary setback as a lot of new Chromebooks releasing soon will match the hardware requirements, according to Codeweavers president James Ramey. Not just that it should also work with Intel-powered tablets as well.
For those who’d like to give CrossOver a try, there’s a special sign-in page to go and check out the preview build. At this rate, Chromebooks are going to be an unstoppable force in the computers market. The software will only take about an hour to install on the Chromebook and should be able to load up the most common Windows Apps available.
If there weren’t already any compelling reasons to go buy a Chromebook, then this should sweeten the deal.