Google’s Pixelbook May Run Windows With ‘AltOS’ Mode

BY Evan Selleck

Published 18 Apr 2018

The Pixelbook from Google is a high-end laptop that runs Chrome OS, and, for some who might love the hardware, being limited in its operating system’s options may be a dealbreaker.

That may not be a limitation in the future, though, based on a report from Android Police and citing posts on Reddit. There have been references to a mode entitled “AltOS” discovered within the latest build of Chrome OS, with some code reading “Message string for AltOS picker screen” and even includes “go/vboot-windows”.

At the time of publication, Google hasn’t officially announced any feature like this, and it hasn’t specifically gone out of its way to mention AltOS in any announcements, either. But the code does seem to suggest that Google is at least toying with the idea of letting Pixelbook owners run Microsoft’s desktop operating system, Windows, on their laptop.

As for what happens in the future related to AltOS, there is nothing guaranteed right now. Google may scrap the plans, if there are any at all, before they ever see the light of the public. Or this could be related to other features that Google is implementing, that has nothing to do with allowing Pixelbook owners to launch Windows on their machine.

We will just have to wait and see what happens.

If you could run Windows on a Pixelbook, would you fork over the money for one?

[via Android Police; Reddit]