If you look around Google’s Mountain View, CA offices, you’ll see Windows machines, Chromebooks, Macs — and gLinux desktops. G what, you ask? Well, in addition to relying on Linux for its servers, Google has its very own Linux desktop distribution.
You can’t get it — darn it! — but for more than a decade, Google has been baking and eating its own homemade Linux desktop distribution. The first version was Goobuntu.
It’s not news that Google has it’s own in-house desktop Linux distribution, but this article provides some interesting insights into some of its unique aspects. The latest versions now use a rolling release model based on Debian, with a custom automated package building and testing tool on top, developed by Google.
I’d love to see it in action and have it released to the public.
I am sure there would be some components that would be interesting for public use, yet I would expect anything that can be shared is probably already shared, or on its path to be shared.
And, I would expect many parts would not work outside. For example:
There would be also many custom configurations, network settings, and in-house apps, which would not make sense outside, but are a must for these setups.
Anyway, I might be completely wrong on this, and we might see a public release tomorrow.
Google i guess could invest more resources in Debian. And after to provide vanilla Debian on their hardware. Or at least some line of hardware. For the general public. Instead of lets say all the effort they invest in providing only a web browsers based operating system. Or introducing issues by misusing GNU/Linux. After all that having a serious NIH by inventing solutions claiming to fix the issues they introduced in the first place. Just go with vanilla Debian and lets move on. Innovate on that if and when needed. That is on how normal people use and will continue to use their computers in the future.
Google despise consistency. They refuse to be consistent across their web apps. Android is a fragmented nightmare which they allow vendors to pollute further, and neglect. The last thing the world needs is a fork of Debian from Google, that would be a disaster.
So basically it’s Debian, customized for their Office workers.
I’ll pass. Either pure Debian or something else, but no derivative please.
Can you really “pass” on something no one is offering you in the first place?