The service went live for Windows users earlier in 2022 after the Android maker made a surprise announcement late last year. However, it was only available for folks in South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

And in case you are wondering, no, Google has not partnered with Microsoft for this effort that is specifically focused on games.

Redmond has its own solution in the form of Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) that it continues to refine as a dedicated feature for its Windows 11 operating system.

As announced, Google is now ready to bring in more testers, which is why it has expanded this beta program in eight more countries. United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore are now in.

“In the last few months, our Google Play Games catalog growth has been accelerating with many popular mobile titles including 1945 Air Force, Blade Idle, Cookie Run: Kingdom, and Evony: The King’s Return. All of these titles and dozens more can be played on Windows PCs via a standalone application built by Google.”

Right now, there are 85 titles that users on the two Microsoft platforms can try out on their PCs.

That being Windows 11 and Windows 10.

This means that Google’s free application will enable Windows 10 users to run Android games on their computers natively, unlike Microsoft’s implementation, which is exclusively supported on Windows 11 devices.

This also means that since this is a home-grown project by the search engine giant, it is powered by the Google Play platform. This lets you earn Google Play points and achievements and sync your game data across multiple devices seamlessly.

For Windows users who are fans of Android games, this gives Google an upper hand as WSA does not support Google Play at this point in time.

Speaking of time, we should not be too far away from the formal launch of this solution now that Google has expanded things to more regions, including its home turf.

And smaller browser makers like Mozilla, Opera, and Brave waste no opportunity to highlight this.

This time, the nonprofit organization behind Firefox has once again implied that tech giants that control the popular operating platforms and web services use their position to deprive consumers of choice regarding web browsers.

Mozilla detailed this in a new report they just released.

Appropriately titled Five Walled Gardens: Why Browsers are Essential to the Internet and How Operating Systems Are Holding Them Back, it focuses on how people these days use web browsers in their daily lives.

The firm claims that the three most popular web browsers today are Chrome, Safari, and Edge, and the reason these enjoy a bigger user base is because of their parent companies.

Firefox is not far behind, but it has definitely slipped a lot in standing over the years.

The report argues that tech giants employ various methods to make it difficult or impossible for users to switch web browsers. This ultimately lowers the quality and experience for end users, but it can also increase their risks.

Five examples of consumer harm from operating system self-preferencing are outlined. These include limited or frustrating choices, lower quality, lower innovation, poor privacy, and unfair contracts.

Worth a read if you are into the browser wars and all that.

It is not the first time that Microsoft has been accused of directly or indirectly limiting the choice of web browsers for Windows users. Similar criticisms have also been levied at Apple with its iOS and macOS platforms and Google with its Android platform.

These companies have also faced lawsuits for restricting and influencing the browser choice for users on their operating platforms. What’s equally interesting is that there have been occasions when these smaller browser makers have taken things into their own hands.

But ultimately, this is something that looks like will continue far into the future.

Any thoughts here?

It is perhaps one reason why Linux has the smallest share of the desktop market.

A fact that is not looking to change anytime soon.

However, there has been a trend in the Linux community toward an improved focus on the user interface, with a number of new distros now emphasizing streamlined UIs and overall user-friendliness to entice users to try them.

One such distro is Deepin.

It comes from China—yes, the same place that wants to dump Windows in favor of Linux and is taking steps in this regard. Since Apple is also really popular in the country, this distro is inspired by both Windows and macOS.

The newest version of this alternative operating system, Deepin 20.7, is now ready to be downloaded, and this latest release is chockfull of bug fixes and new features that the developers are appropriately hyped about.

As explained by the development team:

“In deepin 20.7, we have developed and integrated a great number of practical functions based on the community users’ feedback, synchronized with the upstream kernel version, fixed underlying vulnerabilities, upgraded the Stable kernel to V5.15.45, added the HWE 5.18 kernel to be compatible with more devices, and further improved system compatibility and security.”

A lot of good stuff here!

New additions that might interest you, in particular, are improved Grand Search with Google integration and an enhanced Mail app with new calendar functionality. The rest of the changelog is filled to the brim with more improvements that you might want to check out.

If you do want to check Deepin out, then you can grab the ISO from the link below.

Keep in mind, though, that Linux is not for everyone. Even this beautiful and streamlined operating system is miles behind the comfort and familiarity of Windows 11. Still, this new OS may be worth testing on a test system to see what the fuss is all about.

Download: Deepin 20.7

The original Duo was released many years ago, but few apps played nicely with its new form factor. While these applications could run on the handset, they lacked the dual-screen view that Microsoft’s innovative approach demanded.

Gmail is one of the most key apps out there, so Duo users always wanted to offer support for dual screens.

That has finally changed now.

According to information on Reddit, the official Gmail app has recently been updated for the Surface Duo, taking advantage of the entire screen estate of the foldable device.

It now joins the select club of email clients that feel right at home on the Surface Duo, which is led by the Microsoft Outlook app that was obviously updated a long time ago.

That said, the app is not by any means perfect.

Users note that the official Gmail client still needs additional refinements. Apparently, the app has only been updated for foldables and not dual-screen devices. This is why content now wraps on the curved edge, while it does not on Outlook.

Hopefully, that is coming next to make the official Gmail client flawless on the Surface Duo.

As for the device itself, those of you holding your breath for a new model will still have to do so for a long while. People familiar with the matter are saying that Microsoft only plans to launch a new handset in this family sometime in 2023.

So, for the time being, the second-generation unit remains the latest and greatest dual-screen Android offering from Redmond.

Microsoft made switching from Edge to anything else in Windows 11 incredibly difficult.

Even if you wanted to, you were forced to change more than ten file associations just to make the modern OS open links in alternate browsers like Chrome and Firefox. This is in contrast to the single-click option that was the norm before.

This move naturally received significant backlash from the technology world, with browser makers voicing their outrage.

Redmond gave in, eventually, and fixed the problem.

But things are still brewing in this space, with Google now working on providing users with more ease in this regard. As spotted, a commit on Chromium Gerrit describes a new control that will let Chrome users set the browser as the default one with a single click.

Google describes this change best:

“Make Chrome the default browser. This function works by going through the url protocols and file associations that are related to general browsing, e.g. http, https, .html etc., and directly setting the relevant registry entries for each.”

The current version of Chrome does allow changing the default browser in its settings, but that implementation requires switching to the Settings app in Windows 11 and Windows 10.

This new implementation is much more convenient, not too dissimilar to how Mozilla bypassed these Microsoft restrictions back in 2021 with its own single-click solution for Firefox.

There is no information on when the updated behavior will be available, but considering it is this far ahead in development, it should appear in preview channels for testing soon before the search engine giant releases it to the public.

Testing now seems to be complete, as the new OS is now generally available for Windows and Mac.

So, what does this new platform bring, you ask?

Well, Chrome OS Flex is an enterprise grade platform based on CloudReady from Newerware meant for schools and organizations. It is very similar in form and functionality to Chrome OS itself in that it is designed to be a lightweight cloud-based OS that is free to download.

Only this one targets the two dominant desktop operating platforms, Windows and macOS, allowing anyone to convert existing PCs and Macs to Chromebooks.

Users on machines powered by these operating systems have the option to deploy Chrome OS Flex and use it on their devices. However, it does not offer the ability to run Android apps, which is something that is natively built into Windows 11.

Nevertheless, Google is hyping up its new platform and the unique capabilities that it brings to the table. Starting with the ability to quickly and easily install Flex via USB to replace your current operating system.

This is aptly illustrated in the image below:

The company says that since this is a cloud-based OS, an option like this greatly reduces e-waste as it will lower the need for upgrading systems often. The new platform being lightweight also requires a 19% lower power draw compared to the competition.

Chrome OS Flex offers more flexibility in case of ransomware attacks, and its cloud credentials also come in handy for security.

Google has already released the system requirements for running Chrome OS Flex and has certified more than 400 devices for the new platform. In that aspect, this new operating system is very much up and running.

Speaking of up and running, the company offers a more detailed installation guide on its website that may come in handy if you want to take a dip.

It also confirms that those of you who are already on CloudReady will be automatically updated to the new Chrome OS Flex.

At least on selected devices.

At the moment, only three models support dual booting of these two distinctly unique operating platforms. They are all powered by AMD Ryzen 3000 series CPUs. Even then, certain Windows 11 features remain unavailable on these machines.

Why is this significant, you ask? More so, when many of the best Chromebooks are already available as Windows laptops? It all comes down to purchasing one device instead of two.

This is why this project from a developer who has managed to dual-boot Windows 11 and Chrome OS onto a few laptops holds significance. The deal also holds true for Windows 10, in case you want to stick with the older OS.

The three models currently capable of running both operating systems are the HP Chromebook 14b, HP Chromebook Pro 645 Enterprise, and Lenovo Yoga C13. With a little extra effort, the ASUS Chromebook Flip CM5 can also be supported.

The key factor here is that the device requires an SSD to boot. And many Chromebooks, owing to their budget nature, have eMMC drives. This particular storage format can be read/written to/from Windows, but UEFI is not able to boot from it yet.

As for the Windows 11 features that work without a hitch, there are plenty.

The operating system boots, NVMe SSDs are bootable and functional, keyboards and keyboard backlight functions, trackpads too, touchscreen, graphics acceleration, HDMI, and USB-C video output work well, as does brightness control and sleep/wake and power management.

Audio territory is well covered, too, with support for speakers, headphones, and microphones. Webcams are also accounted for. WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity are available, as are USB-A and USB-C ports, along with SD card slots.

The only thing major thing missing is the ability to use a fingerprint reader to sign in to Windows Hello on one of these supported Chromebooks.

Do note that while these machines allow dual booting of Windows 11 with Chrome OS, this functionality is not officially supported and likely will not be for the foreseeable future unless the involved companies change their minds.

Still, if you want to dive in, you can follow this how-to guide to get started.

If you want to run Microsoft’s latest and greatest OS on Apple hardware, you have two choices. One is to run the operating system via a solution like Parallels, and the other is to use a Windows 10 hack to run it natively and upgrade to the newest version.

But as far as Microsoft is concerned, the company has already clarified that it was unlikely to ever support Windows 11 on Mac or M1 powered machines.

This only left room for enthusiasts to jump in, and it appears we have our first contender.

Developer Arminder Singh is working on a project to run Windows 11 natively on a range of Apple silicon, including the powerful M1 chip. But these are very early days, as he clarifies that several challenges must be overcome.

His words:

“Contrary to how it may appear on the surface, Apple’s chips are architecturally very different from standard ARM64 chips from companies like Qualcomm or MediaTek and a lot of hardware enablement needs to be done as a result. Thankfully a lot of work has already been done in this area for Linux through the Asahi Linux project

This is not going to be a trivial project to finish, there’s a lot of Apple specific oddities I must account for and things I need to do to ensure the M1 is able to boot Windows in a stable way.”

The major issue is the proprietary interrupt controller that the fruity company uses, conveniently dubbed the Apple Interrupt Controller (AIC). The second problem is the M1’s Input-Output Memory Management Unit (IOMMU), which supports 16K pages instead of 8K.

With these roadblocks in place, there is no guarantee that this project will succeed. Hence no ETA, at the moment.

But as mentioned above, the Asahi Linux project is a similar one that aims to run Linux on Apple Silicon, and it is far ahead in this endeavor.

So, there is hope yet.

Schleswig-Holstein has decided to end its use of closed, proprietary Windows and has outlined plans to move to open-source Linux by the end of 2026. As part of this drive, some 25,000 German state computers will bid goodbye to Windows.

The first step of this migration involves moving these machines from the Microsoft Office suite of applications to LibreOffice from The Document Foundation.

Eventually, all of these devices will follow suit and be powered by Linux.

In the words of Jan Phillipp Albrecht, the minister overseeing the digitization of the state, one of the main reasons for moving away from proprietary solutions was the cost of licensing itself. Additionally, this strategy also brings in more flexibility.

As put:

“Firstly, financially, because license fees have continued to rise over the past few years. Second, with regard to our goals for the digitization of administration. Open source simply offers us more flexibility. At the same time, all the advantages that open source always has apply: sovereignty, data security and data protection.”

Some of you might recall that something similar happened a few years back when Munich decided to embrace Linux’s open-source approach by ditching Windows.

That venture eventually failed, with the Munich government back on the Microsoft operating platform once again somewhere around 2015.

Let’s see how this pans out!

The Korean giant recently announced that its virtual assistant will come preloaded with the updated Galaxy Book, where users will be able to search for files or launch apps by simply using their voice commands.

Users, Samsung hopes, will discover the magic of Bixby and give up on other assistants they may have on their machines. Cortana being one of them, even though it has fallen out of favor in Redmond.

This is what the company said in the announcement:

“For even more mobility with your device, Samsung has introduced Bixby on Windows for Galaxy Book users to provide an intuitive way for you to interact with your PC. Through simple voice commands, you can search for files, open apps and Settings and even control devices within your SmartThings-registered device ecosystem. Simply say “Hi Bixby” or press CTRL, Shift and B or FN and B simultaneously to activate the Bixby on Windows feature, and enjoy easy installation by visiting the Microsoft store or searching for Bixby in your Windows taskbar.”

Standard stuff, if you’re into using digital assistants to carry out your daily tasks.

Getting back to the Galaxy Book, these flagship creations from Samsung are ready and raring for Windows 11, the newest version of the operating system that has just launched.

While the Galaxy Book Pro 360 5G comes preloaded with the new OS out the box, most other Galaxy Book models should receive the update in the coming weeks. All the latest technology that the Korean company has available on the desktop front can be used in the new operating system.