2.21.2010

Chrome OS' open source pays off, NVIDIA Ion now supported


As you might have read earlier (here), Hexxeh released another build of Chrome OS, named Flow. I covered the major new features of this open-source release, but one such feature warrants another look.

Hexxeh built in NVIDIA Ion graphics support ino Flow, with full hardware acceleration. This is one of the first major signs that Google's choice to make Chrome OS' source code open is paying off. Without open source, Chrome OS would not support NVIDIA Ion, unless Google chose to do so. And if Google didn't want to do that, Ion users would be left out in the cold. But, thanks to Hexxeh, Ion users can rejoice and Chrome OS is a stronger operating system in the end.

If Google wants Chrome OS to take on the big dogs, this might be just the way to do it. While Google's own devs are hard at work making the system better, there are also developers like Hexxeh out there doing the same thing. As they always say, the more the merrier!