Chrome as an independent app on ChromeOS

Aug 24, 2023

Chrome as an independent app on ChromeOS

ChromeOS is moving towards a more modular architecture starting mid 2023, where the browser is an independent app - a component of the OS platform. Rollout of the new architecture will be deliberate. Enterprise customers and app developers will have the opportunity to verify that user workflows are not impacted and issues can be addressed before the old architecture is retired. In this presentation we’ll review the upcoming changes, the rollout timeline, and how Chrome developers can get involved and help ensure that their apps are not affected.

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Content

0.24 -> foreign

6.35 -> [Music]

31.5 -> welcome everyone and welcome to the CER

33.899 -> Technical Community hour today's topic

36.78 -> is Chrome as an independent app on

39.18 -> Chrome OS also known internally as

41.64 -> lacrosse

44.579 -> my name is Rich and I'll be your host

46.62 -> for today's presentation joining me

48.96 -> today we have our main Speaker John

50.7 -> Lucas stordo who was a technical program

53.039 -> manager with the Chrome engineering team

56.16 -> also joining us is Damien ranzulli he is

59.28 -> a partner engineer with the Chrome

60.899 -> Enterprise team and he'll be monitoring

63.12 -> today's q a session

66.479 -> for today's agenda we'll start with a

68.76 -> quick introduction of the CER Technical

71.46 -> Community hour program and after that

73.619 -> we'll jump into our main topic where our

75.84 -> speaker will walk us through the

77.28 -> background and call to action for our

79.2 -> CER partners

81.84 -> foreign

83.299 -> Technical Community hours brought to you

85.56 -> by the Chrome Enterprise recommended

87.24 -> program which is Google's partner

89.04 -> program for third-party solutions that

91.56 -> are optimized by Chrome OS or integrated

93.9 -> with Chrome browser

96 -> the technical community hour is one of

97.74 -> the benefits of CER this webinar brings

100.079 -> you the opportunity to engage with our

102 -> team about new features and updates

103.56 -> Enterprise development best practices

105.86 -> and our Enterprise strategy

109.68 -> now without further Ado I'd like to pass

112.14 -> it over to John Luca to kick us off

116.22 -> Thank you Rich and while I'm thinking

118.259 -> about the presentation I'll introduce

120.659 -> myself again my name is John castarto

122.399 -> I'm a technical program manager on

124.079 -> Chrome OS and I particular work on the

126.42 -> what we call the commercial side which

128.58 -> is Enterprise in edu so you you all are

131.22 -> my one of my target audience here today

134.28 -> I'll be talking about Chrome as in the

136.44 -> demanded app and we'll go in quite a bit

140.58 -> of more detail in a moment about what

144.12 -> this is and why we're doing it and what

147 -> is happening but in a nutshell this is

148.739 -> what is happening uh so this is first of

151.86 -> all

152.819 -> um as a rich already mentioned

154.459 -> chromethin independent app is what has

156.72 -> been called or you might have heard

158.819 -> called lacrosse previously this was our

161.76 -> internal name for this architectural

163.56 -> change that we're making to Chrome OS

165.84 -> we're moving from a state like the

168.06 -> current state where the Chrome browser

169.8 -> is ultimately embedded in the Chrome

172.319 -> Chrome OS app in the format story binary

175.2 -> uh 12

177.06 -> um to a stage and after this

179.94 -> architectural change to a stage where

181.8 -> the Chrome browser is going to be an

183.42 -> independent app and it itself is going

185.519 -> to be a component of the Chrome OS

186.9 -> platform

188.28 -> now before we go in fact details about

191.28 -> that I wanted to

193.879 -> outline one guiding principle that we

196.98 -> are trying to abide to in making this

200.04 -> architectural change

201.48 -> this is a change that is designed to be

203.4 -> transparent to end users

205.739 -> ultimately we expect

208.819 -> this architectural change to unlock

212.22 -> Future evolution of the platform but by

215.28 -> the sign we are not introducing new

217.14 -> features a lot in particular at launch

219.18 -> to managed users so Enterprise users

222.06 -> like your audience

223.44 -> and this is by the way also why myself

227.04 -> at technical program manager is giving

228.54 -> this presentation rather than a product

229.98 -> manager

231.72 -> um more importantly

233.4 -> we are not only not trying to introduce

235.26 -> new features but in particular we are

236.94 -> striving not to impact existing and

239.519 -> critical user Journeys or workflows of

242.64 -> our user base

244.019 -> and this is where

247.2 -> we get to the main reason for this

249.54 -> presentation we've done tried to do our

252.48 -> work to make sure that that's the case

254.519 -> but we can only be 100 sure that this is

257.459 -> the case we are not disrupting existing

259.979 -> user Journeys existing workflows if we

262.5 -> verify that your application our

264.96 -> applications and solutions work as

266.88 -> intended under the new architecture so

269.52 -> this is going to be the guiding

270.6 -> principle and sort of the reason for the

272.82 -> rest of my presentation

274.38 -> now let's go a little bit more detail in

276.6 -> what is happening

277.919 -> as I said earlier

279.84 -> um

280.44 -> Chrome OS in Chrome OS Chrome is really

283.44 -> an integral part of the OS and it's

287.4 -> actually even more than that that is

289.56 -> Chrome OS itself

291.419 -> is a single binary a monolithic binary

294.36 -> that wraps together a lot of pieces I've

297.12 -> listed some here on the slide system UI

300.18 -> window manager and compositor the Chrome

302.04 -> browser as we mentioned UI toolkits and

304.62 -> various system libraries these are all

306.479 -> wrapped into a single binary now this is

309.3 -> an audience of developers you can

311.28 -> immediately recognize that such a

313.979 -> monolithia architecture

315.8 -> introduces introduces certain

317.88 -> complications in terms of development

320.04 -> and in terms of Maintenance in terms of

322.74 -> extension and growth of the platform

324.8 -> there are some that are specific

326.759 -> actually also to Chrome OS because

330.32 -> Chrome the browser itself is a separate

333.479 -> product for Chrome OS that is meant to

336 -> be cross OS platform platform so we have

340.74 -> Chrome on Mac on PC and also Chrome OS

344.82 -> and so that the fact that this is

348.3 -> essentially an independent piece that

350.16 -> that needs to be embedded into the

352.56 -> Chrome OS binary creates quite a bit of

355.28 -> unwieldy development on our side so in

359.039 -> part

359.88 -> um let me be clear in part these changes

362.699 -> have to do with essentially doing a

365.52 -> little bit of a house cleaning on our

367.38 -> side but in part actually are

370.16 -> meant to unlock new capabilities and new

373.68 -> avenues for potential evolution of the

375.96 -> Chrome OS platform

378.12 -> um let me give you a couple of examples

381.66 -> um so this is where we are trying to

383.1 -> move to from a stage again where the

385.62 -> browser was itself part of the OS binary

388.08 -> because the stage where it's a separate

390.3 -> application that talks to the OS but

392.639 -> it's kind of separate from it well

395.639 -> um there's a couple of things that a

397.979 -> couple of evolution of the platforms

399.539 -> that are immediately possible once you

401.28 -> move to this

403.02 -> um uh to this format one being that

407.4 -> um

408.84 -> Chrome now not being embedded in Chrome

412.5 -> OS well this can be closer to the Chrome

414.78 -> that is experienced to on other

417.36 -> platforms on other OSS so users can have

420.36 -> a consistent Chrome browser experience

421.919 -> across OSS there are some differences

424.38 -> that you might be aware of

426.36 -> um in the behavior of Chrome on uh

430.02 -> Chrome OS with respect to what are the

432.06 -> capabilities approved on other platforms

434.94 -> and you know potentially do away with

438.24 -> this special

440.52 -> you know custom behaviors for Chrome OS

443.699 -> and other other interesting aspect is

447.06 -> the fact that once we have the browser

448.62 -> completely separate in a separate

450.36 -> application from the OS we're

451.919 -> essentially creating a hard boundary

454.68 -> between the two that we can actually

456.06 -> even Harden surgery further to improve

459.36 -> the security posture of the OS

463.08 -> for example the browser being a separate

466.86 -> application could update independently

469.44 -> could allow we could allow the user to

471.86 -> apply browser updates process security

475.08 -> updates without having to reboot and

477.419 -> things of this sort now let me though

480.06 -> emphasize that's the reason why I put

481.979 -> these things in um in Gray rather than

484.38 -> in Black we are

485.88 -> aiming not to launch any changes like

489.66 -> this

490.319 -> at initial rollout of this architectural

493.979 -> change but these are avenues that are

497.16 -> opened up once we make this architecture

500.52 -> Exchange

502.5 -> um

503.759 -> so this is actually this is the change

506.039 -> and you know in a sense we're ultimately

508.8 -> in the browser out of the OS and we are

511.8 -> factoring it out of there now I use this

514.26 -> term factoring it out because I actually

516.24 -> want to raise some alarm bells on your

519.12 -> side that is things to look very simple

521.039 -> once you're looking at you know purple

523.02 -> and yellow boxes on this slide but you

527.22 -> know you must be aware that refactorings

530.22 -> are never fully straightforward

532.58 -> they involve complexity and this

535.5 -> refactoring

536.94 -> is not an exception it involves a lot of

539.399 -> complexity that is hidden in this you

541.44 -> know pretty boxes slide so let's look a

545.519 -> little bit more at the flavor of

547.86 -> complexity that we're dealing with first

549.36 -> of all but reality is actually some more

551.339 -> more complicated it's not like that we

553.5 -> just have a browser that talks as one

556.62 -> communication going to give us like one

559.2 -> hour ago into device as in the previous

560.88 -> slide and another arrow going back to

563.22 -> the browser

564.48 -> but um

566.339 -> the browser itself is a

568.92 -> collection of capabilities

571.2 -> and collection of

573.18 -> pieces that talk in a very complicated

576.24 -> way with pieces of the OS now I

579.839 -> highlighted there in dark some that are

582.899 -> relevant to the change that we are

585.6 -> making

586.56 -> because ultimately now we're taking this

588.6 -> browser out of the OS and get into

591.72 -> something like this once you see this

594 -> immediately notice oh there is a lot of

597.44 -> connections that need to be rewired a

600.959 -> lot of rewiring that needs to be done

603.24 -> well

605.66 -> having to redo this rewiring I get to

609.12 -> raise another alarm Bell on your side

611.1 -> because you can see here that well while

615.12 -> earlier we had a lot of you know arrows

619.16 -> that a lot of pieces that talk to each

622.38 -> other within the same blob from us now

627.06 -> we have pieces that talk to each other

629.04 -> across the boundary I said earlier that

631.38 -> we have created a boundary between the

633.959 -> boundary between the browser and the OS

636.66 -> well

638.82 -> we need to do all this rewiring in a way

642.12 -> that maintains the behavior

645.779 -> that existed before we made this

648.18 -> architectural change now the good news

649.92 -> about this is that we've done the work

651.66 -> so let me go here for a second and we've

654.6 -> done the work to Port the Chrome apis So

657.6 -> in theory there should be no work left

660.24 -> for your developers your applications

662.1 -> should work

663.36 -> under the new architecture as they work

666.24 -> under the previous architecture but as I

669.3 -> said earlier

670.92 -> this rewiring this refactoring involves

674.459 -> complexity and every time there is these

677.88 -> type of changes need to be made some

679.74 -> bugs might

681.959 -> uh creep up and that's the bad news that

686.72 -> porting some of these apis was

688.98 -> definitely not straightforward and you

691.019 -> can also understand why because in some

693.899 -> cases take as an example

696.12 -> file system apis

699.36 -> a conversation that happened between the

701.76 -> browser and the OS within the boundaries

704.94 -> of the OS now has to cross the boundary

706.92 -> between OS and browser

710.16 -> so

711.48 -> um

712.92 -> as I said there are there have been

714.959 -> various apis whose sporting has proven

718.019 -> to be more complicated

720.48 -> than or less straightforward than you

723.54 -> know completely transparent the

724.98 -> probability

726.54 -> um you know easy

728.94 -> um

730.2 -> of course your applications might be

731.82 -> using some of those apis so definitely

734.64 -> that should give you an incentive to

737.1 -> look at your application and verify that

740.04 -> their behavior under the new

741.48 -> architecture is the same as the behavior

744 -> under the previous architecture but this

745.44 -> applies in general right even apis that

747.66 -> were easy to Port

751.44 -> required making some code based changes

754.44 -> that

756.36 -> you know worst case scenario could have

758.279 -> introduced some tricky bug very hard to

762.12 -> hit but when it's hit might just affect

765.66 -> the user experience also another thing

768.06 -> that um I should mention is that

771.06 -> again some of the interactions between

774 -> browser and Os that earlier happened

777 -> between the same application within the

779.459 -> same

780.36 -> um binary now our interactions

783.779 -> ultimately messages that are exchanged

785.88 -> possibly a couple of times over between

788.82 -> two different applications two different

790.38 -> processes that means that potentially

794.339 -> the timing of certain operations might

796.86 -> have slightly changed so if your

799.019 -> application is very

801.5 -> dependent on the current timing of

804.779 -> certain operations this should be a

807.72 -> strong invitation to verifying that the

811.62 -> behavioral application is not affected

813.66 -> under

815.579 -> um the new architecture

817.98 -> it's also another thing is in that the

820.56 -> keynote among you I might have noticed

822.839 -> from this slide is there's actually

824.88 -> there's two browsers

826.68 -> and um so there's still a browser left

830.16 -> within Chrome OS

832.38 -> in addition to the new Chrome as an

835.38 -> independent app browser

837.899 -> um the reasons for that is partly

840.899 -> technical there are certain OS surfaces

843.779 -> that need to be rendered and we are

845.639 -> basically for the time being we are

847.139 -> taking advantage of the

849.54 -> rendering bits of the old browser in um

853.32 -> in the OS binary but also that allow us

856.26 -> allows us to have what we think is a

858.66 -> smoother or less risky

861.5 -> rollout of the new browser because if we

866.22 -> still have the old browser there

868.5 -> the possibility arises for a user

872.22 -> that encounters a blocking issue

875.399 -> a remaining blocking issue once we moved

878.94 -> our user base to the new browser to

882.48 -> revert to the old browser and be

884.639 -> unblocked without having to roll back or

888 -> update the OS on their devices

891.36 -> so

892.86 -> this is nice for us because essentially

895.079 -> enables a safer rollout but also there

897.54 -> might be situations where both browsers

899.339 -> are running

900.3 -> and that potentially means that usage of

905.88 -> the

906.899 -> um of the system resources

909.18 -> might be higher so again if your

911.88 -> application already by itself tends to

914.399 -> stretch the limit of the resources

916.079 -> available on certain types of devices

918.139 -> you might want to verify that there is

922.74 -> no performance rate no issues once we

925.5 -> move to the new

927.72 -> um architecture

930.66 -> now I've

933.3 -> said told you something about the what

935.519 -> and the why

937.079 -> and again let me get back to

939.959 -> essentially nutshell we are making a

942.36 -> large change and we are trying to make

943.98 -> this transparent to users I forgot to

946.32 -> mention this earlier about the metaphor

948.54 -> that are

949.5 -> use often when I give this type of

951.54 -> presentation is that we're ultimately

953.339 -> trying to change

955.26 -> do something like changing the tires of

957.06 -> a bus while the bus is in motion without

959.279 -> the passengers noticing it's a tall

962.339 -> order it's a tall goal right we're

964.92 -> trying to do something that is pretty

966.899 -> hard so the question is like how we

968.459 -> gonna do that and that gets you to the

971.88 -> ha it gets us to the how and when well

974.94 -> we're gonna do this very

978 -> slowly we're going to take time to do it

979.8 -> we're going to do it very deliberately

981.92 -> the idea is that we're gonna start the

986.459 -> rollout of this new architecture later

988.26 -> this year but we expect the rollout to

990.959 -> run well into 2024. the idea is that

994.8 -> once we make the new architecture

996.42 -> General available for customers to try

1000.019 -> it out there's going to be an extended

1001.88 -> amount of time for them to just try this

1005.12 -> out on an opt-in basis in order to

1007.759 -> verify that things work for them

1009.86 -> we expect this opinion phase to last at

1012.98 -> least six months

1014.36 -> then we expect for the following phase

1017 -> where we essentially flip the defaults

1020.24 -> the new architecture becomes the default

1023.3 -> however

1025.04 -> customers who might encounter some

1027.86 -> issues still have the option to revert

1030.74 -> back to the old architecture this is the

1033.02 -> you know one of the reasons the

1035.299 -> possibility that I said was enabled by

1037.16 -> having the two browsers in the previous

1039.199 -> slide

1040.419 -> and this phase where essentially the

1044.419 -> default is the new architecture but

1046.64 -> there is an escape hatch

1048.679 -> to go back to the old architecture if

1051.08 -> problems are encountered we expect to

1053.36 -> last at least another six months so as

1055.52 -> you can see from the time when we make

1058.22 -> when we start this process of rolling it

1060.74 -> out that's going to be at least one year

1062.9 -> until we get to a point where the new

1065.9 -> architecture is the only game in town

1068.419 -> and the plan of course the goal here is

1070.94 -> to use this time to address any

1072.98 -> remaining issues before the old

1074.419 -> architecture is retired

1079.64 -> now

1081.62 -> as I said we are starting this later in

1084.08 -> the year so why am I here now today

1087.32 -> talking to you well the reason for that

1090.08 -> is that we are allowing select customers

1093.26 -> and developers to have access to the new

1095.539 -> architecture already now

1097.76 -> the idea is that we use

1101.24 -> this time already now to test

1105.46 -> workflows and applications against the

1108.44 -> new architecture so that we can

1112.48 -> identify any remaining issues and work

1116 -> early together

1117.5 -> to fix them

1118.94 -> now so that this is happening now and

1121.1 -> this is my call to action and my request

1124.4 -> for you developers to get an early start

1126.559 -> and test your applications under the new

1129.559 -> architecture

1131.72 -> um

1132.62 -> at this in addition this is also my

1136.22 -> request for you to start considering

1138.559 -> this new architecture as part of your

1140.12 -> regular qualification testing of your

1141.98 -> applications

1143.62 -> meaning if you regularly test your

1147.799 -> application against new versions of the

1150.08 -> of Chrome OS please start testing

1153.5 -> against this this new architecture as

1156.08 -> well

1157.52 -> um let me repeat again what the goal is

1159.44 -> here the goal here is to

1161.36 -> change the tires of the bus without the

1163.76 -> passengers noticing so the success for

1166.7 -> your testing should be that everything

1167.84 -> works as normal your users

1170.66 -> would not even notice that something

1173.419 -> has changed

1175.1 -> and

1177.559 -> here I have a link to a form there's

1181.16 -> also a QR code for those of you who have

1183.38 -> a cell phone handy

1187.039 -> um that allows you to submit your domain

1190.82 -> for inclusion of what we call this

1193.039 -> trusted tester program that gives you

1195.08 -> early access to any architecture and

1196.94 -> allows you to test your applications

1198.74 -> against it please please

1203.179 -> join this Joseph that's a program after

1207.5 -> joining it you receive detailed

1209.78 -> information about enabling the new

1211.7 -> architecture testing against it and most

1214.58 -> importantly reporting issues to us so

1217.16 -> that we can work together

1219.02 -> um to address them

1221.36 -> um so I'll wrapping it up

1223.94 -> a large large architectural changes are

1226.94 -> coming to Chrome OS starting later this

1229.4 -> year

1230.419 -> I said already the nature of the change

1233.84 -> is architectural we in particular don't

1236.96 -> want to

1238.52 -> users to know this and the reason I'm

1242.12 -> here right now is that of course there

1244.58 -> is always some risk involved in when

1246.799 -> making those changes and we would like

1248.539 -> to involve you right now in helping us

1252.26 -> verify that your apps and user workflows

1254.6 -> are not affected so again again please

1258.2 -> sign up for the

1260.08 -> trusted tester program the QR code is

1262.94 -> repeated on this slide and that's really

1265.76 -> all I had so I'll uh hand it back to

1269.419 -> Ridge to wrap it up

1273.2 -> thank you John Luca for that awesome

1274.64 -> presentation please visit the Chrome

1277.4 -> Enterprise developer website for

1279.74 -> additional information to supplement

1281.12 -> your learning

1282.32 -> that concludes today's presentation we

1285.02 -> look forward to seeing you at the next

1286.46 -> webinar uh thanks for joining and have a

1288.86 -> great day

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKQlQ1ZouTc