Google relaunches Cameyo - so more of your favorite Windows apps are coming to ChromeOS

• Cameyo by Google adds Windows app support to ChromeOS
• Web-based end user computing seems to be the future
• Virtualized apps offer better security and performance

After acquiring Cameyo in June 2024, Google has relaunched the service as a Virtual App Delivery solution called ‘Cameyo by Google’.

The tool will enable Windows-based legacy apps to run in Chrome or as a web app without requiring full virtual desktops, which is a big move for ChromeOS which, despite proving popular in the education sector, has often been avoided due to its incompatibility with traditional software.

Product Manager Rob Beard explained Cameyo by Google will help organizations migrate from Windows to ChromeOS more easily, and for good reason.

Google wants to help you run apps on ChromeOS

The blog post details the rising popularity of ChromeOS – nine in 10 IT leaders say their end user computing (EUC) strategy is web-based, but 50% of the apps used today are still legacy client-based apps.

Cameyo works by streaming only the needed applications, instead of virtualizing an entire desktop, which means legacy Windows and Linux apps can run alongside more modern web apps. Users can also choose to use browser apps or Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) for a more native experience.

“For the user, the experience is seamless and free from the context-switching of managing a separate virtual desktop environment. For IT, the complexity is eliminated,” Beard wrote.

Google also noted that deploying apps with Cameyo instead of using traditional virtualization technologies is both more secure and quicker.

Beard also used the post to plug Chrome Enterprise Premium, which when combined with Cameyo, offers security across modern web apps and legacy client-based apps in one. “Those legacy applications, which previously lived on a desktop, now run under the single security context of the secure browser.”

“This collaboration with Cameyo has proven incredibly successful in helping organizations transition away from cumbersome legacy applications, improving security and productivity,” ChromeOS Product Management Director Naveen Viswanatha added at the time of acquisition last year.

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