Google shelves feature that would let Chromebooks dual-boot Windows 10
Google has poured water on "Project Campfire," a feature that would have allowed Chromebooks to dual-boot Windows 10.
What you need to know
- Google has deprecated "Project Campfire," according to comments and code removals in Chromium.
- The feature, which was first spotted in development last year, would have allowed Chromebooks to dual-boot Windows 10.
- Google was previously spotted working on getting Windows 10 certification for its flagship Pixelbook.
Google appears to have ended work on "Project Campfire," a feature that would have allowed Chromebooks to dual-boot other operating systems, such as Windows 10 and Linux. As first reported by About Chromebooks (via 9to5Google), Google recently marked AltOS, as the feature was known, as deprecated in comments and code removals.
From what little was seen of Project Campfire in Google's prior code commits, it appeared the feature would have worked much like Apple's Boot Camp. Multiple operating systems could be installed on a Chromebook, with the device offering up the ability to boot into any one of them after installation. Prior to Campfire's outing, Google was even spotted attempting to receive Windows 10 certification for its flagship Pixelbook.
However, as About Chromebooks points out, most of the work on Campfire was done between September and December of 2018, and then things went quiet. Google has also never acknowledged the feature publicly, so it's not entirely surprising to see that it's being deprecated. It appears it was just an experiment.
At least for now, any hopes of running Windows 10 on Chromebook hardware have been dashed.
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Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl.