I was surprised to turn on my Chromebook today to find that the OS had been given a complete overhaul - no longer just a simple Chrome browser, but now a more traditional style desktop with arrangeable windows, a dock, a desktop with wallpaper and various other new features.
The multiple windows are probably the best thing here, as one of my gripes with Chrome OS was the lack of a way to arrange windows next to each other for multitasking. I'd have hoped for a more Windows 8 style snapping though, rather than a classic free-for-all - it's too easy now to get lost in the open Windows, a problem that always plagued other OS's.
I'm less taken by the dock - it looks nice enough but I don't see why it couldn't have been merged with the tab bar - for me this had always been more than sufficient for switching between tasks. There's also a problem with the bar auto-hiding, as there's now no way to have the clock and battery permanently on screen.
My least favourite thing here is the desktop, I never used it on Windows or Mac and loved to see it gone in Chrome - but now it's back in full force, complete with wallpapers and shortcuts. What purpose does this have that the New Tab page didn't already do?
It's great to see Chrome OS evolving but I think it's essential that the changes complement the revolutionary concept of a browser-only OS and don't slip back into old traditions.
