Could Android Find Success on the Desktop?

Is Google preparing to do what it was rumored to do for so long, namely bring the Android mobile OS to the desktop? Today's Android user on a smartphone may scoff at the idea but there are signs that Google might have the desktop in its sights, and it's also clear that Chrome OS has not been the revolution on laptops or desktops that Google had hoped it woud be. Here are some of the rumblings about the possibility of Android on the desktop.

The Eye on Linux blog is wondering whether Google has desktop aspirations with Android:

"There are millions and millions of people using Android on their smartphones, and even some that are using it on tablets. What would happen if there was a version of Android released for the desktop?"

The Eye on Linux post takes note of a very interesting post from Steven Vaughan-Nichols on the possibility of desktop and multi-user support for Android, where he writes:

"Google is bringing multi-user support to Android and it's far enough along that they're no longer working on just the background processes, they're also well into the user-interface design. The only real questions now are when and how will Google introduce it...what I really wonder if Google will decide to finally offer an Android desktop offering of its own. In particular, I wonder if Google will at long last combine its Chrome OS, which is just the Chrome browser running on a thin-layer of Linux, with Android for a new desktop operating system."

Indeed, what really needs to be mentioned in conjunction with this last argument is the attraction of Android applications to so many users. Operating systems get cemented in popularity terms in accordance with how attractive the applications for them are. 

Consider the fact that that BlueStacks App Player has been working on running Android applications on PCs for some time now.  The BlueStacks concept is that millions of Windows users might like to run Android applications on their PCs. What if you opened that idea up to users of Linux, the Mac and other operating systems?

It's only logical that, just as Apple has steadily moved its iOS to platforms other than smartphones, Google will do so with Android. And part of what's driving all of this, of course, is the tremendous open source success that Android has become.