Thursday was the fifth anniversary of Chrome, so Google had a birthday announcement for the web platform that will bring Chrome beyond the web.
Anyone who has used the Google Chrome browser is familiar with Chrome Apps, which run in the browser and conveniently pull internet content into discrete workspaces. Well prepare to have that same experience without the Chrome browser, as Google's birthday announcement for Chrome is that Chrome Apps are coming to the desktop on multiple platforms.
According to Google's Chrome Blog, the new Chrome Apps, which will be coming soon for Mac OS X and Linux, and are available now for Windows and Chromebook (of course), will bring the same powerful functionality of the web that Chrome Apps have previously harnessed, but in desktop form.
That means you can work offline, without the distractions of the web, while also still connecting to the cloud (like Google Drive) to save documents, photos, and videos and other work (or play) progress. (Since this is software on your computer, you'll also be able to save to your hard drive.) Other features Google is putting in their desktop apps are notifications in a notification center, connectivity to other devices like smartphones and digital cameras, and automatic updates for new features and security patches. Some Chrome Apps will be games, which can be made full screen in their desktop incarnations.
Most of those features are pretty standard for desktop software, but since this is Google, your desktop progress in any app will also sync across devices, so you can pick up where you last left off from any Chrome-connected device.
For Windows, Google is making a Chrome App launcher for quick Start menu-type access to all Chrome Apps (which some Windows 8 users might like just because its reminiscent of what they used to have before Microsoft made its desktop operating system more touchscreen-friendly).
Google gave a preview of a couple of examples of what they're launching with the desktop Chrome Apps:
Pixlr, a popular web-based Photoshop alternative, is coming to desktop with Pixlr Touch Up. The basic Pixlr photo features like touch up, crop, resize, and adjust are available, along with cinematic filters and effects. Because this is a Chrome App, there's an option to work from, and save to, either your computer's storage drive or Google Drive. And you can retouch photos offline.
Wunderlist is another web-based app that is coming to Chrome Apps' desktop mode, giving you to-do lists and desktop-native notifications, along with voice dictation. Like Evernote, Wunderlist will be synced to multiple devices with Chrome, and it will also be available offline.
Google also gave an example of a video game coming to desktop via Chrome Apps, called Cracking Sands. It's a 3D racing game that lets you play against people online, but will also be available for offline (not to mention full screen) play now, with computer AI-based opponents to race against.
You can find these, and more, apps at Google's Chrome Web Store - and they're available right now if you have Windows or Chrome OS.
"Our hope really is to dispel the notion that Chrome OS is just a web browser," Erik Kay, a product lead on Chrome Apps, said in an interview with Time. "We always thought that just a web browser was actually not a bad thing-it's immense and powerful-but there are legitimate uses that people ... can't do today on their Chromebooks, and our hope is to really open that up."
Besides adding more functionality to Chromebooks, this move marks another in a series of steps Google has taken into the world of software development, increasingly making the Mountain View company a giant in nearly every field of consumer technology, including web services, software, mobile apps, and hardware.