Google will end support for Chrome apps on Windows, Mac, and Linux

Google has just announced plans to gradually phase out support for Chrome apps on every platform except for Chrome OS. Starting later this year, new Chrome apps will be available only to Chrome OS users and won't be accessible on Windows, Mac, and Linux. (Existing apps will remain available and can still be updated.) Then, sometime in the second half of 2017, the Chrome Web Store will no longer display Chrome apps at all on those operating systems. And come early 2018, you'll no longer be able to load Chrome apps on Windows, Mac, or Linux at all. Extensions and themes are not at all affected by this change; in fact, they'll soon be given a much larger focus in the Chrome Web Store.

That might sound like a big deal, but Google says that a very tiny percentage of people are actively using Chrome apps. "There are two types of Chrome apps: packaged apps and hosted apps. Today, approximately 1 percent of users on Windows, Mac, and Linux actively use Chrome packaged apps, and most hosted apps are already implemented as regular web apps."

The company's justification for this step is that with the advancements of the open web, there's no longer any real place or need for Chrome apps. "For a while there were certain experiences the web couldn’t provide, such as working offline, sending notifications, and connecting to hardware." According to Google, most of those functionality holes have been patched, and more improvements are coming. So the message is clear: move your stuff to the web. "Developers who can’t fully move their apps to the web can help us prioritize new APIs to help fill the gaps left by Chrome apps." The tone is a little different when it comes to Chrome OS, where Google believes they play a "critical role.

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Goodbye Patch Tuesday: Windows 7, 8.1 Patches Go Monthly

Patch Tuesday is soon to be a thing of the past. Beginning in October, Microsoft will deploy fixes for Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012 with a single cumulative monthly patch. The move is designed help reduce fragmentation across your company’s PCs. The new system is right in the line with how updates are currently deployed for Windows 10.

It’s a big departure from the current system, under which Microsoft sporadically releases individual patches for the older platforms. That has some advantages, allowing IT administrators to selectively deploy updates as needed, but it also comes with some serious drawbacks. Under the current system, individual PCs frequently wind up with different updates installed, which causes syncing problems, boosts scan times, and ups testing complexity. Even just pinpointing the right patches before applying them can be a pain.

Here’s how the new system will work. In October, up-to-date PCs running the older platforms will receive just a single package of security and stability fixes from Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), System Center Configurations Manager (SCCM) and the Microsoft Update Catalog. If you delay the update in October, you’ll be prompted to install it again in November, along with another single set of patches for that month, and so on. Each month’s update will include patches for all previously-uninstalled months, from October onwards.

Eventually, older updates will begin to be included in the monthly patch rollouts, dating all the way back to Service Pack 1 for Windows 7. That means that — at some point — you’ll be able to get fully up to date with just a single installation, no matter the current state of your PC.

Microsoft is allowing one exception for its new all-in-one update system, affording the ability to download and deploy security patches separately from stability fixes. That will reduce the size of the initial update needed to secure your company’s PCs as quickly as possible. Those updates will be available from WSUS, SCCM and the Microsoft Update Catalog, not Windows Update.

Servicing Stack and Adobe Flash updates won’t be included in the rollups. Microsoft will move to the same monthly rollup model for the .NET Framework in October too.

If you like to micromanage your systems, this might not sound like good news. In fact, we don’t actually know just yet is whether or not it will be possible to pick and choose specific updates for your systems. But since Windows 10 does not offer that kind of precision, our best guess is that Windows 7 and 8.1 users will find themselves in the same boat.

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