Earlier this month, Google announced they were killing off Chrome apps for Mac, Windows, and Linux. While it makes logical sense to remove a feature that almost no Chrome users actually used, there are still hundreds of excellent Chrome apps affected by the decision. Google recommends that developers move their applications to Electron (another way to run web apps on the desktop), but doing that would require rewriting every component using Chrome’s APIs to the Electron equivalents.
Koush, developer of the Chrome app Vysor (among other projects), has made porting Chrome apps to Electron incredibly easy. With his tool, aptly named Electron Chrome, developers can compile their existing Chrome apps into Electron applications in seconds. It essentially works as a compatibility layer that takes Chrome API calls and translates them into Electron API calls.
Confused? This means Chrome app developers can now re-release their Chrome apps as normal Windows, Mac, and Linux applications with almost no effort. There are a few issues right now, such as Chrome’s USB and file system APIs not working yet, but it’s looking very promising.
[Source:-Android police]
