So, as of December of last year (the very last day of 2020), I received a Google Chromebook from my parents. I've been bothering my mom so much to get me one as I was fed up with the loading times of Windows. Plus, I was shying away from using my dedicated PC for stuff like Twitter and Photoshop when my iPhone could do stuff like that. The other reason why I wanted a Chromebook was because it can run Android as well as Linux. So, as I booted up Chrome and started to look for apps I use constantly, I felt pretty much right at home with Chrome. Sure, there was a learning curve with using Linux coming from Windows, but thanks to some online articles, I got the hang of it. And I know the thing about how Linux doesn't have all the apps Windows does, but, here's the thing, all of the apps I was using on Windows was readily available on Linux. And now that I'm all set up on Chrome, I don't miss Windows all that much.

The first thing I was greeted to as I booted up my Chromebook was a plain background desktop with no icons on it.

(I'm sure this screen looks familiar to every new Chrome user.)

I was shocked. "A desktop with no icons on it?!?!?!? Impossible." But thanks to a little known Android app I found called "Taskbar", I quickly fixed that. I also made some other customization to make it look more "Windows-y"

(Now my Chromebook looks more like a real PC, doesn't it?)

The other best thing about "Taskbar" is I can add "Widgets", making it look even more like a desktop PC.

Now, as for finding apps that mimic PC programs, I pretty much found everything I needed on the Google Play Store.

The only thing left to do was to find the apps that were left and install them via Linux. I mainly use Audacity and a movie maker [editor] and that was not too hard to find. There was also another big program I used on Windows, and that was BlueMaxima's Flashpoint. Unfortunately, they only tout the Windows version as that runs the best, but, luckily for me, they had a Linux version. So, I downloaded that. The way "Flashpoint" is able to run on Linux is because of a little tool on Linux called Wine, which allows Windows programs to run on Linux. Yes, full. blown. Windows. programs.

Now, you're probably thinking "why?!?" "Why did I get a Chromebook when I was perfectly fine with using my smartphone?!?" Well, I would've been fine just using my smartphone for everything, but I do miss having the feel of typing each individual key on the keyboard, which, sadly, is a thing I can't do on my smartphone. Also, I appreciate the more precision of using a mouse. I mean, using my finger to interact with things is cool and all, and definitely do-able, but there are some programs that just need that extra precision, ya know?!?

And would you believe me if I said this [Chromebook] is my first Android device?!?!?!? Well, technically, it's not. The [Amazon] Kindle was my first taste of Android, but it doesn't count as a real Android device, because it didn't have the Google Play Store.

But, wait, I hear you ask. Didn't you say, at the beginning of this article, that I had an iPhone?!? How can I possibly live with a Chromebook and an iPhone?!? Well, thanks to a website called snapdrop.net, I can seamlessly transfer my files over to my Chromebook from my iPhone.

So, all in all, I'm happy with my Chromebook.

UPDATE: I was able to find yet another Google Play app that brings back a relic of "Windows" past. It's this little guy right here. I'll give you a second to guess who this is.

(any "Windows XP" users out there are just in a nostalgia wave right now.)

This little dude was actually part of a Android app called Clippy, that brought along not just him but all the Microsoft Assistants.

(This thing even has "BonziBuddy", for the........few of you that like that.)

Speaking of  old "Windows" relics, there's yet another app that brings back a classic.

(Remember this?!?!?)

Yes, that's right. I found an Android app that mimics the classic "3D Pinball" game we all know and love. It's called Space Pinball.

(It's still as fun as ever.)

And, while not a Android app, I found a Chrome extension that completes the "Windows" façade. This extension is called "Startup Sound for Chromebook™" and it.........does just what you think it does. It changes (or....adds) the startup sound for Chromebook.

You can choose startup sounds all the way from "Windows 3.1" to "Windows 7". You can even choose "macOS" and "Ubuntu" startup sounds.

So, essentially, I have created "Chrome XP".