Is FydeOS A Better Google-free Alternative To ChromeOS?

burningpaper27

This OS is based on ChromiumOS. I haven't seen any discussion here about this OS or any recommendations that are similar to GrapheneOS, but are desktop-based and Google-free. It may not have hardened malloc or other security features that GrapheneOS does, but is it still good? It is also running Android 14 at the time of this writing. Any thoughts from security experts or developers on this?

Dumdum

burningpaper27
https://fydeos.io/faq/does-fydeos-collect-users-private-information

23Sha-ger

Looks like a snake-oil with Chinese origins.
Many repos abandoned (archived) on Github as well: https://github.com/FydeOS/chromium_os-vm-vmware

Turtacular

Dumdum As data collection goes, I'm surprised they collect so little.

I'm currently using this instead of ChromeOS Flex (need the Android rather than Linux version of one app) and feel like I have to do a lot less to be more secure compared to Fedora while remaining slightly more private compared to ChromeOS (Flex).

brookie229

At least they are upfront about the data collection, lol. I had it installed on an old spare laptop used solely for browsing and media purposes - no email or anything requiring security. Was ok. I did prefer it to Chrome OS which I have also used on the same device.

Turtacular

Wanted to amend my response since I've looked into this a bit more.

I still don't see the data collection as egregious, but the update cadence (lagging behind Google's LTS release) does seem to be cause for concern. The OS being mostly open source is a plus, but the Android container being proprietary, while feasibly necessary from a business standpoint, does raise concern given the size of the attack surface there. Also, lacking secure boot (for the sake of hardware compatibility, perhaps?) makes a difference.

Ideally, I'd love to see these points addressed as the OS was fun to use and fits my use case.