Understanding Google Cloud Print

One of the things that makes Chrome OS different from older operating systems is that it doesn’t carry with it a lot of legacy overhead—that is, the need to support older devices. That’s one of the problems with Windows, for example; a large amount of programming code, disk space, and memory space is used to support thousands of printers and other devices from years past.

It’s a necessary evil for those operating systems, however. If Windows or the Mac dropped support for all printers over a certain age, Microsoft and Apple would get a ton of angry calls and hate mail from users who were abandoned. It’s a real challenge, trying to add new features and keep a lean and mean OS while still supporting millions of users from the past two decades.