Custom ROMs have me excited about Googlebooks

When I went to Google’s presentation on its new Googlebooks, it was an act of convenience. I happen to be near New York City, so I’m used to schlepping my way onto a bus for media events. As the Performance desk lead, I really don’t have any personal interest in Google’s successor to its Chromebook venture, especially since it’s packed with “AI.” So I was there mostly to support our AI expert, Ben Patterson.

But one bit of news caught my attention: You get access to the bootloader.

A brave new (old) world

This requires a bit of context. See, I’m an Android guy. I started my tech journalism career on Android-focused sites, back when smartphones were still the hottest, newest tech on the planet, and tons of people were obsessing over every new model. One of the most exciting parts of Android was the ability to modify the software fairly easily. You could “root” them to get access to all the various bits and bobs, or even load up your own custom-cooked, open-source operating system, colloquially called a ROM.

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