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Keith Shaw: Hi everybody, welcome to DEMO, the show where companies come in and show us their latest products and platforms. Today, we're going to take you across the pond to our correspondent, Matt Egan, who's with Jon Mooney from Google, who’s going to show us their latest offerings.

Take it away, Matt!

Matt Egan: Thank you, Keith. I'm here with Jon Mooney, who is a Chrome OS Customer Engineer at Google. Welcome, Jon. Jon Mooney: Hi Matt, how are you doing? Matt: Doing very well, thank you. So, Jon, what are you showing us today?

Jon: Today I'll be showing and demonstrating Google's ChromeOS Flex.

Matt: So, I've heard of ChromeOS, but maybe you can tell us a little bit about ChromeOS and ChromeOS Flex. Jon: Sure. ChromeOS is Google's cloud-first operating system, which is typically associated with Chromebooks. It’s deployed widely in schools, enterprises, and homes.

Now, with ChromeOS Flex, we’re allowing ChromeOS to be installed on non-Chromebook devices. This means we can potentially install ChromeOS on older hardware outside of the typical Chromebook ecosystem.

Matt: So this is ChromeOS, but with the ability to run it on pretty much any device. Jon: Exactly. With ChromeOS Flex, you can install ChromeOS on older devices that normally run a legacy operating system, repurposing that hardware with a more up-to-date, secure, simple, and super-fast OS.

Matt: Those are some pretty strong benefits — up-to-date, secure, super-fast. Who is this aimed at? Jon: While it can be used by anyone, today I’ll focus on the enterprise market — organizations that want to deploy and adopt this within their environment, especially to repurpose older hardware.

There’s a looming date — October 14th of this year — when millions of Windows 10 devices will stop receiving updates and reach end-of-support. ChromeOS Flex offers a modern OS that can be installed on those devices, essentially extending their useful life.

Matt: So this helps stop waste, improves security — all of those kinds of ideas? Jon: Correct. It’s the same security model you expect from ChromeOS on Chromebooks, now available for other hardware.

We have a certification process to ensure cameras, touchscreens, and peripherals work and are certified for ChromeOS Flex.

Matt: What are you going to show us in the demo today? Jon: I’ll show both how to convert an old workstation into a ChromeOS Flex device and how to manage it post-enrollment using enterprise tools.

So I’ve created a USB stick with ChromeOS Flex. We have guidance on our website on how to do this. I’ll plug the USB into the PC and boot from it using BIOS options — most IT engineers will know the F12 key or similar.

Once booted, it runs off the USB without touching the internal hard drive.

This allows you to test the OS before committing to installation. If everything works — the screen, mouse, keyboard — I’ll go ahead and install it fully. Installation times vary based on the device specs, but it can be as fast as 30 seconds or up to 20 minutes.

Once installed, I’ll shut down, remove the USB stick, and now this device is effectively a Chromebook running ChromeOS Flex.

We support ChromeOS Flex on hardware for 10 years from the original date of manufacture, often covering two refresh cycles in an enterprise.

Now that ChromeOS Flex is installed, I’ll go through enrollment to show how it behaves in an enterprise. First, connect to Wi-Fi. Once online, the system checks whether it belongs to a domain and needs to receive policies.

At this point, the user can log in personally or, like I’m doing, enroll it against an organization using a generic enrollment account — no super admin credentials required.

That connects the device to my management tenant and applies admin-set policies. This can also be automated so that devices arrive ready to go. Enrollment is quick.

Once it checks domain access, it’s under full admin control. We can now manage policies remotely: disabling USB, rebooting, pushing updates, remote desktop access, etc.

Matt: So this is like full enterprise-grade device management? Jon: Absolutely. ChromeOS Flex enables real-time policy and config changes from anywhere. It protects users with built-in security, blocking ransomware and malicious links, and it’s read-only, so nothing gets permanently altered from attacks.

Matt: This sounds useful for enterprises, education, and even personal use. Jon: Exactly. Since we don’t allow software installation, it’s secure by default. Everything runs in the browser. Users authenticate with any identity provider and access all their tools instantly.

Matt: Anything else we should know? Jon: Yes. I want to show you the Google Admin Console. It manages Chromebooks, ChromeOS Flex devices, Chrome browsers, and Workspace. From here, you can see all enrolled devices.

I’ll click on the device we just enrolled. You can see licensing, last login, OS version, policy compliance, and even trigger remote desktop. If a device is lost — say on a train — you can remotely disable or reset it.

Let me show you how fast this works. I’ll trigger a remote reboot now. And... it’s already rebooting. That’s how quick it is. ChromeOS Flex is lightweight and efficient.

You also have hundreds of policy controls: corporate wallpapers, disabling USBs, pushing bookmarks — everything to customize and secure the user experience.

Matt: So in just a few minutes, you’ve taken an obsolete device and made it part of a fully managed enterprise fleet. Jon: Right. We’ve seen orgs cut IT management time drastically. It's almost set-and-forget. And it's sustainable — you’re giving old hardware a second life.

For enterprise users, ChromeOS Flex is free. Consumers can repurpose old PCs. Enterprise customers pay only for management licensing, and can avoid two full hardware refresh cycles.

In fact, switching 10,000 devices this way can save the emissions equivalent of 9.3 million fossil fuel miles. It's a powerful step toward reducing e-waste.

Matt: And with my CFO hat on, there are clearly big cost savings here. Jon: Absolutely. Sustainability and cost efficiency together.

Matt: So where can people learn more? Jon: Just Google “ChromeOS Flex.” You’ll find specs, USB creation guides, and more. Or contact your local Google representative.

Matt: Jon, thank you so much. This was fascinating and very impressive. Keith Shaw: Thanks, Matt. That’s going to do it for this week’s show. Be sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel, and leave your thoughts below. Join us every week for new episodes of DEMO.

I’m Keith Shaw — thanks for watching! ?