Chromebooks are becoming more popular, however, many programs that students need are unable to run on these devices. Frame is a cloud-based platform that may change the classroom game.

Frame lets you run any software in a browser, and over 150 schools signed up for its Early Access Program (EAP) for education in the first 60 days. It has added support for Google Drive, the most requested feature.

Chromebooks, now account for more than one in four of all new devices in education according to Frame. But popular applications like Adobe Photoshop, Trimble Sketchup or Google Earth cannot be installed on Chromebooks. Frame enables schools to run these applications from the cloud, and access them from a browser—solving this key challenge for schools.

"We are going to 1:1 starting next year. Frame is a great way for us to offer applications like AutoCAD, Adobe Creative Suite and Office to students with Chromebooks," said Mike Connors, Technology Director, Riverside Brookfield High School in Riverside, Illinois.

In addition to Google Drive, Frame introduced 16 new features in response to the feedback collected from schools. These include support for local printing, login with Google, advanced team administration, a relative mouse-mode for navigating 3D spaces, and automatic keyboard language detection.

“Google Drive is by far the most popular cloud storage in education, used by 87% of schools in our EAP,” said Alexandra Connell, Frame’s Director of Business Development.

“Today’s addition of Google Drive, along with our existing Dropbox support, is a big step towards supporting the storage needs of the entire education market.”

Some companies are already taking advantage of the flaws that can be found on many Chromebooks aside from not being able to run certain educational programs.

“Most of the programs mentioned  -- even at the discount prices they sell to schools at – are expensive,” says Daniel Kline, Motley Fool Contributor and Analyst (and frequent contributor to Education World).

“Microsoft now sells laptops for prices the rival Chromebooks, which should crush CB sales.”

With the implementation of Frames program, this might aid Chromebooks in making a solid move into the classroom however, administrators might still want to consider the expenses the devices can yield.

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Article by Navindra Persaud, Education World Contributor