Google LLC may be planning a surprise move in supporting Windows 10 on Chromebook laptops, at least according to an analysis published today of code undertaken by XDA-Developers.

The move to support alternative operating software comes under the name of Campfire. It was first detected in code uploaded from the Google Pixelbook earlier this year that supports an “Alt OS” named Campfire.

At the time, it wasn’t known exactly what the Alt OS the feature may support, but XDA claimed it has learned that it is Windows 10 and that the support won’t be coming to the Pixelbook alone.

“Mentions of multiple ‘campfire variants’ and changes merging into the master branch instead of device-specific branches indicate that the Google Pixelbook won’t be the only Chromebook with Campfire support,” the report noted.

Any extension of that support to the now hundreds of Chromebook devices may be limited: The report added that it “could be limited to select Chromebooks — perhaps only new devices, or even only to Google-branded devices.”

Support for Windows 10 is also claimed to be designed as a dual-boot feature similar to Apple Inc.’s Boot Camp with the feature offering built-in security. Previously, Chromebook owners could, in theory, install alternative operating systems, but only in developer mode, negating native security features.

Timing is not officially known, but the report noted that developers appear to be on a short development cycle. In fact, it’s not impossible that the feature could at the least be demoed later this year alongside the release of the Google Pixel 3 and the second-generation Pixelbook in October.

Google’s potential move would be an interesting change for the tech giant given that it had previously promoted the platform as not suffering from blue screens of death as Windows does. A current ad campaign, in fact, continues that line of criticism against both Windows and Apple software.

The decision to support Windows may not be entirely motivated by customer demand alone. It’s possible that opening up Chromebooks to other OSes may relate to the company having been hit with a €4.34 billion ($5 billion) antitrust fine by the European Union in July for bundling its apps with Android.

Image: Google