That's true for many Google products, I've been burned myself by Daydream abandonment, but Chromebooks are widely used, provided by many companies, some have an 8 year support policy, and Google bought a company who's business is to support ChromeOS on legacy devices. So it's much bigger than one of their trial balloon products. I've been recommending them for years to different people who don't need a "full OS," and they've all been very happy with them. It's actually much less than half the price of a Macbook for a decent, IPS screen and even convertible/hybrid Chromebook like the Lenovo Duet. I find a lot of pushback from Windows enthusiasts, Apple people are more likely to suggest an iPad which I think is more reasonable, but for many activities a Chromebook is a great choice, and you can buy one and a handset for the same price as an Air.

Chrome OS has been around for a good while.