MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Dec 01, 09 - 03:10 pm Comment from: NCIceman

Isn't Chrome written using Webkit? So why DOES it take so long to get a mac version working?

I doubt its anything sinister...Google is targeting their main market first, and that is Windows IE users, which is still the largest browser market.

Dec 01, 09 - 03:13 pm Comment from: ericdano

Yes. Honestly, what exactly is Google doing besides copying? I mean, isn't doing search the thing it should focus on? Or Maps. They are essential an information company. They process and deliver information to users. They should keep their focus on that.

Since Safari 4 debuted I found I could dump Firefox. Won't be visiting anything from google in the near term.

I was really surprised by the large number of things Google is dropping from the Mac version of Chrome in order to meet their promised deadline.

That's like offering to have a house built for someone by the end of the year, and then in December giving them a list of things that won't be ready until sometime next year: electricity, plumbing, climate control...

Whilst Chrome does indeed incorporate webkit, it only does so to render the pages. As a browser, Chrome has not been written for HTML5 which they now say will be available next year.

Google are targeting the LCD (Lowest Common Denominator) which are IE users who have been conditioned not to expect much.

To deliver a Mac version, "it has just got to work", otherwise Google will be slaughterd by the cognocenti. If they have a deathwish, then down that furrow they will ply.

Ooh well....safari is better anyway. So no big deal there. But good replacement for IE.

Dec 01, 09 - 03:26 pm Comment from: Me In LA

Simple.
It's easy for Google to out-do MS's crappy products.
OTOH, try to out-do Apple, and you've got a battle on your hands.
Look at Chrome. No reason to dump Safari as far as I can tell.

Dec 01, 09 - 03:28 pm Comment from: Demon

Chrome is one Browser that I'll be avoiding like the H1N1 Virus.
It's going to be as evil as IE is, which I never ran on my Mac, even when it was pre-installed.

Google should change it's name to Gerbil to reflect it's attention span and level of attention to details.

Google products are like poorly debugged device drivers just like Microsoft's products.

We need an evil Gerbil emoticon.

Dec 01, 09 - 03:43 pm Comment from: ron

Safari will not let me access my Wells Fargo account. I have to use Firefox. How great is that?

What a ridiculous headline (even for MDN). Gmail notifier and Google Earth, to name two products, work great.

Safari 4 better than Firefox? How so?

Dec 01, 09 - 03:51 pm Comment from: HMCIV

Oh please. I would love to live in a world where Google is Apple's most vicious nemesis. Instead we are constantly barbed by Microsoft, Adobe, Psystars, RIAA, MPAA, Security "Experts" and the occasional Greenpeace.

When Google becomes my worst enemy, it's a pretty good day!

Dec 01, 09 - 03:59 pm Comment from: Harvey

I think Google has its sights set on Microsoft, and that leaves Apple in its peripheral vision.

I don't think Google developers hate Apple users. In fact, many are Mac users themselves.

They're simply helping those who need help most.... Windoze users. It's hard to improve on Mac products, but there is much need for improvement on the PC side.

No interest here in Chrome anymore. There are good browsers already, I use Firefox mostly and sometimes Safari 4. Can't expect Chrome to do much more. No interest in a Chrome OS, either. I like Google as a search engine and email tool, but not as a Mac OS replacement.

Dec 01, 09 - 04:04 pm Comment from: Logan

I've been using the developer build of Chrome for Mac for the last few weeks and it's really good. The thing I like best is that it's faster than Safari, and manages memory usage better. Often I would have Safari running fir a few days and end up with it using 700 Meg of ram. While Chrome rarely ever breaks the 100 Meg mark.

It's a bummer about all the stuff they're leaving out though, extensions in particular.

Dec 01, 09 - 04:05 pm Comment from: Demon

@ ron

I've been using Safari for years to do online banking with Wells Fargo.
For more then the last year Wells Fargo on-line has been even better with Safari as they did away with last bits of some lingering IE specific code and when to a straight HTML standards compliant design. The page layout no longer blow-up sometimes which required you to reload the pages. After developing there iPhone Web pages they went and removed and fixed all IE tweaks by removing them.
Old versions of IE no longer work with Wells Fargo On-line and their comment to the bitching IE users was simple use Firefox or Safari.

Dec 01, 09 - 04:06 pm Comment from: Lava_Head_UK

Well I can't stand Google either

@ Harvey, How is that possible? I thought Apple Inc. has shot past Google on the stock market in terms of cash in the bank? That would mean that peripheral vision in this instance does not apply.

Go, the new programming language developped by Google works only on Mac and Linux (for now)

Dec 01, 09 - 04:13 pm Comment from: grognard

I got the word the other day that T-mobile doesn't support Safari.
The did and now they don't? This is to check one's account. A bit cheeky.. Well the default Firefox worked well as it always does. I wonder if T-mobile will support Chrome?

I suspect that if T-Mobile got the Iphone, they would support Safari in about a day of making the announcement.

Dec 01, 09 - 04:20 pm Comment from: HughB

I hate Google as well. Ads Ads and Ads everywhere. I got cable TV to avoid ads, now it is all ads and Google is working with Tivo so I can't even skip them. I got XM radio and guess what ads and ads. I am willing to pay for no ads. The crawling ads on TV screen, the pop up ads on web sites (like this one). So many are Google's doing. Hate it. What can we do?

Dec 01, 09 - 04:20 pm Comment from: Spudly

I agree completely with MDN's comments. Google's "vision" is only "clear" when compared to Microsoft walking down the street cross-eyed with dark glasses and a red & white cane. Beating Microsoft to re-implementations of Apple's ideas is their best strategy...

MDN... Love your take.

Dec 01, 09 - 04:56 pm Comment from: alansky

Google, like Apple, projects an image of supreme competence. But the moves they've been making this past year have consistently failed to live up to that image. It's very hard to understand what has motivated Google to rush to market with unfinished or poorly-conceived products and services.

One thing is for sure: Apple has set new standards of excellence for hardware and software design. All comers, whether they love Apple or hate Apple, will henceforth be judged against these standards. Those who can't rise to the occasion will fall by the wayside. Microsoft's recent fortunes prove that no company, no matter how big, is immune to the effects of the challenge that Apple has issued by virtue of its excellent products.

chrome for the Mac is a joke. When is it ever coming out, seems ridiculous. These articles made it sound like only a few people were working on it:
http://www.derekunderwood.com/web-programming/google-chrome-is-really-just-for-windows/
and then
http://www.derekunderwood.com/general-computer/google-chrome-is-really-still-just-for-windows/
So, Google can bring multiple versions of chrome to Windows, none to the Mac, and now maybe maybe maybe a version that is so stripped it is basically useless...

Wow.

Dec 01, 09 - 05:16 pm Comment from: MacBill

Totally agree with MDN's take! Google's products (except for search) are completely LOUSY!!! Their user manuals (if you can call them that) are SLOPPILY written! The whole company is SLOPPY, SLOPPY, SLOPPY.

Is it just me, or is GMail starting to become a bit dated? gosh Google, please refine GMail first before you get started on ANYTHING ELSE!

thanks MDN - I've said that again and again and again.
Google is simply copying Apple, and using 'free' apps to gain leverage.

Maybe Gmail is good, but I dare any brainiac to answer why it was in Beta for YEARS? It still may be in beta for all i know. Simply put, I cant take 'forever beta' software seriously business-wise, I'm shocked so many people fell for it. Yahoos done me well for free, and for $20 a year I get POP access, even less spam - meh, good enough - and not in BETA HELL.

Dec 01, 09 - 06:51 pm Comment from: Cubert

Yes, why?

Been wondering this for years! They even had a seat on Apple's Board for pete's sake!

Dec 01, 09 - 06:55 pm Comment from: Cubert

maclover,
I think GMail and VLC are having a competition.

So, as happens once in awhile, I think MDN take is wrong. I actually think that Apple and Google have been colluding to undermine MS, and that that has been happening for awhile. But, it is (in the larger sense, fortunately so) illegal to do so. This I believe is the real reason Schmidt resigned from Apple's board, not that little Google -app reason they'd have you believe, but because they cannot give the appearance of teamwork against MS. Do not disparage Google the way you do MS.... MS deserves it, Google isn't even close to that kind of mentality. Maybe later, Apple and Google will become true adversaries, but for now, there's plenty of MS market share for the both. I honestly don't think even android is trying (yet) to competei with iPhone, except in an insignificant way. They (google) are trying to usurp MS (specifically, they're business model of providing a mobile OS to a number of hardware manufacturers), but know that they are usurping the low-end phone market, and are keeping distance from Apple
because MS deserves to be usurped. Again, they may very well become direct competitors, but for now they (and the entire digital world ) have but one enemy: MS
GO APPLE, and GO GOOGLE!!!

Dec 01, 09 - 08:30 pm Comment from: An Optimist

Apple and Google are two great companies that can compete in some areas, and cooperate in others. A little competition is a good thing.

Dec 01, 09 - 09:01 pm Comment from: Macanatic

@yes... "By George, I think you've got it".

Dec 01, 09 - 09:30 pm Comment from: Trvth

Who cares what Google does or doesn't do with Chrome, as long it doesn't stop bankrolling Firefox.

What's up with all this angst over Google? I like both Apple and Google and they are both great at what they do.

That being said, I'm not that impressed with the Google Chrome OS. To me, it's another stab at the web appliance circa 2001. People do not want to be limited with what they can do with a computer. But, I also think Google is smarter than that as they're trend has been to work down the product stack and I think Google Chrome OS will eventually be a direct competitor to Windows and Mac down the road (in its current form it is not, but that will change). Which to me will help both Apple and Microsoft make better products.

Because Apple and Microsoft are the past.

Dec 01, 09 - 11:08 pm Comment from: Ampar

Well, that sucks the chrome off the trailer's hitch.

I think that google is guilty of anti-trust and violates the sherman act. The justice department should immediately sue google for anti-trust violations and demand that they should be broken up. Microsoft's power would remain the same because they are a shadow of it's former self. Apple on the other hand is in danger becoming another Microsoft, Apple is no longer the underdog with a special product that people have come to love and use.

Good to see you again Ampar....been awhile.

Can somebody explain to me why Chrome is even an issue. Safari for regular browsing and Firefox when Safari croaks on a website. Why in the world would I need Chrome?

Hate? What's with all this hate stuff? Must everyone who doesn't put you first have to hate you? To some the world appears to have to be black and white.

@Buster

"Why in the world would I need Chrome?"

Principally for tab-isolation. Each tab runs as a separate process. If a site crashes, it shouldn't take the whole browser down. Plus it should be more secure.

I expect Safari will get the same in time, but it's not got it yet.

So that's what one would want it for,

The lead on Chrome for Mac is Mike Pinkerton. (Incidentally, it seems he's also still the lead for Camino.) I believe he and Dave Hyatt (ex-Mozilla, devised the XUL language that Mozilla uses for interfaces, now heads Safari) were the ones who originally came up with the idea for Camino. That was back in the days when Mac users only had IE 5 for Mac to browser with.

Suffice to say, Pinkerton is one of the good guys and would definitely know what he was doing.

I think the Mac and Linux versions are taking a long time, because Chrome was originally written for Windows ... and the people at Google who did that used too much Windows-specific stuff and didn't prepare enough for it to be cross-platform.

It's inevitable that Google would have targeted Windows first. It works like this:

their business depends on ad revenue;

their ad revenue depends on people using their services, so that they see ads companies place with them;

their services require modern browsers with good standards support, HTML5 going forwards, etc.

Mac users already have that with Safari -- (and will be a smaller proportion of the users of Google apps anyway). But IE doesn't supply that.

And I take that Google thinks it can't rely on Microsoft to provide that with IE in the future either (and not to accidentally break Google web applications with new IE releases). I guess their users could download Firefox, but Google probably would prefer that their business is not actually dependent on a third-party.

So there we are.

I don't trust Google either -- they have way too much information on all of us for any of us to do that. However, they don't "hate" Apple users or anyone else. It's just that Google's economic imperatives made it natural for them to target Windows first. They now have to re-write what they've done for other platforms, and it's proving more difficult than they anticipated.

That's all.

you guys are never satisfied are you? you have to wait some longer and all of a sudden "Google hates Apple"... jeez.. it's coming OK? If they really hate Apple, you would not even be getting it in the first place!

Dec 02, 09 - 09:51 am Comment from: Ampar

Yo, Buster! You da Mac daddy!

@dancing apeman....many thanks for your comprehensive reply. The tab isolation feature is really intersting.

@Ampar...its not me....you can't prove it...I already pay child support

Ampar and Wendell Hickson, separated at birth?

You're gonna love this one:
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/opinion/1564244/apple-fans-whinge-google-ignores

This is SO true...