MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Blatant pitch by Google to jump on the WWDC cavalcade and get some attention thrown their way!! Chrome for Mac? A joke.

I think this sums it up best:

http://www.derekunderwood.com/web-programming/google-chrome-is-really-just-for-windows/

Jun 05, 09 - 10:41 am Comment from: LordRobin

I'm still just not sure why I should care about Chrome. Mac OS X has enough browsers by this point. I just don't see what Chrome brings to the table, at least on the Mac.

------RM

People who are whining about the lack of Google Chrome for platforms other than Windows are missing one of the main reasons Google created Chrome in the first place - to topple IE's dominant marketshare on the web, so that true standards-based browsers can at last dominate the online landscape.

For Google, this outcome would ensure that their online offerings will work consistently for everyone, without having to do loads of IE-only hacks (or, another realistic possibility, having to work around outright sabotage from Microsoft).

So far, everything they've been doing with Chrome points to this very obvious conclusion, yet so many commentators continue to miss it. Since Linux and Mac machines already have standards-based browsers in dominant positions, there's little need for Google to push things on those platforms, so it doesn't.

And as far as I'm concerned, that's fine - I prefer the long-term goal of getting the Windows folk onto something more standards-based, as opposed to the short-term whining from Mac/Linux people who want Chrome now now now!

Jun 05, 09 - 10:52 am Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

"... but the company admittedly doesn't want most people to use it"

Fine by me. I tried it on Windows and in the words of that great American icon Will Ferrell: It bloooooows!

Jun 05, 09 - 11:59 am Comment from: LTD*

Do we really need it? And if we do, do we really need it as soon as possible?

We already have an excellent Webkit-based browser.

Jun 05, 09 - 01:08 pm Comment from: JAYGEE

I look forward to trying Chrome, when it is released properly for the Mac. I'd give it a go for a while to see it it os ok, as I currently am not fond of safari 4 beta.

When Chrome is released to the masses, expect Firefox to die.

Jun 05, 09 - 03:02 pm Comment from: macslut

@Cassandra,

"When Chrome is released to the masses, expect Firefox to die."

Actually, I expect Chrome to help Firefox. Gabriel (above) is correct...Chrome is going to add to the pressure of developers to make sure they're standards compliant and not focus solely on IE. Eventually maybe even Microsoft will come around to the right way of doing things.

From Google's perspective, they don't care so much if Chrome, Firefox, or Safari is the dominant browser. What they care about is not having to co-develop for IE and then everyone else. They also don't want Microsoft to have an edge on competitive services because of IE.

As a result, expect Google to play nicely with browsers beyond Chrome just like they play nicely with the iPhone and others beyond Android.

Personally, I like using two browsers. I run Firefox and Safari both at the same time all of the time. There are things I like each differently for. I just don't see the need to have yet a 3rd major browser on the Mac, but I'll give Chrome a chance and see what happens.

Jun 05, 09 - 03:30 pm Comment from: LTD*

Cassandra:

Firefox is quite entrenched. It took ages for it to get to where it is now. It'll take a while for the average user to convince him/herself that there's a reason to use Chrome. Firefox isn't broken, and it is already THE alternative to IE. Why would Joe Average bother to switch, and so quickly?

Those damns Russians! (I mean Google co-founder Sergei Brin)

Macslut and LTD: Why would Google continue to bankroll two browsers? Developers have left Mozilla for Chrome already, Pinkerton one of them, if I'm not mistaken.

It makes as much sense as Apple -- or MS -- spending money keeping two distinct browsers alive and up to date.

I don't think it's likely that Mozilla will be around in a couple of years unless some other company with deep pockets takes over its funding. That isn't likely, especially in this economy.

Jun 05, 09 - 03:56 pm Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

@Cassandra,

Balderdash, bunkum, poppycock and twaddle.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Jun 05, 09 - 06:47 pm Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

Pharaoh hath spoken.

Jun 05, 09 - 07:01 pm Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

"Balderdash, bunkum, poppycock and twaddle."

Hmmm, doesn't this sound like it could be:

Balderdash, Bunkum, Poppycock & Twaddle,
Attorneys - At - Law

I think they advertise on television.

Jun 05, 09 - 07:51 pm Comment from: silverhawk

SGB
I had to look "bunkum" up. Thank you for a new word.

Jun 05, 09 - 07:58 pm Comment from: Sir Gill Bates

silverhawk,

You are most welcome.

Jun 06, 09 - 06:19 pm Comment from: ken1w

I really don't understand... Isn't Chrome just another webkit browser? How can Chrome for Mac be so incomplete, if webkit is already complete. I can understand if Google is adding specialize functions and interface element, but what's with not being able to print and change privacy? That seems ridiculous. If one-person shops like the folks who do iCab and Shiira can release "complete" Webkit-based browsers, why can't mega-corporation Google do it?

Jun 07, 09 - 04:12 pm Comment from: Brulek

Having used chrome on a windows machine I'm forced to use at work, I have to say I rather like it. It's a little different but quite usable. It's fast too. Real fast. Seems like google is on to a good thing with it. The shift to the cloud paradigm requires a fast, capable, standards compliant browser, such as chrome, which positions google nicely in that regard. The strategy here is evident I think: move people over to google's web-centric view of the software usage world and provide them with a nice, smooth browser with which to interact with this world. And smite microsh*t in the process. Talk about your win-win. Android s clearly intentioned to be a major component in this as well.