Google to Mac users: Eat the crumbs we throw you

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Google to Mac users: Eat the crumbs we throw you

I’ll be interested to see how well Chrome does among Mac users.

You mean there's finally a real Chrome browser available for Mac? Oh, wait, no, there's not. Just the same old tired beta, even though it left beta on Windows ages ago.

Google's taken so long to deliver a Mac version I assumed they'd outsourced the job to Adobe. No need; I guess when it comes to Mac software they're the new Adobe.

Does Chrome install on the Mac with that insidious Google "updater" always running in the background? You know, the one that even if you hunt it down and kill it, it just reinstalls itself the next time you run the Google app? It's just one reason the Mac version of Picasa (beta, of course) was blown from my Mac, with no Google software to return.

I'll never understand why so many Mac users are eager to eat scraps off the floor that fell from a developer's Windows table. Not me. No thanks, Google. Take your cheesy product to Linux, I'm not interested.

Tagged Browser Chrome Google Mac Mac OS X Software web web kit

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almost 2 years ago TylerDurdan responded:

I'm interested in Chrome/Chromium because I feel it's presently the best combination of webkit and Firefox style extensions along with multi threaded processing while being a true Mac application unlike Firefox.

The background updater does concern me which is why I use Chromium more but then it's only updating Google apps you have installed.

I think the reason Chrome updates have been so slow is more to do with the open source nature from where it originates as chrome is simply snapshots of decent builds of chromium ran through the Google Mill

almost 2 years ago Tom Reestman responded:

Tyler,

Appreciate the desire for extensions (I run ClickToFlash and Glims in Safari) but not sure I can agree with your other comments.

Sure Google's updater only updates its own apps, I certainly wouldn't expect it to update anyone else's. The point is there are other ways to get updates than surreptitiously installing a 24/7 app. And I sure as heck don't expect it to be reinstalled if I deliberately remove it.

As for open source being the cause for slow updates, it was in beta on the PC for less than a year. It's had updates since. The only thing keeping it from that kind of pace on the Mac is Google's (lack of) attention to it. Period. The Mac is being treated like a second-class citizen, and I don't take well to developers that do that.

almost 2 years ago TylerDurdan responded:

While I would like to see Google use the sparkle updater system like 80% of the Mac Developers out there, I can't complain too much about something making sure what you use is up to date.

yes I have security concerns about how it does it and the only way around it is to scrub the google apps of the updater app. Which I can't even find running on my Mac.

if you want to check out the state of play with Chromium check out build.chromium.org and download a Mac build from the continuous link (providing that version has an all green panel in the "waterfall")

I certainly don't feel like a second class citizen with a lot of features already working but then I am on the cutting edge and have the odd web page crash here and there.

almost 2 years ago Tom Reestman responded:

Tyler,

I can appreciate all your points, though I would argue that the update app is especially insidious (I had to track it down to remove it, they don't make it easy).

However, whether you _feel_ like a second class citizen on the Mac or not isn't really the point. You are. At least where Google's software is concerned. How can you classify yourself as "cutting edge" when you're running betas of software that's been out of beta in the Windows world for months or longer? I guess this is where I differ from my fellow geeks.

If you're on a Mac, you're behind the curve with Google apps; that's just a fact. Well over 90 percent of the computing world will yawn at your software because they're running the real thing while you're still messing with "green light" beta builds. You can't possibly lead the way with Google software on a Mac, you will always be following. I don't want to follow.

almost 2 years ago TylerDurdan responded:

when I say cutting edge in regards to software, I mean it's something that perhaps isn't quite ready for general public consumption, these same builds are also available Windows Mac and Linux and are, presumably, treated equally not that I could tell you otherwise as I use a Mac and nothing else. Make of that what you will.

almost 2 years ago Tom Reestman responded:

Tyler,

There's nothing to make of it other than that I appreciate your thoughts and thank you for commenting here. It's not like one of us is definitively right or wrong, we just see it differently.

Besides, I know I come down harder than most on Google (and other developers) who prioritize the Mac after Windows. My desire is for both at the same time. Despite developers' excuses that a joint release is too difficult, Apple has proven time and again it can be done.

almost 2 years ago beanie responded:

Tom Reestman wrote:
"The only thing keeping it from that kind of pace on the Mac is Google's (lack of) attention to it. Period."

That does not seem true. Since Chromium is an open source project, why do not you go check out the project and see how it is really doing. Checking out the Dev Calendar, it looks like Win, Mac, and Linux are all in sync.

Current beta version for all three platforms is 5.0.342.9. The Windows stable version is from version 4.1.249.1045. There is no stable version for 5.0 for Windows.

http://dev.chromium.org/developers/calendar

almost 2 years ago Tom Reestman responded:

beanie,

It doesn't matter what's sitting on a developer's box somewhere. What matters is what's available to the general computer user. Go to http://google.com/chrome on a Windows machine and you get a link to download released software. That same link on a Mac downloads beta software.

There's no question Google has prioritized the Windows version and is just fine giving Mac users something further behind.

almost 2 years ago beanie responded:

Tom Reestman wrote:
"Windows machine and you get a link to download released software"

But at the bottom of the screen, there is a link to try the latest BETA version for Windows. As I pointed out, the Windows stable version is based on version 4.1, while the BETA version is 5.0.342.9. So I assume
Linux BETA download and Mac BETA download are also version 5.0.342.9.

almost 2 years ago Tom Reestman responded:

beanie,

"But at the bottom of the screen, there is a link to try the latest BETA version for Windows"

That's a geek link. Big deal. You know why it's at the bottom of the screen? Because at the top of the screen is the link for non-geek (i.e., 99% of) users. What they see on Windows is a generally available, tested, stable, non-beta release for their platform. Mac users do not see that. Because there isn't one. Which was, and still is, my point.

The Small Wave.

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