

Google Chrome: The Fast Browser With Slow Adoption - kakooljay
http://www.pcworld.com/article/181118/google_chrome_the_fast_browser_with_slow_adoption.html

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benofsky
I don't think Google's primary goal here is to have the largest market share
in the browser market but to be able to drive innovation in the other leading
browsers through competition.

Google Chrome drove Firefox (and others) to improve the speed of their
javascript engines/interpreters which is hugely beneficial for Google meaning
their web apps now run faster across the board.

In my opinion, Google Chrome exists to help Google push other browsers to
introduce new features that make their web applications more accessible to
everyone else.

~~~
fnid
That's why they have television commercials for chrome?

If they wanted to make the web better, why didn't they just contribute to the
Firefox project itself rather than inventing their own browser?

Releasing, yet another browser only complicates things for existing web
developers.

~~~
whopa
To be fair to Google, they tried to contribute to Firefox back in the Firefox
1.x timeframe, but they realized that Mozilla is rather dysfunctional open
source project. It is incredibly hard to get feature work into Mozilla as an
outsider, so they decided to go their own way. In a way they got what they
wanted in the end, now with Mozilla copying stuff from Chrome wholesale now
that someone else has made them look bad.

The main things holding Chrome back adoption-wise is a stable Mac version, and
extension hooks to support popular functionality like AdBlock and Noscript.
With those you'll start seeing geeks and tech influencers switch, which will
probably start eating at Firefox's market share. It's a testament to the power
of Google's brand that it's got as much market share right now as it does,
which is mainly at the expense of IE.

~~~
pavs
I am a mac user (primarily) and I find this funny. How is Mac version holding
back Chrome in terms of adoption when mac represents roughly 9-10% OS market?

Chrome already supports extensions, Adsweep works on Chrome as an alternative
of ABplus. Noscript is used by a very small niche users, I seriously doubt
noscript users are holding Chrome back on mass adoption.

I think switching browser is always a difficult choice for non tech savvy
users. Personally it was a hard choice for me 4-5 years ago to leave IE for
FF, but it was easier for me to make the switch to Chrome after I used it and
liked it. I think my view towards a browser changed over the last 4-5 years
and I see a "browser" as a tool as opposed to a gateway to the internet. I
think most of the early adopters of Chrome are fairly tech savvy users and for
chrome to be really mainstream they need to push chrome bundled with new
computers (I think they already do that).

Chrome is awesome and it can only get better. I hope Google Chrome OS will be
just as good.

~~~
whopa
> How is Mac version holding back Chrome in terms of adoption when mac
> represents roughly 9-10% OS market?

Because Mac usage among early adopters and other tech influencers is a much
higher percentage, and they're the ones who recommend software to use to the
less savvy. That's how Firefox's marketshare got its initial big boost.

> Noscript is used by a very small niche users

Again, Noscript usage incidence is higher among that same market.

> I think most of the early adopters of Chrome are fairly tech savvy users

Most alpha geeks I know (including myself) use Firefox as their primary
browser rather than Chrome, mainly because it's not quite there on Mac/Linux,
and/or favorite extensions don't exist. Nearly all Chrome users I know are
Windows users, and don't care about extensions, and like the perceived speed
compared to other browsers. Nearly all alpha geeks I know use Chrome on
Windows, when they have to use Windows, which isn't very often.

Get more of those alpha geeks using Chrome as their primary, more
recommendations trickle down to their less geeky friends. That's what happened
with Firefox, and that's what will happen with Chrome once a stable Mac port
and support for the popular extensions show up.

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boucher
4% market share in a year seems pretty impressive to me. The last major
browser to launch, Safari, had about 2% market share two years after its
release. Three years after that it was at 6% (depending on where you look). In
another year, Chrome will probably have a significant lead on Safari, which
will be 7 years old. Never mind Opera.

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fserb
_"To date, Chrome really hasn't had the success that I suspect Google had
anticipated for it," said Sheri McLeish, a Forrester analyst._

What sort of comment is that? One could create a quote like that about
virtually anything in the world.

The article as a whole seems pretty bad. Looks like the author was looking for
a reality to support his thesis...

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stanleydrew
Is the reason people get away with saying "There's no chrome for mac or linux"
that chrome doesn't exist on those platforms but chromium does? I've been
using chrome (or chromium, whatever) on linux for about 2.5 months and it's
great. I use it on my macbook too and it's also really good. So what gives?

~~~
scw
There's no non-developer release yet, and the browser isn't feature-complete
on non-Windows platforms. For example, on Ubuntu I can't open links from other
programs with Chrome, and asking it to restore tabs when opening the browser
doesn't work.

I'm sure once they make official versions the situation will change, I've been
happy having it as my secondary browser on all three platforms despite the
hiccups.

~~~
nostrademons
I'm posting this from Chrome on the Mac. It works well enough to use for daily
use. There're still some glitches, but in general I've found it better than
Safari or Firefox (both of which I also have installed...web developers need
everything).

~~~
cscotta
I've found Chrome for Mac pretty stable so far, too - but this is my
showstopper.

Any time Calibri is requested in text, it displays like this:
<http://u.phoreo.com/jy.png>

The font works fine everywhere else, so I'm not sure what's up. Do you have
this problem?

~~~
nostrademons
The site in your screenshot works fine for me. I can't tell whether that's
because it's working or because Calibri's not installed. I'm using Chrome
4.0.223.11 (wtf is up with those version numbers) on a recent (~3 month old)
stock Macbook Pro.

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chrischen
It's like Silverlight. Initially people were like "oh flash is already on 99%
of computers" but failed to realize the fact that 99% (not really, but close
enough) of computers come with Windows, and Microsoft controls Windows.
Microsoft, when ready, can easily get people to use it.

And with Google, all it has to do is slap that browser on its front page if it
_really_ wanted the average user to switch.

Obviously Google chrome still has some kinks, so they won't want the average
user to switch just yet (assuming that's even their goal).

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raintrees
I am waiting/hoping for NoScript-like functionality...

~~~
sketerpot
I want AdBlock and Greasemonkey. Once those things work properly on Chrome,
I'll switch happily.

(If they already work, and I just missed the news, please tell me.)

~~~
cscotta
Ask and ye shall receive -

Here's AdBlock (Adsweep): <http://adsweep.org/>

Here's Greasemonkey (Greasemetal): [http://www.mychromeaddons.com/chrome-
addon-greasemetal-greas...](http://www.mychromeaddons.com/chrome-addon-
greasemetal-greasemonkey-for-chrome/)

~~~
sketerpot
The Greasemonkey clone has a lot of people warning of crashes when they
installed it, so I think I'll hold off for another month or so. Still, I'm
impressed that Chrome is this close. Thanks for the links!

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zandorg
I had this wierd thing where I'd flip to Chrome, and it'd draw its screen line
by line, like a broken Amiga. I switched to Firefox after that. [I was using
Chrome because of wanting to use Google Wave).

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NathanKP
I don't use Google Chrome because they haven't made an official version for
Mac OS X. The current developer version for Mac OS X is very buggy and
unreliable.

~~~
boucher
I have to disagree. I've been using it full time for a week and it hasn't
crashed yet. It's faster than Safari, and it's open source. It has some UI
quirks still, but on the whole it's a great browser.

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dustingetz
relax. browser market share is about branding and building those takes time.

