
Microsoft Removes Google’s Chrome Installer from the Windows Store - amelius
https://www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2017/12/19/16797358/microsoft-google-chrome-windows-store-removal
======
pjc50
"Windows Store apps that browse the web must use HTML and JavaScript engines
provided by Windows 10"

Why is this restriction allowed? Isn't this a violation of the browser choice
consent decree, or has that expired?

Edit: I see this is "Windows S", which inherits from the failed "Windows RT"
the attempt to jam everything into the walled garden of the store. This is
unlikely to work and I hope it doesn't; only Apple have succeeded in doing
this so far, but a world where every application developer has to give 30% to
the platform feudal lord and suffer arbitary restrictions on development is
going to have a lot less innovation.

~~~
headmelted
Windows RT, for the record, was a horrifically missed opportunity for Windows
to compete with "low-end" ARM devices.

I use quotes as I much prefer the ARM Chromebooks I've owned over the years to
any other computer I've used, regardless of price.

Thin, light, cheap and with battery life for millenia.

Microsoft is trying to address this now with running x86 code on Snapdragons
(which may well be too little too late), but at the time it would have been
trivial for them to build a basic laptop with a 15" form factor and three full
days of battery life. I'd have thrown money at that.

~~~
kogepathic
_> Microsoft is trying to address this now with running x86 code on
Snapdragons (which may well be too little too late)_

I disagree. I think it's a fantastic idea. Windows has a _lot_ of legacy
software, which I'd guess is mostly closed source.

If you want to have a laptop with all-day battery life, but run the
application from your defunct vendor that's x86 only, then this is a great
solution.

For Microsoft, it's the best of both worlds. Lower power consumption of ARM
and all the backward compatibility of x86, in one piece of (low cost)
hardware. The only other ARM productivity OS (IMHO) is Chrome OS, but it's
lacking backward compatibility with pretty much everything. Unless you're
going to use a Linux chroot, but that's something only power users will do and
not at scale.

The potential of this combination (ARM+x86 emulation) is so huge that Intel is
threatening Microsoft/Qualcomm over it. [1]

[1] [https://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2017/06/intel...](https://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2017/06/intel-fires-warning-shots-at-microsoft-
claims-x86-emulation-is-a-patent-minefield/)

~~~
headmelted
Sorry, my comment might have made it seem like I think it's a bad idea.

Absolutely I think it's great for all the reasons stated above, I just think
it would have been a lot better if Windows RT either would have had this at
the time (I realize it wasn't ready then and must have been a massive job), or
would have been less restricted with the advertised caveat that apps would
need to be compiled with ARM support - somewhat akin to how Apple managed the
whole PowerPC -> Intel transition with universal binaries back in the day.

------
tonyedgecombe
_The Verge understands Google created this installer app to combat the fake
Chrome apps that can be found in the Windows Store, a problem Microsoft has
been trying to address for years._

It obviously hasn't been trying that hard.

~~~
nikanj
User installs ”Chrome” from Windows Store, gets malware and crap. I’d bet 87%
of the users would blame Google, not Microsoft.

~~~
Fnoord
I bet 95,73% of all statistics are made up.

~~~
bryanrasmussen
I bet you're from Scandinavia!

------
cm2187
I think Windows 10 S has more to lose than Chrome in this new browser battle.
Even on regular Windows 10 people go against every trick Microsoft throws at
them to use Chrome rather than Edge (which is kind of a low feature Internet
Explorer). If Windows 10 S wants to define itself as the only version of
Windows where you will be forced no matter what to use Edge, they will stay in
the low single digit market share.

This is not a mobile version of an OS where the browser doesn’t really matter
because there aren’t many things you can do with only fingers anyway. This is
a full blown desktop OS to be used by laptops.

[edit] actually how would the Chrome installer work in the first place? I
thought the very definition of Windows 10 S was that it only allows apps from
the store. How would that download app install anything?

~~~
skrebbel
> Edge (which is kind of a low feature Internet Explorer).

I agree with your comment in general, but Edge really is significantly better
than IE. It supports most modern web stuff, it's _much_ faster and the UI is
pretty nice and clean. Sure, the latter is a matter of taste too but it really
beats IE on all fronts.

Opinions clearly vary on whether it can compete with the likes of Chrome and
Firefox, but it's not a "low feature Internet Explorer". It's a decent piece
of work.

~~~
pjc50
Edge has ugly font rendering (seems to be common to all Metro apps) and loses
all your tabs when you quit (total dealbreaker for me).

~~~
swiley
I really really wish Firefox would actually close the tabs when I quit.

~~~
onemore2
Preferences -> General Tab -> When Firefox Starts -> "Show Your Home Page"
instead of "Show my windows and tabs from last time"

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paulus_magnus2
I'd like EU court to look into Apple iOS and now MS Windows, Google
Chromebooks lock the user into a single source of "apps". It's like you were
limited to fill / charge your car at stations owned by the manufacturer.

~~~
headmelted
To be fair, Chromebooks require a Google account, which I agree should be
completely optional for the user.

Beyond that though, there's very little dependence on Google for apps. The web
store opens in a browser window and (if someone were to create one) could
easily go to a different store.

Likewise, Android-compatible Chromebooks can use Aptoide same as any other
compatible Android device (although Android should be looked at too IMHO - I
should at least have the option to say "I trust X app store in addition to
Google Play" without removing un-named sources protection altogether. Likewise
iPhone.).

~~~
pgeorgi
> "I trust X app store in addition to Google Play"

That's in Android 8.0: [http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/03/21/android-o-
feature-sp...](http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/03/21/android-o-feature-
spotlight-model-installing-apps-unknown-sources-changed/)

~~~
headmelted
I hadn't known about this, thanks for the link!

------
blooo
Can't really blame Microsoft for this. Neither Google, nor Apple will ever
allow publishers to publish just links to their own download pages in the
Play/App Stores.

~~~
kbwt
Blame all three.

------
hungerstrike
Google _had_ a Metro/Modern/whatever version of Chrome in the App Store when
Windows 8 came out. I didn't search very much, but here is one reference to it
- [http://www.omgchrome.com/open-chrome-metro-mode-
windows-8/](http://www.omgchrome.com/open-chrome-metro-mode-windows-8/)

I don't remember when they took it away, but I wonder why they stopped
producing it? My guess is that they realized what a flop the Windows Store
turned out to be.

Personally, I don't use a single Metro app outside of Settings because I don't
like walled-gardens and I don't want to give Microsoft anymore incentive to
turn Windows into one (Apples profits have already incentive-ized them
enough!)

------
thisisit
Everyone wants a walled garden for their stuff. So this comes as no surprise.
Personally, I struggled for couple of days to get Chrome installed on my
Windows 10 laptop. Finally, installed Firefox to avoid Edge.

------
sabujp
having to use a competitor's rendering engine is quite ridiculous

~~~
smilekzs
M$ Edge on Android uses WebKit.

~~~
Ari_Ugwu
I feel like the 'M$' pejorative is a bit out dated and not really
representative of Microsoft as a company anymore.

Apple, and Google practices as of late do seem sufficiently profit oriented to
the point of poor consumer experience. Throw Facebook and Twitter in the mix
for good measure. At the very least MS is no longer the only bully in the
room....if they are still a bully at all.

I'm not sure I've seen quite as drastic a shift in fundamental thinking from a
company as I've seen from Microsoft in recent years (under Nadella).

tl;dr - Any large and diversified (tech) company has so many powerful
stakeholders within the company that decisions bubble up which are in the best
interest of those stakeholders and their departments, not necessarily the
consumer.

------
retox
Who needs to worry about net neutrality when big companies can bicker and
degrade their competitors experience at a whim.

------
dis-sys
the title is misleading, it is not even a full installer, it is an app that
just redirect you to a download link.

google refuses to provide a full Chrome app for the Microsoft Store because it
requires browsers to use the built-in HTML and JavaScript engines provided by
Windows 10. google agreed to let its ios version of Chrome to use Apple's
webkit, but apparently it is not happy to do something similar for Microsoft.

now who is the problem here? Microsoft or Google? ;)

~~~
Lio
Microsoft.

They have historically provided a low quality, non-standard rendering and
JavaScript experience.

That they are trying underhanded means to stop people opting out of that
experience is a reveal that the old Microsoft is still there.

Apple should not to be emulated on this.

~~~
romanovcode
Did you try Edge?

~~~
hungerstrike
Did you ever search around for reviews on Edge? By most accounts - it sucks.

I'm sure you can find good reviews from shills, people with a low attention
for detail or people with very basic needs. Even if you disagree with my
thoughts on Edge reviews - the Edge browser market share speaks volumes:
Nobody is using it.

~~~
romanovcode
I actually used it for like 2 months. If you don't care about web development
it is pretty OK. All websites worked fine, I got uBlock without any problems.

Not sure if I did something wrong but my experience was OK, nothing amazing,
but also not total shit like you say.

~~~
hungerstrike
I said it was a total shit show unless you have very basic needs and that's
what you seem to have outlined. You even said you couldn't get through more
than 2 months using it so I guess that is correct isn't it?

You also mentioned that you got one extension that you needed, uBlock. Great.
How about these: Quick JavaScript Switcher, Don't Track Me Google, Stop
Tracking me on Reddit and Google Search Filter. That is just a sampling of the
non-developer extensions that I use.

Also, if I go to one page that doesn't work in Edge that's the end of my time
with Edge. Since that happened almost as soon as I tried it out, I stopped
trying. Despite that, I do open it from time to time to see if it got less
crappy and many times I get a bunch of popups from Microsoft begging me to do
more with their stuff. No thanks!

