
New Chrome 3 beta with 30% improvement - nreece
http://chrome.blogspot.com/2009/08/new-beta-why-slow-down-when-you-can.html
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ajross
The headline is missing 22%!

(For those curious but not curious enough to read the article, it's a 30%
improvement in the V8 and Sunspider javascript benchmark scores.)

Also: windows only, no OS X or Linux binary for this beta. Sigh. I want to
think they're serious about being cross platform, but stuff like this tells me
that "everyone" in the developer group is on windows and the other platforms
are still just sometimes-updated ports.

~~~
icefox
Not everyone, just the vast majority of chrome developers are on Window and
develop in Visual Studio. There are a few people working hard on the Linux and
Windows ports, but Windows is the important port.

~~~
ajross
Right, that's why I put "everyone" in quotes. Obviously there are people on
the team tasked with maintaining the secondary platforms, and they're no doubt
working hard.

But the point was more architectural: clearly Chrome is a windows program.
With a little porting work, you can make it run elsewhere. So that's the
development model they've picked. Do the work on windows, then hand it off.
There's no simultaneous work going on, and features travel in only one
direction. If a windows developer commits something that breaks Linux or OS X,
it's "someone else's" problem to fix during porting.

Contrast this to Firefox, for example, where (the occasional glitch
notwithstanding) the assumption is that every build works on every platform.
People on Linux care about regressions on windows, etc... The model is that
the software is portable first, and not "a port".

~~~
icefox
A nice example of this is the recent Face as the close button bug report.

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kevinherron
I'm just waiting for a more stable OS X version. Preferably with flash
support.. :)

Side note: I'm using Safari 4 and anytime I am viewing a gif my browser
beachballs and crashes. Does this happen for anyone else?

~~~
jamesbritt
"Preferably with flash support.. "

Same for Ubuntu. I find it funny that I use a Google browser to view a Google
site (YouTube) but can't see the videos.

~~~
rdvm
Run it with --enable-plugins and it will pick up the plugins you have
installed for Firefox. I assume the same works on the Mac build.

~~~
jamesbritt
Very cool. Thanks, I'll try that.

