macnn
09/04/2008, 4:35pm, EDT
Thursday, September 4th
Brin: Mac version of Chrome 'a matter of months'
The Mac version of Google's Chrome web browser should arrive in "a matter of months," says Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The executive, interviewed by Wall Street Journal writer Kara Swisher, claims it is "embarassing" that a Mac version is not already out, since both he and Swisher use Macs. To cope with the situation, Brin says he is relying on virtualization software from VMware. At present Chrome runs only on Windows.
The release of Chrome, which is based on the Apple-developed WebKit platform used in Safari, has experienced some complications. It initially included an aggressive licensing agreement, granting Google rights over all content posted through the browser, and may have serious security issues, in part because its underlying version of WebKit is outdated. Google has not said when a fix for the Windows software may become available.
Filed under: software
Other story tags: Google, virtualization, browsers, WebKit, vmware, Chrome
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Which Means...
Which means they probably haven't started yet.
so what
we have safari, so who cares.
Just like Intuit!
Intuit's ceo sits (or has sat) on Apple's board yet was going cease development of Quicken for the Mac. Even now Intuit has nothing to offer other than Quicken 2007. Intuit's web site speaks glowingly of a completely rewritten Quicken for 2009 to be released in "the winter" but still not feature compatible with the already available Quicken 9 for the PC.
Now come the cofounders of Google, who supposedly use Macs, and they are embarrassed there is no Mac version of Chrome yet? Gimme a freaking break here. Who exactly runs the company anyway and makes the decision to give the Mac the shaft?
You know for once...
I'm actually glad Chrome isn't out for Mac first. Haven't you guys been guinea pigs long enough for all things under the Apple sun? I would think you would want the M$ contingency to be first to stomp out all the bugs.
Meanwhile, we've got Safari, Webkit, Firefox, OmniWeb, Opera, Camino and Shiira to keep us busy.
No worries.
For me, it is fine that the Mac doesn't have Chrome yet. Virtually all Mac users use a modern version of Safari, Gecko-based browser like Firefox or Camino, or Opera.
In contrast, a good 75% percent of all Windows users use Internet Explorer 6 or 7, which are, if nothing else, a challenge for web developers to support. This is a tough problem in terms of JavaScript performance and reliability - trust me - I live with it every day. We just don't have a lot of nice UI because we can't get it to go on IE.
If Chrome can convince Microsoft to finally fix their browser, the world will be a much better place.
I'm all from Chrome on the Mac. But IE is the industry problem that really needs to be fixed or eliminated.
Embarassing...
The worst part is that they have Mike Pinkerton, one of the creators and head developers of Camino, working on the Chrome project for Google, so there's really not much excuse for the lack of a Mac version...
Screw this then!
If they can't have a Mac version ready from day 1 then, I have zero interest in their browser. WTF is up with this crap? Google is using Apple technology and yet Google is marginalizing Mac users!
Webkit
Even more embarrassing since Chrome uses WebKit, from Apple. Should've been on OS X first. Would have been a good way to pay homage to Tim Berners-Lee's WWW on NeXT.
ice water
Chrome uses webkit, so no real need for Chrome on Mac.
Winodws on the other, they need all the ice water they can get.
chrome and safari
maybe the threat of a new browser using the safari webkit on the mac will make the development teams at apple get off their collective butt and fix the world leaks in safari 3.1.2
i am glad google had the sense to not deliver their browser to the macusers before it is ready. who needs software with security risks on the mac platform? things get messy enough when wordpress is hacked or banner ads pass pornsites to the clipboard in safari.