Google claims Chrome is the world's most popular browser Google has been shouting the praises of its newly patched Chrome on the second day of its I/O developer conference, and is claiming that Chrome is undoubtedly the world's most popular browser. "According to all the metrics and everything we see out there, Chrome most is the most popular browser," said Sundar Pichai, VP of …
Hard to tell, as I can't get it to install on any of my machines. I've tried it on recent Fedora and Ubuntu distributions, my NetBSD server, several versions of OSX, my iPad and Asus Transformer, and even an XP VM, and all it'll say is "you need to be running Windows Vista or Windows 7".
But seriously, why should I even bother to look at a software application that runs on such a limited range of operating systems?
"But seriously, why should I even bother to look at a software application that runs on such a limited range of operating systems?"
You don't. You install Opera. IE9 is very good (imo), but no-one has ever claimed that it runs under a Linux DE or told you that you should try to. So it's rather straw-mannish of you to try and act disgusted that it doesn't.
Apparently IE9 doesn't work on Macs or Microsoft's own older version of Windows either; so I would say that the Linux strawman is all yours. I agree, why should I be arsed to try a proprietary web browser that only works on a tiny fraction of the modern consumer operating systems out there, especially when there are such good cross-platform alternatives.
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I think Google does have a point. I mean; at one time it looked as if all other major browsers (Firefox, Internet explorer) started to mimic the looks of Chrome. Firefox especially IMO. A move which I detested ever since it started because honestly; if I wanted to use Chrome then I'd download and use it.
IE9 is a bit different when it comes to looks (the tabs sit besides the address bar instead of above it) but its still quite trimmed down in comparison to IE8.
So with that in mind I think Google has a point.
As for me; I'm sticking to SeaMonkey for my every day browsing.
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Well done for totally missing the point of open source - creating software so that people CAN create great software (free or commercial) with it.
If you want to demand people put back in "their fair share" to the community start your own "it's only fair" license to compete with GPL, MIT, Apache, et al. I'm sure you'll get plenty of MPs supporting you.
Because it installs itself surreptitiously and by default alongside other products, its actually the most *hated* of all browsers. And its also probable that most people who have it installed only have it because they don't know how to remove it.
And its from google, so it's probably stuffed with spyware.
I agree, all it takes is a parent to click on it by mistake then queue the usual "my internets different" support call... (note to fanboys "different" is not equal to better or worse) Like a lot of old people change (even if it is for the better) is bad. They had firefox installed years ago, know how to use it and are used to it now so find anything else "wrong" to use
Having set the pc to secure as possible, having an app that has virus like properties in not needing admin rights to install isnt a good example for a major company to do.
Still they didnt spot the difference between google and duckduckgo afterwards.....
I just went through the monthly update of software on my in-law's computer. The usual suspects; antivirus, antispyware, Flash, Acrobat, Air, Java, etc...
Lately it seems practically everything is packaged with Chrome preselected, and it's also advertised on Google's home page too. I'm not surprised it's shot up the charts recently.
In continental Europe, and especially Germany, Firefox very much does hold sway. It's about 50 % for a large corporate site I know.
That said, SiteCounters' metrics are not reliable because they are very piecemeal. Aggregates coming from Google Analytics, Adobe or Webtrends or other large providers are likely to be more representative. The stats that I have access to have about a three-way split for Chrome (all versions), IE 8, IE 9 and Firefox (all versions) for the world. Chrome has gone up about 10 % in a year on those metrics.
"Over 60 billion words are typed every day on Chrome browsers, he said, with over a terabyte of data saved every 24 hours."
And that, right there in a nutshell, is why I don't use Chrome. I'll browse without you looking over my shoulder, thanks.
Incidentally, now that you've reached the heady heights, can you slow down and fix some of your browser's glaring rendering bugs? You launched a campaign to replace the predominant, buggy browser, and you're replacing it with another buggy browser, except this one spies on you.
"Who is still using IE ??"
Well, if you're using IE9, why not? I'm just gonna come out and say it - there is nothing wrong with IE9. It's not as bleeding-edge advanced as other browsers, sure, but there's also not really anything inherently wrong with what it does. It's quick, seems stable when I've used it, supports the current standards far far better than older versions - what exactly is wrong with it, other than it not being fashionable these days? (Seriously, if you follow *trends* for a feckin' web browser, you need to re-assess your entire life.)
Wanna know how many rendering bugs I've had to fix in IE9 recently, or indeed ever? None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Doughnut.
Wanna know how many I've had to work around in Chrome in the past fortnight? Because it's not zero.
Personally, I'm a shirt-wearing Mozilla man, but I'm no zealot.
so its preinstalled on mac's and millions if ipads ands androids, and linux too is it. ;-)
true its presinalled on windows, on which the majority of all devices still use,
but Google install chrome be default when you install almost any of their other products, you have opt-out not opt-in, so many people end up with Chrom being 'preinstalled' along side the other app too
If MS were to try that trick or to reset the deafult thered be hell too pay.
Google did something from scratch alright.
Google added their own poorly documented SPDY protocol in addition to HTTP, so that traffic to their own servers appear to be much faster than going to competing services or using alternative browsers.
Last time I've seen something similar in IT people were up in arms about it and the company ended up in court. But when Google does it and everyone cheers them on.
If I was google, I would try really hard not to remind their domination to public.
Just like Internet explorer, Mac safari google chrome isn't really purely choice of users.
It doesn't come with os of course, it comes on world'sn dominant page.
There is no "get Firefox", "get ie" (as it is compliant now) or "get opera" there.
What is next? Brag about toolbar?
Now can we step on the brakes please? I've spent years battling a IE monopoly, not about to enjoy battling another one.
There are already too many Chrome Web Store "exclusives" for my taste, web pages to me were never meant to be packaged and locked to specific browsers.
Maybe I should blame the developers, but how can Google talk about the importance of the "open web" and then operate this crap. It must require a lot of counselling.
Sorry, but Apple's rules don't allow that. Whatever they release will be a Chrome/Safari abomination. It will be Safari under the covers, using Safari's ancient Webkit code and piss-poor JS engine. No V8 js for you... But will be running Chrome UI, sync and extensions on the outside.
Crucially you can't change the UA (because it's using Apples webkit browser control) so Apple "Chrome" users will be racking up as Safari hits on websites. & it will be as slow as Safari and render as flakey as safari.
If anyone REALLY believe they are getting Chrome, as in what's on desktops and Android, they will be sorely mistaken, they are just getting another Safari makeover skin.
....using flawed logic and cherry-picking statistics...... bundles all third-party browsers that use the IE engine, like Maxthon, with IE's figures,"
we have absolutely no problem with you or with Microsoft or IE... our problem is with misleading and biased information being published under the guise of a fair and balanced analysis," said StatCounter.
So have you stripped all the versions of Iron from your Chrome stats then guys?
No thought not.
I don't use chrome anymore. I don't like how much it spies on you, google tries to force their idea of the perfect UI on you with no way to change it and actually its performance isn't that great.
Sure when its only competition was IE7 / IE8 and firefox it stood out. IE just sucked. Firefox wasn't blindingly fast but it could be customised so there was a clear split what get of either browser.
Firefox has fixed itself and has a much better release schedule, it's faster and it's customiseable. Chrome hasn't really changed which isn't good given that it's not perfect.
I'll use firefox or opera instead.
I used Chrome for quite a while, but it seemed to play less and less nicely on my machine (EEEPC 701 4G running an Ubuntu 10;04 based distro) as the version number rose, so I've gone back to FF (v13), and managed to successfully configure it so that I have even more screen space available than with Chrome. It also seems at least as fast as Chrome, and doesn't hang when other tabs are loading the way Chrome does.
I find Chrome gives you dead tabs far more often than the others. I think they just want to show off their sad faced browser image.
By the way the reason it's running poorly on your 701 (and my 901) is because Chrome only gives the appearance that it's fast and light. I believe Google even came right out and said it doesn't matter how much power your use as long as they user has a good experience which, on average, is probably right but Chrome used to (and I suspect still does) use more memory and CPU than Firefox and I believe from the stats I saw it was actually the top resource hog of all the main browsers which of course will be notieable on something like an EEE.
Sure is. It seems to attract every deleterious bug and spyware floating around.
When I run my anti-virus software it always has more junk in it than all of the three browsers I have on my computer put together.
And Chrome doesn't like my wife's ASUS EeePC, either, which runs Win 7. Neither automatic nor hand job installs will mount Chrome! SketchUp is OK, though.
I have IE9, Chrome 20 and Firefox installed.
IE9 is my current favourite. Before it came along I used Chrome. Before Chrome was around I used Firefox. I still use them all at times, they all have pros and cons. I'm well aware that there are other excellent alternatives too, but frankly these three are more than enough for me.
I really couldn't care which one is the 'most popular'. I suspect that Google are correct in claiming this, if only because many enterprises still mandate the use of IE regardless of their users' preference.
I will only care if any of them achieve such a dominance that the lack of competition causes development and innovation to slow down or stop.
What impresses me about Google is that they are pressing ahead with Chrome for iOS despite the restrictions imposed by Apple. This is in contrast to Mozilla, who cited these restrictions when saying they wouldn't port Firefox to iOS (as they have also now repeated with respect to Windows RT). I respect Mozilla's position, but I applaud Google's attitude. Given this it's not surprising they've been so successful.
Chrome has improved greatly over the years. However, on my Mac it continues to misbehave. While I'm idle, it goes out to the Internet and continues to pull in many megabytes of data. I block it with Little Snitch. It finds a way around the blocks. I finally had to pull the bugger.
Before I pulled it, I tired the "sync" function. After spending hours organizing my bookmarks, Chrome trashed them when I logged on with a different machine.
Chrome sucks.
yeah, no wonder the install count is creeping up. every freaking install of adobe, or java, or somethingelseineed(tm) comes with "would you like to install google chrome and set it as your default browser?" that and the google/ask toolbar. people just click yes yes yes yes yes ohfuckwhatwasthatlastone? ahscrewit, yes yes yes finished.
and are they counting every android handset out there too?
fruggin grumble grumble IE9's too good for 'em... netscape 3.01s what they want....
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