Google brings Blink-powered Chrome to Windows and Mac OS X

Blink, the browser rendering engine Google summoned into existence after becoming disgruntled with progress on the Apple-led Webkit, has made its debut in Windows and Mac OS, after having made its way to Linux last month. The engine is embedded in Chrome 28, available now in Chrome's stable channel. Google revealed plans to …

[Jordan Davenport]

Will the user agent change?

Chrome automatically updated to 28.0.1500.71 m for me in Windows without being open. I just checked the user agent and only saw:

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.2; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/28.0.1500.71 Safari/537.36

If Chrome has indeed switched to Blink in its stable channel, it hasn't changed the user agent yet to differentiate itself from vanilla WebKit.

[Thomas_Kent]

Well,

I just now updated to Version 28.0.1500.72 m

[mIRCat]

"Don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead."

What's the worse that could happen? Let's give it a try.

[Anonymous Coward]

How's the 1930's treating you? I realise you'll probably have to leave a message with your grandkids to reply. Better get to work, oh and you might want to keep your head down for the next decade.

[Dave Fox]

Re: Reporting bot posts ?

A bot that responds to a Doctor Who reference with another? That would be clever!

How about you just admin you've no idea what he was talking about eh Rory? ;)

[Robert Carnegie]

's that you?

Was it established where "Weeping Angels" come from? I suppose they're just alive. And we know that they're deliberately nasty. Like spammers.

Now when it comes to Cybermen, Mechanoids, Chumblies, and some designs of Dalek, organic parts are either absent or just pretty much along for the ride, and for practical purposes you are indeed up against a machine. And with spammers too you are being taken for a ride.

[cd]

A bot that responds to a Doctor Who reference with another?

Would it be called Re:Tardis ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Reporting bot posts ?

AC 04:11 is not a bot.

[Anonymous Coward]

What's the worse that could happen? Let's give it a try.

Hmm, let me see. It's just been shown that Microsoft backdoored Outlook.com before it was even launched. The US lawmakers have uncontrolled access to anything a US company gathers in data, and Google SPECIALISES in "acquiring" user data (between quotes because its methods vary from the visible to the illegal, including making *cough* "mistakes" *cough*).

So, yes, let's ask again: what could possibly go wrong with using a new, untried engine made by Google for surfing the web, accessing your bank, using ecommerce - generally, for your entire online life.

If you "feel lucky", you're probably the type that opens malware as well because of the promises made in the email. It's supplied by a US company: not good. It's an online product: bad. It's a product by a company which acquires data as their main business model: do not touch, even when equipped with barge pole.

[SaveMefromeejits]

Because have so little ability already, that the only way they could gather data is through a compromised browser? - the one thing that could be independently checked by outside forces - and considering the bounties that are given to bug finders, actually is checked.

Google, government et al don't need compromised browsers to get your data. They already get it through a plethora of other means.

[Badvok]

Untried?

"So, yes, let's ask again: what could possibly go wrong with using a new, untried engine made by Google for surfing the web, accessing your bank, using ecommerce - generally, for your entire online life."

It is a fork! (Google it if you don't know what that means).

[Robert Carnegie]

"Google it"

The logical problem with that answer should be obvious...

I'm using Chromium-powered Opera 15 with some relief. I do use Google Groups for Usenet forums (newsgroups), and performance suffers on long threads: Google's response was to advise users to "upgrade" to Chrome, but on principle I don't want to have to use their web browser to use their web site.

Opera's programmers presumably also scrutinise Webkit and Blink for inappropriate actions - but then I'm putting trust in Opera so that -they- are not doing something inappropriate. You have to trust somebody, and maybe it had better not be Microsoft.

[furt1v3ly]

Didn't read the actual article before ranting, I guess...

Didn't read the actual article before ranting, I guess... Because you clearly missed the "fork from WebKit" bit. This isn't a new, untried made by Google. It is WebKit with the increasingly huge patch-set that Google has been maintaining for the past couple of years applied permanently on a new fork.

[Freon Bale]

Just another example of an Apple technology that did NOT get adopted. Come to think of it, I think the last one that did was the 3.5" floppy.

[William Donelson]

Idiot, webkit is used in almost every mobile browser

Idiot, webkit is used in almost every mobile browser

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Idiot, webkit is used in almost every mobile browser

@Wd .. Don't feed the trolls.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Idiot, webkit is used in almost every mobile browser

Not anymore...

[fandom]

That would be KDE technology

[Russ Tarbox]

Yeah, those touch screen only phones will never take off

etc etc

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Yeah, those touch screen only phones will never take off

That would be IBM technology (IBM Simon 1993/4 - Google and you'll find a photo of Jobs using his)

[mIRCat]

Did you mean..

"Just another example of an Apple technology..."

An open technology that Apple took and contributed to, to create their product? Yeah they do that quite a bit.

[ThomH]

Re: Did you mean..

KHTML: began 1998

WebKit: forked from KHTML, 2002

Blink: forked from WebKit, 2012, more cleanly to incorporate patches accumulated since 2008

I make that four years before Apple, six further years before Google, four years since Google. That'll do for dividing credit, surely?

[John Latham]

Smells like Microsoft

I realise there are all kinds of ways this is different, but the idea of one juggernaut of a company developing operating systems, browser engines, scripting languages and applications makes me nervous.

Sure, it's mostly free-as-in-beer, do no evil etc, and somewhat constrained by standards and licences for now, but it still smells bad.

Tell me I'm wrong.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Smells like Microsoft

Tell me I'm wrong.

You're wrong.

Regards, Larry A. Nonymous

[Destroy All Monsters]

So Google got this Blink on track between April and June?

Do they have The Red Flash as project manager??

[tin 2]

Embrace and extend folks, embrace and extend.

[Tom Chiverton 1]

"Chrome 27 reported it could find no updates"

That's normal. It's not like the update file appears in all parts of the cluster at once, plus if Google have any sense they will stagger auto updates after the official download-only launch.

Mozilla do similar.

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh nos!

Has the <blink> tag returned?

What? Eh? Yes, I've been away for a few weeks, why?

[captain veg]

Re: Oh nos!

Indeed. And the next version of IE will be code-named MARQUEE.

-A.

[Dieter Haussmann]

Must try harder

Still 32-bit.

Cannot install Java plugin due to requiring a "modern 64-bit browser".