Comments on: Google Chrome Beta – Linux Version Not Available Immediately?

By: Yfrwlf

Yfrwlf — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 03:15:13 +0000

It is weird, I agree, I was pretty surprised, I hoped Google would support Linux more. In the future, I could even see Google pushing their own Linux bundle as a direct competitor to Windows. With that brand weight behind it, it could very well be the last straw for making Linux be known mainstream.

By: David Duggins

David Duggins — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:59:01 +0000

By now, a lot of folks should have made the connection, but since it is not posted, I’ll post it here. Google owns a huge chunk (by own I mean sponsors) the Mozilla Foundation. Firefox is just as much a Google browsers as Chrome is. The main reason for the release of Chrome was to throw MS a one two punch that knocked it momentarially off balance. In the end, Google could care less which browser gets the better marketshare…Chrome or FF. They just want to keep the MS folks on their toes and hopefully in a position they can’t deal with.

By: Walter

Walter — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:47:25 +0000

so…does anyone know when the linux version is set to be released? And I don’t mean a stable version; even a beta version would be good.

By: amigappc

amigappc — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 09:12:33 +0000

Google should release Chrome for open source community first, just to show support to community….

They have so much money they could easy rent whole teams of developers for Linux…

But, money is money and 90% of users use Win platform…. I think that is the answer….

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:38:32 +0000

Just because Google’s servers use Linux, doesn’t mean that everyone at Google is accustomed to writing code for Linux. And I really don’t see what WebKit being used on Linux and MacOS has to do with what you said. Yeah, it works in Linux and MacOS – how does that make it any easier for them to write code for Linux? Not to mention, Visual Studio is what they teach you to use in school – there might be a lot of people who know how to *use* Linux but still only know how to develop software for Windows.

I think they probably have a relatively small team of people who are really good at writing code for Linux or MacOS – small enough that the development is slower.

By: fredv

fredv — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:33:48 +0000

People working at google would definately be used to working under Linux and Mac, so the “they are first releasing under the platform they are most used to” argument is weak. They are technology geeks, not Windows-(l)users. Not to mention they are using Webkit, a rendering engine specifically made under Linux (Konqueror) and later used by Safari.

My speculation is the real reason there is only a windows chrome version is because they have a relatively small development team working on it and the software is still in beta. When they have to support less platforms in parallel in the phase where most bugs occur, the beta, they have more time to spend on the bugs in the platform-inspecific part of the code. So, I predict that when they take the beta label of chrome, and have a stable groundwork going, a Linux and Mac version will be released soon if not immediatly.

IMO it just shows good development management from Google if it’s preferring to use small teams that get the time to release instead of large teams that have to deliver in a shorter deadline (ie like Microsoft works), which leads to less quality results.

By: ravi

ravi — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:47:40 +0000

I think this is because Google only cares about undermining MSIE with Chrome. Since MSIE isn’t available for linux, it’s not important to them have Chrome on linux platforms as fast.

By: zar

zar — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:00:11 +0000

MS is OS monopoly and Googles biggest competitor. By publishing Chrome first for windows, Google is harming itself (and the whole IT market). With OS taxes the monopoly MS may eventually force Google of the market.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 04:29:25 +0000

I agree with Brad.

By: Brad

Brad — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:37:17 +0000

@Cory

I couldn’t disagree more. Are we to criminalize anyone who tries to make a profit? People have to make money, and Google, among other companies like Sourceforge and Novell, chooses to do so while promoting open source. Google has gifted some nice stuff to the community while prompting much needed advancement in a web that has gone stagnant.

Competition creates a drive to achieve excellence, and providing funding and stability to open source projects helps make the community stronger.