“As the deadline nears, it appears the Google team might actually beat estimates by a few weeks. The release of a Mac-compatible version of Chrome will be coming soon, but in order to hit the deadline, Google was forced to eliminate many of its key features available in the Windows version — making it barely better than the test shell,” Schuster writes. The new version lacks multi-touch support, 64-bit compatibility, “a bookmark manager, bookmark syncing, and browser extensions! App Mode and Google Gears are also missing, so users won’t have the ability to alter site-specific features or access Gmail and Google Docs while offline.”
Schuster writes, “The missing features will turn it into a very unpleasant experience. To release it at this stage, Google is both rushing to keep its promise and displaying a total lack of regard toward Apple users.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Why does Google hate Apple product users? Because in the absence of any new ideas, Google’s stooped to tapping an old one: Copy Apple until the cows come home (moo) and attempt to become the next Microsoft. Google hates users of Apple products because Apple product users can clearly see that Google’s rushed, never-quite-finished knockoffs, just like Microsoft’s, are inferior to products they’ve had in their hands for years, not to mention that users of Apple products understand that Google’s “Don’t be evil” mantra is meaningless PR bullshit.
Isn’t Chrome written using Webkit? So why DOES it take so long to get a mac version working?
I doubt its anything sinister…Google is targeting their main market first, and that is Windows IE users, which is still the largest browser market.
Yes. Honestly, what exactly is Google doing besides copying? I mean, isn’t doing search the thing it should focus on? Or Maps. They are essential an information company. They process and deliver information to users. They should keep their focus on that.
Since Safari 4 debuted I found I could dump Firefox. Won’t be visiting anything from google in the near term.
I was really surprised by the large number of things Google is dropping from the Mac version of Chrome in order to meet their promised deadline.
That’s like offering to have a house built for someone by the end of the year, and then in December giving them a list of things that won’t be ready until sometime next year: electricity, plumbing, climate control…
Whilst Chrome does indeed incorporate webkit, it only does so to render the pages. As a browser, Chrome has not been written for HTML5 which they now say will be available next year.
Google are targeting the LCD (Lowest Common Denominator) which are IE users who have been conditioned not to expect much.
To deliver a Mac version, “it has just got to work”, otherwise Google will be slaughterd by the cognocenti. If they have a deathwish, then down that furrow they will ply.
Ooh well….safari is better anyway. So no big deal there. But good replacement for IE.
Simple.
It’s easy for Google to out-do MS’s crappy products.
OTOH, try to out-do Apple, and you’ve got a battle on your hands.
Look at Chrome. No reason to dump Safari as far as I can tell.
Chrome is one Browser that I’ll be avoiding like the H1N1 Virus.
It’s going to be as evil as IE is, which I never ran on my Mac, even when it was pre-installed.
Google should change it’s name to Gerbil to reflect it’s attention span and level of attention to details.
Google products are like poorly debugged device drivers just like Microsoft’s products.
We need an evil Gerbil emoticon.
Safari will not let me access my Wells Fargo account. I have to use Firefox. How great is that?
What a ridiculous headline (even for MDN). Gmail notifier and Google Earth, to name two products, work great.
Safari 4 better than Firefox? How so?
Oh please. I would love to live in a world where Google is Apple’s most vicious nemesis. Instead we are constantly barbed by Microsoft, Adobe, Psystars, RIAA, MPAA, Security “Experts” and the occasional Greenpeace.
When Google becomes my worst enemy, it’s a pretty good day!
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I think Google has its sights set on Microsoft, and that leaves Apple in its peripheral vision.
I don’t think Google developers hate Apple users. In fact, many are Mac users themselves.
They’re simply helping those who need help most…. Windoze users. It’s hard to improve on Mac products, but there is much need for improvement on the PC side.
No interest here in Chrome anymore. There are good browsers already, I use Firefox mostly and sometimes Safari 4. Can’t expect Chrome to do much more. No interest in a Chrome OS, either. I like Google as a search engine and email tool, but not as a Mac OS replacement.
I’ve been using the developer build of Chrome for Mac for the last few weeks and it’s really good. The thing I like best is that it’s faster than Safari, and manages memory usage better. Often I would have Safari running fir a few days and end up with it using 700 Meg of ram. While Chrome rarely ever breaks the 100 Meg mark.
It’s a bummer about all the stuff they’re leaving out though, extensions in particular.
@ ron
I’ve been using Safari for years to do online banking with Wells Fargo.
For more then the last year Wells Fargo on-line has been even better with Safari as they did away with last bits of some lingering IE specific code and when to a straight HTML standards compliant design. The page layout no longer blow-up sometimes which required you to reload the pages. After developing there iPhone Web pages they went and removed and fixed all IE tweaks by removing them.
Old versions of IE no longer work with Wells Fargo On-line and their comment to the bitching IE users was simple use Firefox or Safari.
Well I can’t stand Google either
@ Harvey, How is that possible? I thought Apple Inc. has shot past Google on the stock market in terms of cash in the bank? That would mean that peripheral vision in this instance does not apply.
Go, the new programming language developped by Google works only on Mac and Linux (for now)
I got the word the other day that T-mobile doesn’t support Safari.
The did and now they don’t? This is to check one’s account. A bit cheeky.. Well the default Firefox worked well as it always does. I wonder if T-mobile will support Chrome?
I suspect that if T-Mobile got the Iphone, they would support Safari in about a day of making the announcement.
I hate Google as well. Ads Ads and Ads everywhere. I got cable TV to avoid ads, now it is all ads and Google is working with Tivo so I can’t even skip them. I got XM radio and guess what ads and ads. I am willing to pay for no ads. The crawling ads on TV screen, the pop up ads on web sites (like this one). So many are Google’s doing. Hate it. What can we do?
I agree completely with MDN’s comments. Google’s “vision” is only “clear” when compared to Microsoft walking down the street cross-eyed with dark glasses and a red & white cane. Beating Microsoft to re-implementations of Apple’s ideas is their best strategy…
MDN… Love your take.
Google, like Apple, projects an image of supreme competence. But the moves they’ve been making this past year have consistently failed to live up to that image. It’s very hard to understand what has motivated Google to rush to market with unfinished or poorly-conceived products and services.
One thing is for sure: Apple has set new standards of excellence for hardware and software design. All comers, whether they love Apple or hate Apple, will henceforth be judged against these standards. Those who can’t rise to the occasion will fall by the wayside. Microsoft’s recent fortunes prove that no company, no matter how big, is immune to the effects of the challenge that Apple has issued by virtue of its excellent products.
chrome for the Mac is a joke. When is it ever coming out, seems ridiculous. These articles made it sound like only a few people were working on it:
http://www.derekunderwood.com/web-programming/google-chrome-is-really-just-for-windows/
and then
http://www.derekunderwood.com/general-computer/google-chrome-is-really-still-just-for-windows/
So, Google can bring multiple versions of chrome to Windows, none to the Mac, and now maybe maybe maybe a version that is so stripped it is basically useless…
Wow.