There have been a bunch of Google events recently, covering a range of products, but the same question seems to rise above all others at each of them: When is Chrome coming for the Mac? Even Sergey Brin is asking it. Google has committed to getting the browser running on OS X sometime this year, but after several months in development, it’s still isn’t ready. Today, we get a nice, bland update from Google: “Google Chrome for the Mac is coming along fine,” says a post on the Google Blog.
The same post points to a more in-depth post on the Chromium Blog which discusses getting sandboxing working on the Mac version. Sandboxing is a security measure Chrome uses to allow to allow it to render sites and run applications without the possibility of harming your overall computing environment in the case of an attack through the web. Apparently, such a technique was tricky to set up for Windows, but it’s much simpler to set up for the Mac and Linux versions of Chrome. Google has posted more information about it here.
So that’s another feature of Chrome that looks good to go on the Mac. I’ve been running the most up to date Chromium builds on my Mac for a while, and it does look like it’s getting close. Certain things though, are still not ready for prime time. While most pages seem to be rendering nicely, and most apps like Gmail not only run, but are very fast, things like Flash implementation isn’t yet a go.
It seems a bit surprising that it’s taken this long for Google to get it working perfectly on the Mac, especially considering that the man behind the excellent Camino browser (a Mac-only browser built by Mozilla) is leading the project for Google. But the keyword is “perfectly” — as Google notes, “It’s important to us that the Mac port of Chromium feels and performs like a native Mac application, and that it provides the kind of high-quality experience Mac users expect.”
I really don’t see the need for Chrome on the Mac, Safari 4 is ridiculously fast (and based on the same rendering engine), and if you want more extensibility just use Firefox?
If you ignore Chrome’s single greatest feature – sandboxed, multi-core friendly tabs that can’t crash the whole browser – your post is accurate.
“sandboxed, multi-core friendly tabs that can’t crash the whole browser”
…which you also get with Stainless, so its not like that’s something new for the Mac.
And if you’d actually mentioned Stainless in your post, that’d be a good point.
And if you paid attention you would see that the two posts that you are replying to above are from different people.
They don’t use the same JS engine, V8 is way faster than safari’s. Try the chromeexperiment page with safari.
Until Chrome, you may use Stainless [ steel ] http://www.stainlessapp.com/
I actually LOLed when I saw the image you used for this post. Funny
There is no per-se need for Chrome. But it is an excellent brand building move for Google – not that it needs to build its brand.
Any word on how Chrome might incorporate Wave? (seems like it could be an interesting launch angle)
Software doesn’t exactly get built overnight, you know, stop being inpatient — it’s coming.
You only don’t notice other browsers’ long development cycles because you already have a mature, stable build in your hand. Like for example Firefox 3.5 has been in development for a year, and they were building upon an existing code base!
Safari 4 Beta with the Webkit Nightlies it’s the best. No need for others broswer.
Just make sure version 1 supports multitouch gestures for the new MacBooks!!
I’m glad they’re taking the extra time to make the experience perfect. It’s probably taking longer for them to get the experience up to the standards that us Mac users expect.
As of version 16981 this is a list of what works and what doesn’t. I am keeping track of the mac chrome development at http://www.manu...r-mac-os-x/230/
What Works
* Almost All Websites
* Bookmark pages
* Most visited sites
* Open link in new tab
* Open new tabs
* Omnibox
* Back, Forward, Reload
* Open link in new window
* Drag a tab to make a window
* Launch new tab
* Cut, Copy, Paste
* Keyboard shortcuts
* about:version, about:dns, about:crash, about:histograms
* Find in page
* History with search
* Form Fill
* Delete Thumbnail in New Tab Page
* Window Positions Remembered
* View Source with synatx highlighting and clickable links
What Doesn’t Work
* Open link in new tab Rev 13759
* Plugins (No flash -> No youtube)
* History Rev 16050
* Omnibox Rev 13759
* Bookmarks Bar
* Find Rev 16050
* Print
* about:network, about:memory
* Web Inspector
* Input methods such as Kotoeri (Japanese)
* Preferences (Partial implementation)
* Full Screen Browsing
I’ve tested the browser first hand. And believe me, what’s listed under “what doesn’t work” are really important things to have for your primary browser.
Printing? Flash? Bookmarks? I’ll wait.
Thanks, that’s a useful list.
When you bought a mac, you pretty much lost the right to complain about compatibility.
I guess it’s more about webapps and protocols than OSes and hardware compatibility now a days isn’t it
Planning to switch as soon as this hits, barring a major screwup…
Been drooling for a while on this one.
While Pinkerton et. al. are slapping each others backs over the code freeze of Camino 2b3 – http://www.ardi...ino-2-0-beta-3/ Chrome sits in a dark corner…
Come on Pinker, we need you to focus!
Will Chrome for Mac be Intel processors only?
Yep, Google says porting to V8 to PPC is not planned.
As above; the reason the V8 JavaScript engine is so hellaciously fast is because it compiles into x86 machine code.
Roll on a finished version of Chrom[e|ium] for Linux (or at least a useful one, i.e. with bookmarks, useful preferences and plugins) so I can ditch Firefox for something that isn’t a bloat monster and a horrible CPU hog. (I suspect all the big Linux distros will do as well.)
Good things are worth the wait. The wait does generate some hype too, especially that they want it to work “perfectly” first, though I think taking too long on it might actually bring bad publicity later on. Looking forward to this one.
Does Camino handle Facebook apps fast like Safari? I’ve had problems with certificate trusts from time to time on Firefox.
Twice in a row, MG = Mostly Google
His post before this was about Twitter though…
You can install Crossover Chromium for mac based on the same open source codebase, http://www.code...ports/chromium/
You can install Crossover Chromium for mac based on the same open source codebase, http://www.code...ports/chromium/
Google had acquired greenborder (which provided sandboxing and literally displayed a green border if the website was safe enough) a while ago. I wonder if they’ve adapted it for chrome.
Greenborder? Wow, haven’t heard of them in YEARS… security sandboxing with visuals was an interesting twist many years ago, which most didn’t (and don’t) get. Interesting to hear if that’s part of the guts for Chrome.