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Published by on Tuesday 24th March 2009, 00:46 | Related | Filed Under

Twittering earlier with Mike Pinkerton (@mikepinkerton) at Google – he tells me that there is no date yet for releasing Google Chrome for Mac OS X. Mike explains some of the stuff going on inside Google Labs in his blog Sucking less, on a budget.

What’s up Google, don’t you like (care about) the Mac community?

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  • Charles

    The Mac community is a 2nd class citizen, yes.

    Firefox – Optimized for Windows, slower on Mac and Linux
    Adobe Reader – Optimized for Windows, slower on Mac and Linux
    ( Windows version of Acrobat has more features too )
    Flash Player – Optimized for Windows, slower on Mac and Linux
    ( If you read the Flash on Linux developer's blogs,
    you'd know that the Windows versions have some assembly code
    optimizations, while the other platforms use compiled code )
    Shockwave Player – No Intel native version 10
    Adobe Premiere Pro – Not developed for the Mac until recently
    Adobe Framemaker – dropped from the Mac long before other platforms
    Java – Sun signed a licensing deal with Apple that allows OS X to trail other platforms

    Welcome to the club.

    Chrome 1.0 was really a public beta or proof of concept. If you read between the lines of Mr. Pinkerton's blog ( “It's Alive” from February ), you'd see Chrome 2.0 is a major rewrite from 1.0. Similar to why there was no Flash Player 8 for Linux, Chrome is going right to 2.0 on the Mac.

    For me, Safari 4 beta has many of the advantages of Chrome anyway. Some benchmarks put Safari 4 beta faster than Chrome in JavaScript performance.

    Chasd

  • http://www.thehotaisle.com thehotaisle

    Charles,

    Thanks for a good value add reply, I guess in many cases this is just commercial pressure – more sales on Windows that on OS X and Linux. What some of these vendors just don't get however is that OS X can't be ignored anymore – even Jack Bower on 24 is a Mac fan after all.

    As an operations guy, if it isn't available across all platforms I see it's value diminished and the case for using it is reduced significantly. Come on Google get on with it.

    Steve

  • Vince

    OSX can't be ignored because an imaginary character from a tv show uses it?

    And if it isn't available across all platforms you see the value diminished. Well, Apple decided they wanted a completely closed off environment -seems kind of in conflict with what you're asking from the rest of the pack.

    Seems to me from both comments, Apple just isn't very third-party developer friendly in the first place? Shouldn't they make the first move if they want lots of apps? You see the same thing with this mobile app store of theirs now.

    Here I am trying to decide on my next laptop and on the hedge for a Mac Book -also because I become more and more reliant on web-based apps and my browser(s). From Charles' post, I get the feeling that if I want my laptop nice and clean for lots of apps-in-the-browser, I need to stick with Windows -who'd thunk!

  • Charles

    Re-reading my comment makes it sound awfully negative.

    I totally agree that cross platform is vital. And I am happy that Adobe has committed to OS X and Linux versions of Reader and Flash Player. However, due to market forces, those non-Windows versions might not get the same amount of love that the Windows version does. It's an economic choice, and I understand that.

    I do think that many companies are looking at their web site logs and at the kind of laptops open at Starbucks and other establishments offering wireless Internet access. Lots of Macs, more than numbers you see in reports and surveys. That has changed some development decisions, but we might not see the fruits of that for a while.

    Specifically about Chrome, I think it is fabulous that the developer that made sure Mozilla ( pre-Firefox ) compiled and ran on Mac OS 9 and OS X ( and created Camino ) has his hands in the Mac version of Chrome. As a long-time Mac user, I'm glad there will be a Mac version of Chrome, and Google just didn't simply flip all us Mac users the bird. Even if the Mac version is not out at the same time as the Windows version.

    Chasd

  • http://thehotaisle.com Steve O’Donnell

    Vince – my reply was very tongue in cheek – just noticed the preponderance of Macs on 24 and wondered how much Apple pay the production company for the exposure.

    Steve

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