Google TV

(Source: Engadget)

(Cross posted from Acrylic Style)

Opera makes fun of the Chrome speed tests

I know... late. I just needed something to post (this blog felt neglected).

(Source: Mashable)

Chrome Web Store

Well this just fixed a lot of problems with Chrome OS, I wonder if there'll be an in-app payment platform as well, and how this will handle stuff like piracy and support for other browsers.

Google Chrome 5 speed tests

(Source: Google Chrome Blog)

Why Google dropped Gears in favor of HTML5

I'm only writing this since a lot of people have been looking at the fact that Gears might be on it's way out and saying this is because the Gears install base was small, or that it was a failure or that they're just not being evil.

It's actually none of the above, if anything regarding the last reason this is could be considered more evil, even though it's for the good of the web (and they barely pushed the product as is to call it a failure or say that the install base was too small).

The thing is, Gears was always intended to be a sort of alpha test version of HTML5, it was just going to be a project where Google (or someone outside of Google) would add features the web doesn't have yet and over time they'd write these things up as standards and then slowly phase the feature out of Gears in favor of web standards.

Now I'm guessing one of the problems that have arisen with Gears was the phasing out part, being that many developers would just support Gears instead of bothering with HTML5 at all. Leaving a problem where browsers like Internet Explorer 6 would keep it's market share being that major HTML5 features are just being brought over to it.

And then here's the questionably evil part (it's not really evil but it is a very competitive move), the thing is the most recent WebKit builds support almost every HTML5 equivalent of every Gears feature (Web workers, local storage, offline database, application caching, geolocation... only missing features are complete Drag and Drop support, Binary data, and desktop shortcuts which isn't in HTML5) so at some point Chrome will have these features without the need of Gears.

Now Google can't guarantee that every browser will support these features, but they can guarantee that their own browser does. So in the event that a Google site may require an HTML5 feature and is not being viewed in a compatible browser, it may suggest installing Google Chrome, giving Google more market share and the ability to guarantee that their users get the browsing experience that Google wants them to have, forcing other browser vendors to adapt to new specs quickly else they risk loosing market share or being Chrome framed (this could also be tied to the many corporations that have been going Google lately).

Now Google isn't your 90s computer company, they don't want to control the playing field, really they just want everyone to play their best since that is to Googles advantage (more potential advertising money). This is why Chrome was made in the first place (think about the fact that Safari 4 and Firefox 3.5 have made huge jumps in speed compared to their predecessors).

Chrome OS revealed

Demonstration


UI Concept


Look at that, I was on the mark.

Though a lot of features haven't been displayed which is to be expected since Gears has sort of been put on the back burner, though I'm getting the feeling that Gears might be disappearing over time so that Google can just focus on Chrome, but I'm not sure.

One thing that bothers me, which has continually bothered me is the fact that a lot of people didn't realize what Google was going to unveil. When Google first announced Chrome OS they said it's only going to do what Chrome can do, now there's all sorts of people saying it's a disappointment (even ReadWriteWeb has an article asking if it was) because it does nothing new.

It was never intended to be your Windows, Mac and Linux killer from the get go, it's really just Google getting a head start on what they envision for the web, though in the end the big strategy is to get more users on the internet, using the internet for more things, or using the internet exclusively over the old desktop OS I doubt they think that'll happen over night.

I was surprised to see that they haven't pushed out all of the planned features for Gears or Chrome before displaying Chrome OS, but then I realized that they plan to take their time with making this great as with every Google product.

EDIT: And to all the people who are bothered that Chrome OS won't work on your existing hardware (your Mac, Linux, or Windows PC), just install Google Chrome, BAM! there you're done.

Google Chrome Frame

I've been waiting for something like this for ages (I'm not alone), and now Google provides it.
There's a lot of talk though, and people don't get the point.

I keep hearing "this is stupid, why would anyone want this, they should just install Chrome instead".

This isn't exactly for users, but more for developers, there are users who either don't know anything about web browsers (i.e. the ones who think that blue "e" means internet), people who can't because they're at work/school, or people who just don't want to because they're afraid to try anything new on a computer, etc...

Internet Explorer has been holding back the web for ages, and this is just a small work around for certain features such as the canvas tag, the audio and video tags, SVG support, faster javascript and faster rendering of websites altogether.

And with future updates to Chrome and WebKit coming such as the O3D plugin built in, Native Client plugin built in, WebGL, and the long overdue updates to Gears (camera support, microphone support, file system access, image manipulation, etc), etc... Chrome Frame will look more and more like an advanced, open standard and open source version of the Flash and Silverlight plugins.

They're not trying to push this as a substitute to using Chrome, they're just trying to keep Internet Explorer (especially IE6) from slowing down adoption of HTML5 and new web technologies.

Which is all apart of Googles plan, gain more supporters of the web as a platform by enabling it everywhere.

(BTW, I added Chrome Frame support to this site just for fun. ^_^)

A Chrome OS comment

(Click to see what I commented on, and to comment on this)

http://creativeprocrastinators.blogspot.com/2009/07/on-google-chrome-os.html
^Already been said.

Lol, it's annoying to see the press all jumpy for the Chrome OS hype when a lot of it's features have been revealed in Gears, Native Client and O3D documents.

Like if you check here: http://code.google.com/p/gears/w/list

You'd know that Chrome OS will support a lot of features through Gears such as cameras, microphones, photo editing, file system access, and even binary data.

And I bet in a month or two, they're going to hype these features like they're something new.

and I don't know why everyone's assuming this OS will be entirely cloud based, even in the distant future that isn't ideal. It's why Gears was invented.

And even on this blog you revealed that GDrive will be a syncing tool (http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/01/closer-to-gdrive-and-google-lighthouse.html) similar to Microsofts Live Mesh.

Google said everything from the start.

And everyone has to stop assuming that because of this the desktop is dead, it isn't dead it's just Google is pushing to have the web as the defacto platform for applications.

Remember they said this regarding mobile app stores (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/google-app-store/), now take in mind that Gears is also on Android.

I'm done typing.

Chrome OS

I was going to post about Chrome OS as promised, but I've had too much work on my hands lately with the Acrylic Style website.

But fret not, Mashable has an article that states everything I've been thinking (and saying to friends).