Tag Archives | Web browsers

Sony Adds a Little Chrome to the VAIO

Posted by Harry McCracken on September 1, 2009 at 10:29 am

Sony ChromeIf you buy a new Sony VAIO computer, you’re going to get a new browser. No, Internet Explorer isn’t going anywhere. But Financial Times is reporting that Sony has signed a deal to preinstall Google’s Chrome on its PCs. Chrome-equipped machines are making their way to customers even as we speak.

I’m not sure whether Chrome is now the default browser on new Sony computers–the FT doesn’t explicitly say so, although Download Squad does–but it’s an interesting development. For years, Microsoft has benefited hugely from the fact that IE is the default browser shipped on most of the world’s personal computers. Some folks discover IE this way and continue to use it because they like it; many others keep on running it out of sheer inertia.

Sony is only one manufacturer, but the FT reports that Google says it’s working on similar arrangements with other companies. What if it were able to strike deals with, say, HP, Dell, and Acer? Maybe by cutting them in on the advertising revenue it gets from searches performed with Chrome’s toolbar and default homepage?

For a browser that’s nearly a year old and which is backed by the most powerful company on the Web, Chrome has failed to catch show explosive growth–Ars Technica says that around two or three percent of Internet users run it. (The Technologizer community is apparently a lot fonder of Chrome than the Internet at large–about eight percent of you visit the site via Chrome.) It’s still not entirely clear to me whether Google sees Chrome as a side project, a prank, or a core component of its mission. And it can’t pummel IE into submission until it’s caught up with Firefox (which, according to a new report, is used by more than 23% of all Internet users). But if any browser company is in a position to nudge IE out of its position as the world’s default browser, it’s Chrome.

Meanwhile, I kind of like the system Microsoft came up with to pacify Europe’s concerns over IE: a ballot screen that lets Windows 7 users pick whatever browser they prefer. Wouldn’t it be cool if Chrome, Firefox, Flock, IE, Opera, Rockmelt, Safari, and any other worthwhile browser that came along all got an equal shot at being the world’s most popular browser–based on quality alone?

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Opera 10: It’s Final. And Worth Trying

Posted by Harry McCracken on September 1, 2009 at 2:10 am

Opera LogoOpera 10, the newest version of the browser that’s arguably the most venerable one going, is now available in its final version. It’s very much the product I reviewed in beta version back in June. The most striking new feature is Turbo mode, which uses the same technology as the company’s Opera Mini phone browser to compress Web pages and thereby speed up browsing on dial-up and other sluggish connections. It’s noticeably zippier than standard mode, although its crunched-down images are pretty darn grainy. The tradeoff isn’t worth it if you’re completely gruntled with the speed of your Net connection, but I think I’ll keep it on hand for the next time I’m on an unbearably slow public Wi-Fi network.

Other major new stuff includes tweaks to Tabs (they can incorporate thumbnail previews) and Opera’s speed-dial screen, which provides one-click access to your favorite sites. As usual, one of the most notable things about Opera is its sheer volume of features–it incorporates an e-mail app and a BitTorrent client, as well as its own widget engine. Oh, and the browser has a nicely minimalist new look that’s an improvement on its formerly busy-looking self.

This “final” version of Opera 10 isn’t complete: It lacks Unite, the interesting-but-controversial new feature that embeds a Web server in the browser.  Unite’s still a separate Opera Labs feature; if it catches on with developers, it’ll be a bigger deal than any of Opera 10’s other new features.

I’ve been using and enjoying Opera 10 over the past few hours; the OS X version is running smoothly on Snow Leopard, but the browser’s also available for Windows and Linux. (I’ve encountered one odd, minor bump: When I try to edit a Google Docs document, I get a view-only version–but it includes a link to a fully-editable one.)

As much as I’m enjoying the current Browser Wars 2.0, I think that switching browsers is an act best done by folks who are basically dissatisfied with the browser they’ve currently got. Every browser is capable of handling typical browsing tasks, and they all do them in basically similar fashion. But if you’re in the mood to try something new, give Opera 10 a whirl–especially if you’re still on dial-up. (According to Google Analytics, only slightly under two percent of you are currently running Opera, which leaves an awful lot of you who might like it if you tried it.)

Opera 10

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What If All Web Ads Were Blocked? Ten Speculative Scenarios

Posted by Harry McCracken on August 12, 2009 at 2:41 am

The Ad-Blocking ZoneLast week, I blogged about a post over at Windows IT Pro that posited that all browsers would include ad-blocking as a standard feature within five years, and that it would be turned on by default. My post inspired some interesting debate both on this site and off it. I also included a poll: A plurality of the people who took it thought ads should be blocked by default, and a majority said browsers should include ad blocking as a standard feature.

I still don’t see any scenario under which the companies behind today’s widely-used browsers start blocking ads automatically. Google is the biggest company in Web advertising, Microsoft is spending a fortune to take Google on in that field, Apple is a major consumer advertiser, Mozilla and Opera make millions of dollars a year from the searches performed on their browsers’ home pages. They all simply have too much to lose on an ad-free Web.

Of course, something unforeseen could always happen. Maybe all these browsers will lose favor to one or more from one or more companies not so profoundly invested in Web advertising. Let’s engage in a bit of Twilight Zonesque speculation about what might happen if ad-blocking did become the default state of the Web. (At least for most folks–in a world in which some people will still be using IE6 in 2014, we’re not going to get to 100% ad blockage no matter what happens.)

As the proprietor of a Web site that’s mostly supported by advertising, I can’t claim to be a dispassionate bystander here…but I hope that at least some of the scenarios I outline below (not all of which are mutually exclusive) make clear that I’m not trying to prove a particular point.

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Should Microsoft Kill IE6?

Posted by Harry McCracken on August 11, 2009 at 9:05 am

Shoot IE 6A few weeks ago, a blog post at Digg talked about Internet Explorer 6, the challenges Web sites have in continuing to support it, and the declining-but-still-meaningful percentage of Web users who run it–often because it’s still the browser provided at work. IE honcho Dean Hachamovitch responded yesterday at the official IEblog: “The choice to upgrade software on a PC belongs to the person responsible for the PC.”

Of course, it’s not that simple. Microsoft, like all software companies, eventually terminates support for previous releases of its products. That don’t force you to update, but it provides a gigantic incentive to do so, which is presumably one reason why software companies do it.

Later in his post, Hachamovitch says:

The engineering point of view on IE6 starts as an operating systems supplier. Dropping support for IE6 is not an option because we committed to supporting the IE included with Windows for the lifespan of the product. We keep our commitments. Many people expect what they originally got with their operating system to keep working whatever release cadence particular subsystems have.

Or in other words: Microsoft doesn’t want to stop supporting part of a product, and therefore thinks it should support IE6 until it stops supporting versions of Windows that include IE6.

If I have this right, even the newest version of XP, Windows XP SP3, includes IE6. Microsoft officially ended “mainstream support” for XP on April 14th of this year, but “extended support” is scheduled to continue on until April 8th, 2014. Which would mean that Microsoft’s official policy would be to take no steps until then to murder IE6, although usage at that point would likely be tiny.

(For the record, about seven percent of visits to Technologizer are made via IE6, and I’m guessing most of them come via PCs under the control of conservative IT people.)

Anyhow, here’s today’s T-Poll

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Should Browsers Block Ads by Default?

Posted by Harry McCracken on August 7, 2009 at 9:43 am

T-Poll[UPDATE: There’s a great conversation spurred by this post going on over at Louis Gray’s FriendFeed.]

Windows IT Pro’s Orin Thomas has a piece up with the title In five years will block Internet advertisements by default. He isn’t quite that extreme in the story itself, but he does say that he thinks the popularity of the Firefox add-in Adblock Plus will inevitably lead to most users blocking ads.

Putting aside for the moment the question of what that would do to the Web economy (including, er, ad-subsidized sites like Technologizer), I don’t think Thomas’s scenario will happen in the sweeping form he describes. For one thing, ad blockers have been around for a long time, and if their inevitable domination of the Web is in progress, it’s happening really slowly. For another, every major purveyor of Web browsers except Opera is either a major advertiser or a major seller of ads, or both–even Mozilla makes millions from the Google ads its default home-page search displays. (I’d be very surprised but not utterly disbelieving if Google were to build ad-blocking into Chrome–but if it turns it on by default, I’ll eat my MacBook.)

Of course, as with everything on the Web, it’s ultimately consumers who call the shots–if enough folks use ad-blockers, the Web will have to adjust, one way or another. (I continue, incidentally, to have no problem whatsoever with the fact that a meaningful minority of Technologizer readers block ads–I don’t need everybody to see the ads as long as a critical mass of folks do.)

What say you?

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Chrome Gets a New Version. No, Not for the Mac.

Posted by Harry McCracken on August 5, 2009 at 9:39 am

chromelogo5Google has released a new beta of the Windows version of its Chrome browser. The company says it’s faster, and it’s also added basic skinning, an improved New Tab feature, tweaks to the Omnibox address bar, and more HTML 5 support.

I say “the Windows version,” but that’s the only version of Chrome to receive a formal release to date, more than eleven months after Google got into the browser business. Developers builds of the OS X version are increasingly polished, though. Wouldn’t it be cool if Google celebrated the browser’s first birthday by finally bringing it to Mac users? (For now, Chrome is the browser I use most often these days when I’m using one of my Windows PCs; when I’m on a Mac, I’m usually a Firefox person.)

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Google Ties Chrome to Cloud Services

Posted by David Worthington on August 3, 2009 at 6:07 pm

chromelogo5Today, Google fired a new salvo in the browser wars, announcing an upcoming synchronization service for its Chrome browser. A preliminary mockup of the service will be released to developers later this week, with general availability possible later this month, according to reports.

The service will first deliver bookmark synchronization –something that’s already possible with Firefox via plug-ins as well as Opera. Google will add other types of browser data incrementally. If Google carries out its plans effectively, Chrome will provide users with a seamless user experience across many devices. Other browser makers will have to follow.

Netbooks, which have the focus of Google’s most ambitious development efforts, will be an obvious beneficiary. The synchronization service will also give a boost to OpenID, which Google users to authenticate digital identities (with its own proprietary twist).

All in all, Google is continuing to blur the line between desktop software and the cloud. It is not alone in its thinking–I’m convinced that Microsoft, which is often perceived as its biggest competitor, will eventually follow suit.

Last year, I detailed Microsoft’s Midori operating system development plans. While Google has not announced anything as ambitious as Midori, it is going down the path that Microsoft laid out in the memos that I reviewed.

One of Microsoft’s principal  design motivations is to support the ability of users to share resources remotely, and for applications that are a composite of local and remote components and services. The Web browser is just beginning to enable the application side of that vision.

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Ten More Super-Duper Firefox Add-Ons

Posted by Steve Bass on July 30, 2009 at 4:58 pm

Steve Bass's TechBiteI love it when you write and pass along handy ideas. After I wrote about my favorite Firefox enhancers,  I received hundreds of messages (okay, 50, but who’s counting) sharing other Firefox add-ons, extensions, and tips–and I’m successfully using many of them. Here are some of the most useful of the bunch.

But first some advice.

The day after I wrote about my Firefox favorites, the world almost ended for Firefox fanatics: A major security hole was discovered in Firefox. Great timing, no? Not to fret, if you upgrade to Firefox 3.51, the world will be okay again.

You’ll be happy to know if you’re still using Firefox 3.06 or so, all of the add-ons I mention will work. But if you’re a worrier, and already upgraded to 3.51, you’ll find a few won’t install. My guess is that individual add-on developers are working overtime to satisfy your overwhelming need for updates. If you continue feeling stressed, just up the meds for a week.

Most important is that you experiment with these add-ons and extensions one at a time. I don’t want to hear any whining (you will anyway, I know it) if you enable them all at once, cause new sunspots, and feel faint.

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Seven Tools for Making Firefox Jump Through Hoops

Posted by Steve Bass on July 21, 2009 at 11:31 pm

Steve Bass's TechBiteClear the decks, I’m now an avid Firefox user. It took me a long time to give up my treasured Maxthon, an Internet Explorer shell that I truly loved. When Maxthon was first released, it had features years before they were added to IE8–tabs, multi-threading, groups, add-ons — things the kids at Microsoft should have copied eons ago, but didn’t.

When I first contemplated switching, my Firefox fanatic friends insisted it could do everything Maxthon did, only better. Firefox has a multitude of free add-ons, cool extras to whittle down your browser feature wish list. The add-ons let me modify Firefox to almost replicate Maxthon. (No matter what anyone says, Maxthon outshines Firefox in managing favorites, and saving sites and favorites in groups is wonderfully effortless.) The added bennie is that Firefox offers better security than Internet Explorer.

If you’re an Internet Explorer user, I encourage you to look at Firefox. It’s free; the transition for most people isn’t a big deal (see Switching is Easy); and you don’t have to give up IE to play around with it. (But I bet you will…)

Here are a few of the cooler Firefox add-ons I’m using. Give them a whirl and let me know what you think.

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