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Chrome 1.0: Google's biggest blunder yet
28 comments- TAGS:1.0, Chrome, Google
- IT TOPICS:Internet, Networking, Operating Systems, Software, Windows & Microsoft
Google's releasing the not-yet-baked Chrome as 1.0, rather than continuing to develop it as a beta, is the company's biggest blunder yet. It's also a disturbing indication that the company has started to emphasize marketing over technology --- always the first sign of a company in decline.
Put simply, Chrome isn't ready for prime-time. By no stretch should it be considered a finished product. It's not that Chrome is buggy --- it's that the browser is simply not done yet.
What's missing? Start off with an RSS reader. Both Firefox and Internet Explorer have one --- Chrome doesn't. Or look at what happens when you find a file online, such as a PowerPoint presentation. Both Firefox and Internet Explorer give you the option of reading the file or downloading it. Chrome only lets you download it.
Then there's the application shortcut feature, which lets you use Chrome to run Web-based applications so that they look and function much like desktop applications. Great idea, but in practice, it leaves a lot to be desired. Depending on what Web-based application you use, it works differently. In Gmail, when you click a mail message, it opens directly inside the window. But in Google Docs, when you click on a document, the new document opens in a new browser instance, including the normal browser interface.
The beta of Chrome had this problem, and it still hasn't been fixed. It's not part of what I'd call a 1.0 release.
In addition, some users have said the 1.0 release simply isn't stable, according to Google Chrome ditches beta label in Computerworld.
Google also doesn't yet have the add-in architecture that Firefox has. Google says it's working on it, which should mean beta of the browser, rather than final release.
So why did Google rush Chrome into final release after only three months, even when some of its software, such as Gmail, is far more feature-rich and stable and has undergone several years of testing?
In a word, marketing. Google wants to make deals with PC makers so that Chrome will be the default browsers on their PCs. It can't do that with a beta label. So it simply called Chrome ready for release.
Google has built its reputation and business on launching the best technology. Its search is far superior to anyone else's, which is why it so quickly dominated the search market.
That's why it's so disconcerting to see a company built on great technology compromise like it has in Chrome. Marketing, for the first time, trumped technology. And that may be a bad sign of things to come.
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