20 ms·

Retiring Chrome Frame

146 points by goddabuzz 13y ago

jordanthoms 13y ago
If Chrome Frame is necessary for you, why not continue it as a separate open source project? Google has already helped you massively, it's not their job to manage your backwards compatibility issues for you...
- dubcanada 13y ago
  Because they made it nearly impossible by only releasing half the code, not releasing any installer build, and only releasing parts of the build system.
  - robertshield 13y ago
    All of the code necessary to build a working Chrome Frame and an installer binary is present in the open source repository. The code for the MSI isn't there, but that's just a very thin wrapper around the Chrome Frame and Google Update exe installers.
    - dubcanada 13y ago
      Yup it certainly is... too bad that the build is not usable without extensive knowledge of how to integrate it into IE. Something which a very limited subset of people know.
    - dpedigo 13y ago
      If you've got a copy of the MSI already, run it against Dark (the WiX decompiler) and you'll be pretty much handled a copy of the MSI source. Obviously you'll have some cleanup work, but it's a hell of a start. http://wix.sourceforge.net/manual-wix2/dark.htm http://wix.sourceforge.net/manual-wix2/dark.htm
chadaustin 13y ago
This is quite unfortunate. Chrome Frame is one of the least intrusive ways to get WebGL support for visitors using IE8 and IE9.
- slightlyoff 13y ago
  ...and 10 = ( Luckily, those IE 9 users are less of an issue if IE 11 includes WebGL as they tend to be auto-upgraded. The IE 8 users are a harder case.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
- elisee 13y ago
  For those who might be looking for an alternative, you can use IEWebGL (http://iewebgl.com/ http://iewebgl.com/) for that. The FAQ says it should run with IE6+. I'm using it for running games with IE10 at http://store.craftstud.io/games/ http://store.craftstud.io/games/ along with Three.js and it seems to work quite well.
yuhong 13y ago
Why not set the date to April 2014, the end of support of XP?
- wookiefeet 13y ago
  Smart!
- adrr 13y ago
  That would be the perfect date to sunset chrome frame.
kanzure 13y ago
Does this mean just Chrome Frame is vanishing, or does it include the features that enable http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/ http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/ to exist/work?
- slightlyoff 13y ago
  Chrome Frame won't be available for consumers to install any more. Chromium Embedded is a separate project and they can maintain whatever patches they need to make things fly, methinks.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
oomkiller 13y ago
This is a huge deal for enterprise app developers. We've been able to develop on a modern web platform, but have our customers use our app with IE 6, 7 and 8 (via ChromeFrame). Now we're going to have to add support for at the very least IE8, since XP (still over 50% market share in business) isn't going anywhere anytime soon, despite Microsoft EOLing it. Most IT admins I've dealt with refuse to install any other browsers on their systems, but don't have a problem with browser plugins for some reason.
- c0nfused 13y ago
  It seems like the enterprise grade solution would be to checkout the svn or git repo some time in the next 6 months and then rebrand it to "your company name here" frame. http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome_frame/ http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome_frame... :)
  - EvanAnderson 13y ago
    The viability of this strategy depends on whether the Chrome/Chromium bits will continue to integrated with the "Frame" bits. I'm not getting a good feel for the architecture from just a quick glance at their repo, but I'd definitely like to find out how viable, long-term, a fork might be.
- guelo 13y ago
  Another great opportunity to pressure IT to switch to Firefox as the standard.
  - apalmer 13y ago
    This is the opposite, this is just showing the c levels they were right all along, build on microsoft, 'no one every got fired for buying microsoft', because they will support their shit forever. I think i can get a supported visual fox pro environment if i want.
    - jack-r-abbit 13y ago
andyl 13y ago
Just terrible - most of my Enterprise users can't upgrade. Is there an open-source alternative to Chrome Frame?
- robertshield 13y ago
  Chrome Frame is open source. http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome_frame/ http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome_frame...
  - EvanAnderson 13y ago
    Looks like it's time for a fork.
- c0nfused 13y ago
  Chrome frame is the open source alternative to chrome frame.
HelpfulBot 13y ago
I'd never heard of Chrome Frame and had to look it up. Apparently it is (was) a way to run Google's web browser inside Internet Explorer: > Google Chrome Frame is a plug-in designed for Internet Explorer based on the open-source Chromium project. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_Frame http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_Frame
EvanAnderson 13y ago
Anybody familiar with the architecture of Chrome Frame? In terms of how Chrome/Chromium is integrated, I'm wondering if it would be viable to maintain a fork of the Chrome Frame code or if there are "concessions" made for Chrome Frame in the Chrome/Chromium code that, if they go away, makes it impossible for Chrome Frame to function.
- robertshield 13y ago
  It would be a fair bit of work but it wouldn't be impossible. There are really only a couple of places in the main Chrome code base that are CF-specific - the automation interface and the external tab container.
  - stock_toaster 13y ago
    Sounds like a business opportunity for someone. Even based on this thread there seem to be a few shops that would pay for support for it.
apalmer 13y ago
Google may be continuing with the 'Don't Be Evil' motto but they sure ain't standing by a 'Don't Be Dicks' motto. What major software company announces a deprecation with 6 months of support. I have something going out relying on chrome frame plugin going out next week, now I have to go with my tail between my legs. Well lesson learned, can't rely on Google in the enterprise.
- ripter 13y ago
  I learned this when they killed google gears.
- timothya 13y ago
  What were you paying for Chrome Frame? Sometimes, it makes sense to retire products. And if you're not making money on the product, then it can be expensive to keep supporting it. I think six months is still a reasonable amount of advanced notice. No matter what, a small minority will be unhappy. I think the real lesson here is: don't build something serious on top of a product you don't pay for and you don't have any guarantees on support.
  - apalmer 13y ago
    I understand this completely. But moves like this is why you see Internet Explorer 6 still in the wild. Because C-levels can be confident that Microsoft will continue to provide baseline support, security patches, and forever. My boss didn't even get annoyed, he just said 'too funny' and reminded me of when he was telling me to just build on IE7 baseline. 6 Months in the Enterprise world is a barely time enough to sneeze... Anyways I am fine, its a lesson learned.
    - omh 13y ago
      Microsoft will continue to provide baseline support, security patches, and forever Actually they're going to stop providing IE6/7 support and patches in a little under a year.
      - 13y ago
tomkarlo 13y ago
This seems more like Google is retiring support for users of old Microsoft products... considering they're offering both a newer browser, and a newer option for running web sites that requires an old browser... you're only boxed out if you insist on continuing to run an old IE, rather than the newer options available from either company. How often does Microsoft create products to support other companies' legacy users?
- apalmer 13y ago
  hahahahahahahaaa you have no idea the vast amount of windows code that is emulation layers to ensure that other companies legacy users can continue to use programs designed for dos, windows 98 etc. Google doesnt have to do it, but like i said thats why the c levels insist on microsoft even when their products arent anywhere near the most elegant, feature rich, or performant.
  - tomkarlo 13y ago
    That's supporting their own legacy products, not other companies'.
    - Tenhundfeld 13y ago
      Nah man, he's saying Microsoft goes to extreme lengths to keep old 3rd party software running on new versions of Windows. For a long time (maybe still), there was a principle at MS that upgrading to a new version of Windows should never break a 3rd party app. I can't speak to the emulation layers, but there are tons of verified stories about MS writing special code that actually watched the running processes and adjusted the behavior of the OS. They'd look for popular apps that utilized bugs/quirks in older version (which were remedied in new updates) and essentially emulated that bug for that one process to keep it working in the new version of Windows. Crazy, crazy stuff. Sim City was a famous example. From Joel Spolsky: "I first heard about this from one of the developers of the hit game SimCity, who told me that there was a critical bug in his application: it used memory right after freeing it, a major no-no that happened to work OK on DOS but would not work under Windows where memory that is freed is likely to be snatched up by another running application right away. The testers on the Windows team were going through various popular applications, testing them to make sure they worked OK, but SimCity kept crashing. They reported this to the Windows developers, who disassembled SimCity, stepped through it in a debugger, found the bug, and added special code that checked if SimCity was running, and if it did, ran the memory allocator in a special mode in which you could still use memory after freeing it." I'm no fan of MS, but that example speaks to a respectable dedication to a principle – rightly or wrongly.
bambax 13y ago
I don't understand the problem; Chrome can be installed on XP without administrator privileges, isn't that enough for Entreprise users?
- apalmer 13y ago
  99% of monolithic web intranet application only works in IE 7 (8&9 in compatibility mode), you cant expect your user to have a separate browser for one subsection of a web app, and IE for the rest of it.
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    Chrome in managed environments supports this via Legacy Browser Support, which allows administrators to select (specifically down to port and URL, if necessary, or just by hostname) which sites to open with IE with the rest defaulting to Chrome (or vice versa, as is most convenient for the particular environment.)
- snowpalmer 13y ago
  Some organizations don't allow it by company policy, regardless of whether it can be installed.
  - fuzzywalrus 13y ago
    I've still yet to wrap my mind around the Chrome frame from an IT perspective. Even with thin clients, you could install FireFox or Chrome on your XP VM, and it'd result in less CPU overhead. I'll admit, IT is not my specialty nor is mega corporate politics, but I'd would venture to guess the cost of IE6-8 in IT overhead would negate any cost of deployment of Chrome or FireFox ESR. Anyone care to enlighten me as to why?
    - acdha 13y ago
      Chrome Frame was brilliant: users still click on the blue e, all of the horrible enterprise loathware apps continue to work but pages which opt-in are suddenly much better looking and faster. Large organizations, particularly those which train non-IT workers to follow consistent workflows like to avoid any changes. Chrome Frame was great because it was a minimally disruptive opt-in for a better web; Chrome for Business requires you to switch to Chrome for everything and whitelist legacy apps/sites – that might happen if someone at the C level is really scared about security but it's way more risk and the shops in question are among the most risk averse.
atesti 13y ago
Currently all those XP users can easily run Firefox or Chrome and are therefore not stuck to IE7, but I really wonder how long that will be possible. Will it be 1 or 2 years until Chrome won't run anymore on Windows XP? (Firefox has problems with the linker of older visual studio compilers already and any software compiled with a newer microsoft compiler will need the msvcrt update, unless you use http://kobyk.wordpress.com/2007/07/20/dynamically-linking-with-msvcrtdll-using-visual-c-2005/ http://kobyk.wordpress.com/2007/07/20/dynamically-linking-wi... ) Those XP machines will never be upgraded and many won't be replaced until there are no spare parts anymore. One really can't trust Google to keep anything around for more than 6 months
- illyism 13y ago
  Those XP machines can download an older version of Chrome if it ever comes to that. And if Google Chrome no longer provides support I'm sure Chromium will. XP is 10 years old. It's remarkable that Google does still support it (unlike Microsoft supporting their own software) so let's praise them on that.
  - atesti 13y ago
    That older version wouldn't get security updates. And if it were to get them, but no new features, future web devs would forever be stuck with that old legacy webgl ;-) But you are right that they should be praised for the past work.
  - scholia 13y ago
    Where do you download older versions of Chrome, please? I uninstalled Chrome 27 completely because it was unusable (slow, pale blue screens, crashy etc) on XP but Chrome 25 worked fine.... PS XP is 12 years old.
    - xaro 13y ago
      FileHippo saves old versions http://www.filehippo.com/es/download_google_chrome/history/ http://www.filehippo.com/es/download_google_chrome/history/
scott_s 13y ago
I'm surprised by the negativity - I wasn't aware that Chrome Frame existed, but after reading about it, I would classify it as a neat hack. It's basically a way of shimmying in an entirely different browser. That sort of thing is, to me, clearly a stop-gap solution. I wouldn't want to support such a thing in perpetuity either.
robomartin 13y ago
Sometimes HN discussions are really funny. People are up in arms about a free product from a company with an established track record of killing products, having nearly zero customer service and not caring about financially hurting businesses who use their tools (no-recourse account cancellations, etc.). That's just too funny. What, you didn't know this could happen?
- zaius 13y ago
  I know my parents are going to die, but I'm still going to be sad when it happens.
drawkbox 13y ago
They simply want people to use Chrome, makes business sense now that they have a stronger usage. They have the option to run old IE apps within Chrome to hopefully get more corporate feudal empires to switch. They are also giving some time to migrate off it rather than just shutting it off.
X4 13y ago
Something BIG is going on at Google!! They close one product after another, to free all resources for something. But what?
- moneyrich 13y ago
  they are gonna become the next ms? they already have good dominance in browsers, wearable pc, phones, webapps.. people scurrying away from win8, opens a lot of doors.
- WayneDB 13y ago
  Google is actually the NSA.
stesch 13y ago
As a programmer this makes my decision easier if I should invest time in Google products like Go and Dart. No, even if they are open source, it isn't the same if Google retreats from the project.

146 points by goddabuzz 13y ago

If Chrome Frame is necessary for you, why not continue it as a separate open source project? Google has already helped you massively, it's not their job to manage your backwards compatibility issues for you...

dubcanada 13y ago
Because they made it nearly impossible by only releasing half the code, not releasing any installer build, and only releasing parts of the build system.
- robertshield 13y ago
  All of the code necessary to build a working Chrome Frame and an installer binary is present in the open source repository. The code for the MSI isn't there, but that's just a very thin wrapper around the Chrome Frame and Google Update exe installers.
  - dubcanada 13y ago
    Yup it certainly is... too bad that the build is not usable without extensive knowledge of how to integrate it into IE. Something which a very limited subset of people know.
  - dpedigo 13y ago
    If you've got a copy of the MSI already, run it against Dark (the WiX decompiler) and you'll be pretty much handled a copy of the MSI source. Obviously you'll have some cleanup work, but it's a hell of a start. http://wix.sourceforge.net/manual-wix2/dark.htm http://wix.sourceforge.net/manual-wix2/dark.htm

chadaustin 13y ago

This is quite unfortunate. Chrome Frame is one of the least intrusive ways to get WebGL support for visitors using IE8 and IE9.

slightlyoff 13y ago
...and 10 = ( Luckily, those IE 9 users are less of an issue if IE 11 includes WebGL as they tend to be auto-upgraded. The IE 8 users are a harder case.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
elisee 13y ago
For those who might be looking for an alternative, you can use IEWebGL (http://iewebgl.com/ http://iewebgl.com/) for that. The FAQ says it should run with IE6+. I'm using it for running games with IE10 at http://store.craftstud.io/games/ http://store.craftstud.io/games/ along with Three.js and it seems to work quite well.

yuhong 13y ago

Why not set the date to April 2014, the end of support of XP?

wookiefeet 13y ago
Smart!
adrr 13y ago
That would be the perfect date to sunset chrome frame.

kanzure 13y ago

Does this mean just Chrome Frame is vanishing, or does it include the features that enable http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/ http://code.google.com/p/chromiumembedded/ to exist/work?

slightlyoff 13y ago
Chrome Frame won't be available for consumers to install any more. Chromium Embedded is a separate project and they can maintain whatever patches they need to make things fly, methinks.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

oomkiller 13y ago

This is a huge deal for enterprise app developers. We've been able to develop on a modern web platform, but have our customers use our app with IE 6, 7 and 8 (via ChromeFrame). Now we're going to have to add support for at the very least IE8, since XP (still over 50% market share in business) isn't going anywhere anytime soon, despite Microsoft EOLing it. Most IT admins I've dealt with refuse to install any other browsers on their systems, but don't have a problem with browser plugins for some reason.

c0nfused 13y ago
It seems like the enterprise grade solution would be to checkout the svn or git repo some time in the next 6 months and then rebrand it to "your company name here" frame. http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome_frame/ http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome_frame... :)
- EvanAnderson 13y ago
  The viability of this strategy depends on whether the Chrome/Chromium bits will continue to integrated with the "Frame" bits. I'm not getting a good feel for the architecture from just a quick glance at their repo, but I'd definitely like to find out how viable, long-term, a fork might be.
guelo 13y ago
Another great opportunity to pressure IT to switch to Firefox as the standard.
- apalmer 13y ago
  This is the opposite, this is just showing the c levels they were right all along, build on microsoft, 'no one every got fired for buying microsoft', because they will support their shit forever. I think i can get a supported visual fox pro environment if i want.
  - jack-r-abbit 13y ago

andyl 13y ago

Just terrible - most of my Enterprise users can't upgrade. Is there an open-source alternative to Chrome Frame?

robertshield 13y ago
Chrome Frame is open source. http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome_frame/ http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome_frame...
- EvanAnderson 13y ago
  Looks like it's time for a fork.
c0nfused 13y ago
Chrome frame is the open source alternative to chrome frame.

HelpfulBot 13y ago

I'd never heard of Chrome Frame and had to look it up. Apparently it is (was) a way to run Google's web browser inside Internet Explorer: > Google Chrome Frame is a plug-in designed for Internet Explorer based on the open-source Chromium project. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_Frame http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_Frame

EvanAnderson 13y ago

Anybody familiar with the architecture of Chrome Frame? In terms of how Chrome/Chromium is integrated, I'm wondering if it would be viable to maintain a fork of the Chrome Frame code or if there are "concessions" made for Chrome Frame in the Chrome/Chromium code that, if they go away, makes it impossible for Chrome Frame to function.

robertshield 13y ago
It would be a fair bit of work but it wouldn't be impossible. There are really only a couple of places in the main Chrome code base that are CF-specific - the automation interface and the external tab container.
- stock_toaster 13y ago
  Sounds like a business opportunity for someone. Even based on this thread there seem to be a few shops that would pay for support for it.

apalmer 13y ago

Google may be continuing with the 'Don't Be Evil' motto but they sure ain't standing by a 'Don't Be Dicks' motto. What major software company announces a deprecation with 6 months of support. I have something going out relying on chrome frame plugin going out next week, now I have to go with my tail between my legs. Well lesson learned, can't rely on Google in the enterprise.

ripter 13y ago
I learned this when they killed google gears.
timothya 13y ago
What were you paying for Chrome Frame? Sometimes, it makes sense to retire products. And if you're not making money on the product, then it can be expensive to keep supporting it. I think six months is still a reasonable amount of advanced notice. No matter what, a small minority will be unhappy. I think the real lesson here is: don't build something serious on top of a product you don't pay for and you don't have any guarantees on support.
- apalmer 13y ago
  I understand this completely. But moves like this is why you see Internet Explorer 6 still in the wild. Because C-levels can be confident that Microsoft will continue to provide baseline support, security patches, and forever. My boss didn't even get annoyed, he just said 'too funny' and reminded me of when he was telling me to just build on IE7 baseline. 6 Months in the Enterprise world is a barely time enough to sneeze... Anyways I am fine, its a lesson learned.
  - omh 13y ago
    Microsoft will continue to provide baseline support, security patches, and forever Actually they're going to stop providing IE6/7 support and patches in a little under a year.
    - 13y ago

tomkarlo 13y ago

This seems more like Google is retiring support for users of old Microsoft products... considering they're offering both a newer browser, and a newer option for running web sites that requires an old browser... you're only boxed out if you insist on continuing to run an old IE, rather than the newer options available from either company. How often does Microsoft create products to support other companies' legacy users?

apalmer 13y ago
hahahahahahahaaa you have no idea the vast amount of windows code that is emulation layers to ensure that other companies legacy users can continue to use programs designed for dos, windows 98 etc. Google doesnt have to do it, but like i said thats why the c levels insist on microsoft even when their products arent anywhere near the most elegant, feature rich, or performant.
- tomkarlo 13y ago
  That's supporting their own legacy products, not other companies'.
  - Tenhundfeld 13y ago
    Nah man, he's saying Microsoft goes to extreme lengths to keep old 3rd party software running on new versions of Windows. For a long time (maybe still), there was a principle at MS that upgrading to a new version of Windows should never break a 3rd party app. I can't speak to the emulation layers, but there are tons of verified stories about MS writing special code that actually watched the running processes and adjusted the behavior of the OS. They'd look for popular apps that utilized bugs/quirks in older version (which were remedied in new updates) and essentially emulated that bug for that one process to keep it working in the new version of Windows. Crazy, crazy stuff. Sim City was a famous example. From Joel Spolsky: "I first heard about this from one of the developers of the hit game SimCity, who told me that there was a critical bug in his application: it used memory right after freeing it, a major no-no that happened to work OK on DOS but would not work under Windows where memory that is freed is likely to be snatched up by another running application right away. The testers on the Windows team were going through various popular applications, testing them to make sure they worked OK, but SimCity kept crashing. They reported this to the Windows developers, who disassembled SimCity, stepped through it in a debugger, found the bug, and added special code that checked if SimCity was running, and if it did, ran the memory allocator in a special mode in which you could still use memory after freeing it." I'm no fan of MS, but that example speaks to a respectable dedication to a principle – rightly or wrongly.

bambax 13y ago

I don't understand the problem; Chrome can be installed on XP without administrator privileges, isn't that enough for Entreprise users?

apalmer 13y ago
99% of monolithic web intranet application only works in IE 7 (8&9 in compatibility mode), you cant expect your user to have a separate browser for one subsection of a web app, and IE for the rest of it.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  Chrome in managed environments supports this via Legacy Browser Support, which allows administrators to select (specifically down to port and URL, if necessary, or just by hostname) which sites to open with IE with the rest defaulting to Chrome (or vice versa, as is most convenient for the particular environment.)
snowpalmer 13y ago
Some organizations don't allow it by company policy, regardless of whether it can be installed.
- fuzzywalrus 13y ago
  I've still yet to wrap my mind around the Chrome frame from an IT perspective. Even with thin clients, you could install FireFox or Chrome on your XP VM, and it'd result in less CPU overhead. I'll admit, IT is not my specialty nor is mega corporate politics, but I'd would venture to guess the cost of IE6-8 in IT overhead would negate any cost of deployment of Chrome or FireFox ESR. Anyone care to enlighten me as to why?
  - acdha 13y ago
    Chrome Frame was brilliant: users still click on the blue e, all of the horrible enterprise loathware apps continue to work but pages which opt-in are suddenly much better looking and faster. Large organizations, particularly those which train non-IT workers to follow consistent workflows like to avoid any changes. Chrome Frame was great because it was a minimally disruptive opt-in for a better web; Chrome for Business requires you to switch to Chrome for everything and whitelist legacy apps/sites – that might happen if someone at the C level is really scared about security but it's way more risk and the shops in question are among the most risk averse.

atesti 13y ago

Currently all those XP users can easily run Firefox or Chrome and are therefore not stuck to IE7, but I really wonder how long that will be possible. Will it be 1 or 2 years until Chrome won't run anymore on Windows XP? (Firefox has problems with the linker of older visual studio compilers already and any software compiled with a newer microsoft compiler will need the msvcrt update, unless you use http://kobyk.wordpress.com/2007/07/20/dynamically-linking-with-msvcrtdll-using-visual-c-2005/ http://kobyk.wordpress.com/2007/07/20/dynamically-linking-wi... ) Those XP machines will never be upgraded and many won't be replaced until there are no spare parts anymore. One really can't trust Google to keep anything around for more than 6 months

illyism 13y ago
Those XP machines can download an older version of Chrome if it ever comes to that. And if Google Chrome no longer provides support I'm sure Chromium will. XP is 10 years old. It's remarkable that Google does still support it (unlike Microsoft supporting their own software) so let's praise them on that.
- atesti 13y ago
  That older version wouldn't get security updates. And if it were to get them, but no new features, future web devs would forever be stuck with that old legacy webgl ;-) But you are right that they should be praised for the past work.
- scholia 13y ago
  Where do you download older versions of Chrome, please? I uninstalled Chrome 27 completely because it was unusable (slow, pale blue screens, crashy etc) on XP but Chrome 25 worked fine.... PS XP is 12 years old.
  - xaro 13y ago
    FileHippo saves old versions http://www.filehippo.com/es/download_google_chrome/history/ http://www.filehippo.com/es/download_google_chrome/history/

scott_s 13y ago

I'm surprised by the negativity - I wasn't aware that Chrome Frame existed, but after reading about it, I would classify it as a neat hack. It's basically a way of shimmying in an entirely different browser. That sort of thing is, to me, clearly a stop-gap solution. I wouldn't want to support such a thing in perpetuity either.

robomartin 13y ago

Sometimes HN discussions are really funny. People are up in arms about a free product from a company with an established track record of killing products, having nearly zero customer service and not caring about financially hurting businesses who use their tools (no-recourse account cancellations, etc.). That's just too funny. What, you didn't know this could happen?

zaius 13y ago
I know my parents are going to die, but I'm still going to be sad when it happens.

drawkbox 13y ago

They simply want people to use Chrome, makes business sense now that they have a stronger usage. They have the option to run old IE apps within Chrome to hopefully get more corporate feudal empires to switch. They are also giving some time to migrate off it rather than just shutting it off.

X4 13y ago

Something BIG is going on at Google!! They close one product after another, to free all resources for something. But what?

moneyrich 13y ago
they are gonna become the next ms? they already have good dominance in browsers, wearable pc, phones, webapps.. people scurrying away from win8, opens a lot of doors.
WayneDB 13y ago
Google is actually the NSA.

stesch 13y ago

As a programmer this makes my decision easier if I should invest time in Google products like Go and Dart. No, even if they are open source, it isn't the same if Google retreats from the project.