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What key part is closed-source on Windows/Linux?

• JetSpiegel 12y ago
  Everything. It's only distributed as a binary.
  • bla2 12y ago
    What does this reply even mean? Of course it's distributed as a binary -- should regular users compile it themselves? Advanced users can compile chromium if they want; from what I understand it's virtually identical to the chrome binary.
    • adwf 12y ago
      If the source code is not available and it's distributed as a binary, by definition it can't be open source. (Plus some might argue about OSS licensing too) Chromium may be OSS, but Chrome is not.
      • JetSpiegel 12y ago
        Yes. Chrome is not Chromium, nor it Opera.
      • bla2 12y ago
        That's what I'm asking: For which part of Chrome is the source code not available?
• teraflop 12y ago
  Maybe "key part" is overstating it a bit, but the auto-update, crash reporting and usage tracking systems are all closed-source, as are the Flash plugin and some non-free audio/video codecs that are bundled with Chrome. https://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/ChromiumBrowserVsGoogleChrome https://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/ChromiumBrowserVsGoo...
  • bla2 12y ago
    I think the auto-update, crash reporting and usage tracking code as well as the codecs are open source, they're just not compiled in by default in chromium builds.