Just how popular is Chrome/ium on Linux? answer: Very

By , Published May 23, 2010

Google Chrome for Linux will be one year old on Friday 4th June. Crazy non?
To mark this relatively minor milestone I've decided to take a look at how Google Chrome's growth on Linux has, well, grown in that time. I can only base my findings on my blog as a whole with some outside context provided by net statistic providers.

Google Chrome: Popularity in general

Chrome’s current worldwide usage across all major operating systems is, as of April 2010, residing at a healthy 6.73%. This position makes it the third most popular browser behind Firefox & Internet Explorer.

But what about on Linux?

Google Chrome on Linux

Chromium €“ the open-source version of Google Chrome which implements the same feature set as Chrome, but reneges on the built-in updater and Google branding €“ was available several months before an official Google-endorsed version.

These early builds were very basic €“ at first lacking even tabs and the start-page!

The early builds of Chromium on Linux were basic. Very basic.

The development, like Chrome itself, sped along at remarkable pace and the first pre-alpha release of Google Chrome proper was made available on the 4th June 2009.


[screenshot_001.png]

Development on the official Chrome was, again, extremely rapid and official betas for Mac OS X and Linux were released on 8 December 2009, with the Linux feature set almost comparable to that of Chrome for Windows €“ lacking only bookmark sync.

Google Chrome usage on Linux

To judge how popular Google Chrome is on Linux I’m going to look at visits to OMG! Ubuntu! over three separate months: the month of the first pre-release back in June 2009, again 6-ish months later in January 2010 and then in April this year.

The results below show the top 3 rated browser for Linux users visiting OMG! Ubuntu! plus Midori's share just for kicks, though note that Midori users often identify their browser as Safari in order to get it working with GMail thus Midori results are Midori + Safari/Linux combined. It should also be noted that Chromium and Chrome do not display independently but as one browser 'Chrome'.

% of visits made using referenced browser on Linux.

June 2009 €“ The month of Google Chrome's first official Linux release

  • Firefox: 86.90%
  • Chrome: 2.64%
  • Opera: 3.75%
  • Midori: 0.13%

January 2010

  • Firefox: 56.93%
  • Chrome: 31.49%
  • Opera: 3.12%
  • Midori: 0.87%

April 2010

  • Firefox: 55.52%
  • Chrome: 36.53%
  • Opera: 2.82%
  • Midori: 1.23%

As you can see €“ Chrome has grown massively in almost one year €“ largely at the expense of Firefox which has seen its share tumble from a mighty 86.90% to 55.52% in just under a year.

If we go full month-by-month breakdown we can see the adoption of Chome happens incredibly rapid, with each milestone bolstering its market share: -

2009

  • June:  2.64%
  • July:  3.39%
  • August: 8.72%
  • September: 11.56%
  • October: 20.02%
  • November: 21.75%
  • December: 30.77% [first beta released]

2010

  • January: 31.49%
  • February: 33.02%
  • March: 34.69%
  • April: 36.53%
  • May 1st €“ 23rd: 37.36%

Where now?

My disclaimer still rings true: These stats only represent Linux-based visitors to OMG! Ubuntu! and certainly are not flawless €“ Chromium, for example, is not counted as separate from Google Chrome in analytics. They do, nonetheless, give an insight into the meteoric rise of Chrome/ium and the seemingly dramatic fall of Firefox.

With Chromium set to be the default browser in Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition €“ and potentially the default browser in Ubuntu 11.04 Desktop €“ Chrome's market share on Linux can only rise.

Article originally appeared on omgubuntu.co.uk

Related posts:

  1. Google Chrome Extension Gallery Now Live
  2. Google Chrome Beta Officially Released For Linux
  3. Google Chrome 1.0 €“ What's Great/What's Not
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  • kofgadol

    Its because Firefox sucks on Linux, I switch to chrome as soon as it appear for Linux user

    • http://www.lathund.nu Hund

      Sucks?

      • Anonymous

        It’s true. There were tests a while ago, that proved that the Windows version of Firefox in wine was faster than the native Firefox in Ubuntu! It’s so damn slow, it makes me want to tear my eyes out, and that’s on a quad core machine!

        • Anonymous

          yeah firefox hasn’t been keeping up with the other browsers, on linux its slow and clunky and miss cool features suck as sandboxing and spiting up processes (ex.plugins like flash). hopefully chrome/chromium becomes the default browser so developers who make plugins would ensure that they work in chrome. for example the gnome mplayer plugin doesn’t work in chrome and the developer doesn’t really care because he focuses on firefox.

          • KlavKalashj

            I really hate the idea of Chrome/ium as the default… simply becouse it integrates so badly with the rest of the environment. That’s why I’m one of the few Midori users, it looks freaking awesome on my desktop. And it’s fast. Crashes sometimes, but I can live with that until the next version :P

          • http://livinginagoogleworld.blogspot.com/ Jonathan Frederickson

            I could see myself using Midori if there were no Chrome theme available to make it blend in with my desktop. Right now I’m using Chromium with the Radiance theme in 10.04 and the Chrome theme from the Chrome extensions gallery. And, just like Midori, it looks awesome. (Yeah, yeah, it doesn’t integrate well by itself, but it’s just so fast and convenient…)

            I will admit I do trust Google quite a bit… I have all my bookmarks synced between my computers through Google. And I use Gmail. But hey, with all the open source software they release… as a company, I like them way more than Microsoft or Apple.

          • tooclever
          • tooclever

            and despite the rather short link you should note that one
            google have been collecting this data for THREE YEARS by ‘mistake’, or rather until someone noticed and blabbed on them
            and guess what, unless the government issue a court order, they are not going to delete the ill collected data. must of been by accident right ?

          • Felix

            I just configure it to use GTK+ theme and system title bars and there you go it integrates perfectly with my custom color scheme, plus if I use Ambiance I just download the ambiance theme for Chrome/ium

          • Anonymous

            there is more to desktop integration than just the theme. “Beauty is only skin deep”

          • KlavKalashj

            http://pici.se/599344/?size=fullsize
            http://pici.se/599346/?size=fullsize

            I think it’s a very easy choice, in terms of looks. Midori also integrates with the global menu.

        • dancingmadrb3

          Yeh but Firefox still works better in one important way: all plugins still work, and web page compatibility too

        • Ruger

          Totally FALSE, and you are helping to expand a FUD. The version of Firefox used for the test with Wine WAS NOT the same version than linux native version. The Firefox linux version HAD NOT profile optimizations, so the performance of windows version with Wine was better. Of course…

          Just try Firefox with Wine and native linux version, by yourself, and using the same version and subversion.

          Don’t believe anything you read out there, just think by yourself.

    • Anonymous

      Firefox on Mac sucks as well. I don’t have a Win install so I can’t test that.

      I remember a time when Firefox was the shit. What happened?

      • Anonymous

        Feature creep and memory leaks.

        • Anonymous

          There haven’t been memory leaks since before version 3. In version 3 they added memory cleanup to stop people’s add-ons getting out of control.

          Unfortunately it made it a bit slower and the fact that it is all in the one process means there is a bottle neck of threads.

          Also parts of Chrome are written in Assembly language, so it’s faster that the same part that Firefox has that is coded in (presumably) C++.

  • http://seifsallam.co.cc/ Seif Sallam

    I just realized that i was one of the 2% of Chrome early adopters on Linux. Wohoo.

    I’ve been using Chromium since day one, even with all of its bugs. But now i’m using Chrome.

  • Nat

    Chrome? No way, until they add a “master password”.

    • http://nironan12.deviantart.com/ Nate

      Lastpass?

      • Nat

        Sorry, but this should be implemented already. It’s a browser standard. And I don’t want to give my passwords to an add-on…

  • Ruger

    “It should also be noted that Chromium and Chrome do not display independently but as one browser ‘Chrome’”

    It is still a mistake write a head news like this one. There are a lot of people that use Chromium but will not use Chrome never. They prefer use Firefox if Chromium not exists. So, please, altough stadistics cant separate Chrome and Chromium, dont write news like this. Chromium is one thing and Chrome another one.

    The correct head would be: “JUST HOW POPULAR IS CHROMIUM/CHROME ON LINUX? ANSWER: VERY”.

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      As noted in the article – there is very little difference between the two besides updating and branding. The Firefox statistic likely contains many of the Firefox variants (iceweasel, swiftfox) etc.For all intents and purposes there is no difference between Chromium and Chrome outside of branding and stability.

      The article headline says ‘Chrome’ not Google Chrome. Chromium identifies itself as Chrome so if you want to be a pedant…

      • Paul

        Do the analytics check for specific user agents?

        Chromium in 10.04 has the Chrome/5.0.342.9 in its UA string. Judging from Debian/Ubuntu’s package policy, that’s not likely to change for the meantime since the next beta release added new features. On the other hand Chrome beta for Linux has moved 5.0.375* while the dev version is on 6.0.* now.

        Is it possible to filter the analytics to look for instances of Chrome/5.0.342.9, and subtract them from all other Chrome user agents? That way we can have a rough estimate of Chromium usage share on the blog.

      • Ruger

        Im not a pedant, I just want to give the worth correctly and be fair. Whe have native linux versions for Chromium and Chrome. I can’t do anything (than asking the developers) to make Chromium identifies itself like Chromium. but if I am a free software lover, I believe in it, and I have a site with browser stats, I try to write correctly because people only think in Google Chrome when they see Chrome in stats, and its not fair. I’m pretty sure there are more Chromium users than Chrome (in linux), and I believe it really heavy since Ubuntu distribute it directly in their official repos since Lucid.

        So, why call it only Chrome when probably the 90% are Chromium users? If devs dont do it, lets do it by ourself, just typing “chromium/chrome” and not “chrome”.

        I think it’s very important to expand this idea, not only for browsers, with every application that had not the name than they must have.

    • Anonymous

      Why would Chromium users prefer to use Firefox than Chrome?

      • http://nancib.wordpress.com/ BostonPeng

        I’ll answer that. The Firefox devs have decided back during the 3.0 dev cycle (if not earlier) to throw away some fine add-ons and simply fold them into the base product rather than educate their newer users about how to find extensions to bring the feature they want. In the process they created a new cottage industry for remove-on devs to ditch some of the newer behaviors and get them back to the way Firefox has worked since 1.5.

        Firefox is also slower thanks to all the included components (some that I didn’t want in the first place). I prefer Chromium because while it may not have some of the add-ons I like it is quicker and for the most part accepts that I may have a way I like my browser to behave. I’ve been using Firefox for over 6 years and I have a pretty good idea about what I like a browser to do and what I’d really prefer it not do. Zooming the text rather than the full page is one example, and while Chromium does full page zoom rather than text zoom unless you install an add-on, but at least I’m not getting the speed hit that Firefox took when they folded in the Page Zoom add-on.

        I could go on, but I won’t. I simply think Chromium works better, faster, and the way I want my browser to behave, three things I can’t say about Firefox any more.

        • Anonymous

          I think you’ve mis-understood me and the post I replied to. Ruger said, “There are a lot of people that use Chromium but will not use Chrome never. They prefer use Firefox if Chromium not exists.”, suggesting that a Chromium user would rather use Firefox over Chrome.

          I can’t see the logic, seeing as Chromium is practically identical to Chrome.

          • Anonymous

            chromium is open-source whereas chrome is not. correct me if I am wrong. with that knowledge I would never use chrome.

          • step

            it’s the old “open source” vs “closed source” argument.

            chrome is open source > firefox with is open source > chromium which is closed source.

            some people will go with the best open browser, but never a closed one

          • http://twitter.com/yuretsz yuretsz

            Perhaps they are fans of the blue. And they think that in Chrome the blue was unfairly prejudiced by Red, Green and Yellow.

          • NiggardlyTreatment

            If Chromium didn’t exist, I would use Firefox over Chrome (even if Firefox developers have made the mistake of treating the Linux community like second-class citizens).

            The reasons are, 1) Chrome is closed-source, and; 2) Chrome has an evil automatic updater thing.

          • Anonymous

            The automatic updater thing is just a PPA that is added on install. Crafty and sneaky, though – there needs to be a warning of some sort when .deb’s can add PPA’s like that.

          • daas88

            It’s kind of a virus behavior…

      • Ruger

        I really love Chromium/Chrome. Speed, simply, etc (except netbooks, where Chromium/Chrome EATS CPU, and there I use Firefox).

        Why a lot of people would use Chromium over Firefox and Firefox over Chrome? Chrome is not free source. Chrome is based in free source Chromium, but their build/license are not. So I, and a lot of people, who love the free software would never use a closed option (like Chrome) if we have a good free option.

  • carlf

    One thing I have noticed since I started using various Linux distributions is how trusting the Linux community as a whole is with Google. I share none of the love that developers etc have with Google. I use it as a search engine only. I would argue that Google is the biggest monopoly in the world now. I don’t view that as a good thing and feel that it should be broken up. I think the Linux fanboys and developers give Google a big pass compared with what the say about Apple. Everytime you turn around there is some privacy issue with Google. I honestly think developers etc are in bed with Google because of summer code stuff. I’m not a coder but a user of applications. As a user I see no reason to use anything related to Google with how they view the end user.

    • Anonymous

      paranoidcarif views are paranoid. all of google’s product are open source so coders can look through it to see if it has any type of malware. also google tells people that they collect data so they can improve their ad results. lastly yes google is a monopoly but that doesn’t mean anything on the internet because consumers can switch to another competitor with a simple mouse click meaning the industry is still highly competitive.

      • zekopeko

        All of Google’s products are opensource?

        Where can I get the code for Gmail, Google Docs, Google Search, Youtube…?

        • Anonymous

          those really aren’t products those are just webpages. i was referring to programs and stuff that google releases like android,chromium,vp8,etc.

          http://code.google.com/opensource/

          • NiggardlyTreatment

            Double standard, you just got owned,

          • Xorlathor

            websites aren’t generally thought of as “products” unless you pay to use them. watch what you say.

          • Anonymous

            They are referred to as “Services” or “Products and services”. No Google doesn’t exactly have a monopoly, but what carlf says is true regardless.

          • Xorlathor

            and what exactly did carlf say that I disagreed with? :P

          • Anonymous

            :p Yeah that last sentence wasn’t directed at you sorry.

          • Xorlathor

            Haha I was wondering why it didn’t make any sense – np.

      • KlavKalashj

        Well, if there is other options there is no monopoly :P They are not the only search engine, email provider, calendar app, browser maker, OS maker and so on… They are just very big and they do a lot of stuff.

        In my view, I trust them simply becouse I feel they give much back, compared to facebook, which keeps everything I do logged and give me a small webpage, a news feed and a buggy chat :P

    • NiggardlyTreatment

      Agreed, Google are in danger of becoming Communism for the Internet. They control the revenue streams, they control the information, they control what users do (or don’t) see.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LOR655GR4ZFHCMSV7FW5ROPSAA Cliff W

        I don’t think “communism” is the word you are looking for (unless your name is Ronald Reagan). Communism is an economic system. You are describing totalitarianism.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LOR655GR4ZFHCMSV7FW5ROPSAA Cliff W

        I don’t think “communism” is the word you are looking for (unless your name is Ronald Reagan). Communism is an economic system. You are describing totalitarianism.

    • Anonymous

      Monopoly’s are only monopolies if they are the only option. There are other options to everything google does.

      Especially considering they charge for basically nothing, its kinda hard to use the monopoly argument.

      • Xorlathor

        1+. Monopoly means the certain company is the only choice you have when it comes to their niche. and personally google is getting enough competition from apple and microsoft that it keeps them coming up with new ideas and products. i would love more competition (more competition means better products), but at least there isn’t complete monopoly.

      • carlf

        When there was talk of breaking up M$ there were alternatives. There was Wordperfect for one example and the Lotus Office Suite. I turned 42 on Sat and started using computers ages a go.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LOR655GR4ZFHCMSV7FW5ROPSAA Cliff W

        They charge “nothing” only if you consider actual dollars to be the only currency. The real currency Google trades in is data. You might believe yourself to be a customer of Google, but you aren’t, you are the product.

        • Anonymous

          If you say so.

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LOR655GR4ZFHCMSV7FW5ROPSAA Cliff W

        They charge “nothing” only if you consider actual dollars to be the only currency. The real currency Google trades in is data. You might believe yourself to be a customer of Google, but you aren’t, you are the product.

    • http://www.manishsinha.net Manish Sinha

      I have a solution for you:
      Stop using Google search and use Bing/Yahoo even though they are inferior.

      “developers etc are in bed with Google because of summer code stuff”
      Watch your language.

      Devs like Google becuse Google has a lot of open source softwares and their model is pretty open when compared to Apple. Google isn’t a control freak. They don’t lock you in.

      Heck, google even launched Data Liberation Front. http://www.dataliberation.org/ Will Apple and Microsoft ever do this. Even though you must have been deeply in google services, you can pack and leave any time. This is not possible with Apple. You bought an iPhone/iPad? Now locked.

      • carlf

        Again since you are not old enough to remember MS was going to be broke up because they were into everything. The idea being talked about at the time if i rem correctly was breaking it into operating systems and software. Now you contrast with right now and Google is more of a threat for a monopoly.

        Everytime you turn around there is something in the news with Google with privacy. Google Buzz as a mess also.

        Like I also said I only use the search engine none of the other products.

        As far as my Ipod Touch there is nothing like it that runs Linux. When I jailbroke it I gained a few more things. However, many of the apps were porn related. I also saw where people were easily stealing software that developers were charging for. I mean come on a couple bucks for an app is not that much.

        Sometimes I question why I am using Ubuntu since a lot of the design work is done on Macs and PCs. Meanwhile Fedora is using Inkscape Gimp etc in their design.

        • http://www.manishsinha.net Manish Sinha

          That MS going to be broken is out of context here.
          Google is a threat, but people can opt out and there is not as strong lock-in as it is with MS and Apple.

          “Sometimes I question why I am using Ubuntu since a lot of the design work is done on Macs and PCs”
          We can’t force the hired people to work on Ubuntu. Isn’t it their choice. If the design work was done by Canonical people then, forcing can be possible.

  • http://twitter.com/Lineplus Linelus

    Can we have statistics for Epiphany ?

  • http://nancib.wordpress.com/ BostonPeng

    Does it split the entries for Chrome and Chromium?

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      No – they identify as the same browser ‘chrome in my analytics.

      it’s largely moot however as Chromium is developed by Google and simply acts as the test bed for Chrome proper.

      Saying “please break down between Google Chrome and Chromium” is like saying please don’t include ‘Namakura’ and ‘Minefield’ in with Firefox…

      • http://nancib.wordpress.com/ BostonPeng

        That’s what I thought would happen. It’s too bad they can’t be split just to see how many users are using which version.

        • Anonymous

          i suspect many use both, because I can’t help but installing whichever has newer features.

          • daas88

            When I’m on linux I always use chromium, when I’m on windows I have to use chrome because I don’t know how to compile in windows xD

  • http://blastfromthepast.se/ Tommy Brunn

    More importantly, how many % of your readers use Internet Explorer 6?

    • Anonymous

      im guessing none since he was only recording the browsers linux users used when visiting the site.

      • Anonymous

        Hey we do have wine, you don’t know some die hard IE loser might have visited here (no offense to the die hard user)

        • Xorlathor

          I think if anyone is computer capable enough to use Linux and Wine, they’d be absolutely idiotic (or plain mad) to use IE6. =D

          • Anonymous

            If it was by choice then I agree, but if your job is being a web developer you have to make the site you’re working on work in all browsers.

          • Anonymous

            Or just tell people using IE6 to upgrade asap with a note on top of the page (Of course only shown for users with IE6)

          • Anonymous

            Yes I agree (definitely in that dialog). But the business might make it mandatory, unfortunately 20% market share might still all for inclusion. Thankfully in the last year or so, IE6 plummeted 12% (Net Applications).

  • Anonymous

    As an interesting tidbit, Chrome/ium and Midori showed growth of 13.8x and 9.5x respectively.

    Firefox’s loss is about the same and Chrome’s gain: 31.38% and 33.89% respectively.

    And, Opera’s loss is about the same as Midori’s gain: 0.93% and 1.1% respectively.

    Does this mean that Opera users are switching to Midori and Firefox users are switching to Chrome?? Probably not. But interesting ;)

    • http://rockiger.com/blog Marco

      Unlikely, the question is why are users switching away from Opera?
      It is fast, hast great features and a superb UI.

  • mouahed

    Firefox in begenning to sucks really Iam an old user but not only the speed of Chrome is very intrestinf even the extensions you dont need to restart and it installs fast, fast in many things, some websites works only with internet explorer and firefox so then I use FF but most of the time I use Chrome it’s really a nice browser I hope Firefox 4.0 will fix many things such as speed and ram memory use then maybe I will go back to FF now I will use chrome until FF 4.0 will be out…;)

    • Anonymous

      Chrome uses more memory, that’s a fact. In windows, you have to go to the task manager “Ctrl+Shift+Esc”, got to the “Processes” tab, order processes by name and there will be numerous Chrome processes (chrome.exe) while there is only one for Firefox. Add them all up and it’s more than Firefox. Do the equivalent in Ubuntu and you should see.

      Also there is a graph somewhere that shows that Firefox has been king of browser usage for ma while.

      • http://nancib.wordpress.com/ BostonPeng

        peder posted a link to graphs from Asa Dotzler that may be what you’re thinking of. I don’t accept the data as being definitive for one simple reason: Of course Firefox’s numbers will be higher. People have been knowing about and using Firefox for several years now while Chrom[e|ium] is still a new browser. Plus as Daniel Añez Scott points out Firefox is the default web browser in many Linux distros so it makes sense that more people will use Firefox.

        Time will tell whether Chrom[e|ium] takes market share as it becomes a more mature app on non-Windows platforms. Firefox may always be the top dog when it comes to web browsers, but users may start migrating to Chrom[e|ium] as it becomes a more mature app. Power users may lead the charge away from Fx because it may prove to be a faster and more flexible browser.

        As always, YMMV.

        • Anonymous

          I made a critical mistake. Let me correct it: There is a graph somewhere that shows that Firefox has been king of memory usage for a while. It’s an independent test some guy did on his blog. It was reputable because of the methodology used.

          Firefox is still currently more versatile, Chrome doesn’t have the ability to implement an extension like NoScript (a very valuable extension). Besides, I want Mozilla to stick around even if Firefox wasn’t so valuable. The ideas and experiments (as well as supporting open video) are very helpful for the web (as evidenced by the many features chrome implemented that the Mozilla people came up with – process-separation being one here).

  • http://twitter.com/yuretsz yuretsz

    This is logical.
    Win32 Firefox in wine worked faster than Linux native version. Chrome doen’t have this speed losses. Nobody wants to use afterproducts.

    • daas88

      And firefox is still the default browser on most linux distros… I really love firefox, and like it more than chrome, but it’s too slow =/

      • The Negative Shape

        we really need version 4…

  • http://twitter.com/conorsulli Conor O Sullivan

    I started using chrome because it worked better with youtube — frame rate wise and scolling pages….. Its faster to boot up, and extensions update without me knowing… I like a browser that isnt in my face, not to say firefox is badly designed. It’s just badly designed for my needs…. no matter how much time I spend customizing it! Google seem to know what I want from a browser!!!!!!

  • slumbergod

    I’ve tried hard to love Chrome on a couple of occasions now but compared to FF it is just too restrictive and *still* lacks the add-ons I use. FF is clunky starting but it never crashes for me and once it is running it feels as fast as chrome.

  • SeventhReign

    Chrome/Chromium is a decent browser to play around with. The problem is it just plain doesnt work with most of the websites I visit daily. Changing the Useragent isnt worth it.

  • peder
  • carlf

    It’s funny how things have changed from when I first came online. I started out paying for Netscape. Next here came IE with it becoming part of the operating system. Now along comes Google and a decade later they are really going to bundle an operating system that is tied directly to the browser.

    All you young pups college students don’t know nothing yet. And you European Ubuntu Linux users and various other linux distributions got Windows 7 not being part of the operating system but here comes the “god of open source” their browser that is will be bundled with their operating system. Now your holy god will not work with another browser because it is the operating system. That was the same area that MS was going. Next all these apps are tied directly to the operating system/browser esp the main Google apps. Now youngens back in the day there was talk of breaking MS up into various divisions because of the unfair advantage they had. Take a look around and it is the same thing today with Google. You have them involved in operating systems, search engine and applications and browsers etc…. Where did I see all this before? Oh yes that was MS. So I come with this as a different view compared with those of you were babies or were not even born at the time. Back in the day there was Infooseek, Excite, Alta Visita etc….. All were wiped out for the most part by Google. Yahoo well it is till around but it is not a search search engine.

    Now you Europeans have Google being investigated again and had it been MS or Apple many of the Planet Gnome , Planet this n that in the world of Linux distributions would have been all over it. So I can’t help but feel with the funding that Google provides does not in some way get them more of pass with coders etc….

    Is not calling someone paranoid a personal attack?

    • Animesh

      HI Carif,
      Even google crome OS will be opensource. so you can change the code , change the default search provider, and if you are good enough , make a firefox OS out of it ,

      Microsoft wanted to tie you to their products, Google makes it more open .

    • kafmees

      It’s funny how you think you know me and all the other Europeans and are so terribly wrong. But that’s not my point.

      Alta Vista and the other crappy search engines were wiped out because they sucked.

      Any serious computer user knows about MS’s past. Everyone is concerned in some way or another about their privacy.

      Oh and I love chromium!

    • Anonymous

      The truth is MS deserved anti-trust not because of bundling of the browser but the fact that they stopped development a year or two after HTML 4.01 and other web standards were finalized, effectively abusing there market share so people would be dependant on Windows. However, not only did MS lock users in, but they also locked themselves in. XP was first released in 2001, and it still has about 60% market share (Net Applications – probably the most accurate) and businesses who wrote apps to run in the browser have to now put in significant effort to make these apps work cross-browser (they wrote them with practically no CSS but still non-standard, and HTML and Javascript were also non-standard.)

      I do feel that while Google does give to the open source world, they are still praised too much and there is not enough coverage of what they do wrong. Yes they have bullied (Google VS Googol web comic), lied (file://thisWasRenderedFromDiskOnChromeSupposed”Lightning”Video), cognitive dissonance (“Nobody was harmed” in Buzz privacy breach. Ballscmidt. They changed it several times – as a consequence people ended up confused and other people said it was the people’s choices they made. That is incorrect.) and bulldozed (Go programming language VS Go! programming language) over other people. These are just a few examples.

  • carlf

    “Chrome’s current worldwide usage across all major operating systems is, as of April 2010, residing at a healthy 6.73%. This position makes it the third most popular browser behind Firefox & Internet Explorer. ” Can this be right considering all those using smart phones? I would consider the Iphone OS for example a major operating system. Given that till recently unless you jailbroke your Iphone, Ipodtouch and now Ipad you were stuck with the default.

    • http://dieki.myopenid.com/ Dieki

      Yeah, this is right. Last time I checked, the iDevices amounted to less page views than Ubuntu. It’s not really that major at all.

  • http://root-asian.host56.com shnkr3

    Strengh Midori and Chromium!!! nice post!

    Saludos!

  • Anonymous

    I’m not sure I totally trust google and I don’t particularly like google even, mainly because I can’t seem to visit any blog or webpage without seeing those damn google text ads.
    I’ve even started using adblock again.
    One thing you have to say about them though, as the worlds biggest search provider they know exactly what the public is looking for and what they want in an app.

    But anyway, I’m not totally against them, I use picasa and google earth but I hate chrome/chromium.
    Really don’t see what all the fuss is about.

  • Anonymous

    i use both FF and chromium

  • hugmyballs

    I still prefer firefox for a number of reasons, one of them being its low memory usage.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t know about the rest of you, but I use Chrome for the likes of YouTube, StumbleUpon and OMG! Ubuntu! (in other words, fun stuff). But it’s not the browser I use the most at present.

    It’s also handy to install on a friend or relatives PC. I can delete the icon and start it from the run dialog whenever I’m at their house and get a personalized session on the sneaky ;)

  • http://dreimi.blogspot.com Muhammad Negm

    for all Arabs Iranian and Pakistani in general chrome seems to be a dumb choice because it’s the only browser that can’t render every thing correctly!

  • Bill

    i don’t like the way chrome designed its browser. they block ads AFTER every loads, on purpose.

    • http://dieki.myopenid.com/ Dieki

      On…purpose? I doubt it. It’s because of how limited the add-on system is – it’s like Firefox’s Jetpacks. They do this so as the user doesn’t have to restart the browser after installing an add-on, and so that the user can control what data an addon can and can’t get at.

  • Jef Spaleta

    Here’s a more comprehensive look at browser usage patterns…via a dip into the popcon data.

    According to Debian popcon, looking at recently used packages (ie the “vote” tag). Iceweasal is actively used about 10 times more than google-chrome-beta and more than 65 times more than chromium.
    Debian popcon:
    iceweasel: 29067
    google-chrome-beta: 2731
    chromium-browser: 446
    midori 279

    How about ubuntu? Firefox is about actively used by 6 times more popcon UUIDs than chrome and about 14 times more than chromium.
    Ubuntu popcon:
    firefox 169284
    google-chrome-beta 27571
    chromium-browser 11794
    midori 1593

    The Debian and Ubuntu popcon data are in relatively good agreement about Firefox’s dominance. Taken additively together the popcon usage data for both Debian and Ubuntu show that Firefox is about 80% of the active browser usage and ~4.5 times more likely to be in active use than either chrome or chromium.

    -jef

  • http://twitter.com/fabdango Fabián

    Well done. Chromium is much better than the good-ol’ Firefox. Faster, lighter, simpler and prettier.

  • http://twitter.com/fabdango Fabián

    Well done. Chromium is much better than the good-ol’ Firefox. Faster, lighter, simpler and prettier.

  • http://twitter.com/Martin_Seubert Martin Seubert

    Is it only for “Google” Chrome?

    btw: Your Facebook-Connect doesn’t work for me

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      It’s not “my” facebook connect, it’s the commenting systems’ (disqus) and is flaky at best.

      As for Chrome/ium – they identify as the same browser – ‘chrome’ which is moot anyway since they are pretty much the same browser only one lacks the word “google” and is for paranoid people. Google Chrome IS Chromium – only with a shorter name and a few extra built in features like auto-updating & flash.

  • http://www.google.com/profiles/taltamirh taltamir

    google is dangerous, but as of yet it is not malicious.
    It supports open source, it supports easy exporting of the data from their services with no lock in… It is a bit lax on the privacy of its users though, so I use it in conjunction with other things and avoid things like buzz.

    You shouldn’t attack something just because it has the potential to be dangerous, as long as google continues to be non malicious we will continue to support it. And as long as we do not let google lock us in then we always have the option to pack up and leave. Saying “developers are in bed with it because of the summer of code” is trying to put a negative spin on a positive spin… like saying “the sick and those who care about them are all in bed with the red cross because of this whole blood donation thing”.

    Google isn’t perfect, but we accepted chrome from them because it is open source, if google starts being malicious about it we can instantly fork away from it. (that is assuming a hypothetical future where firefox and others are no longer around… BTW, google is the main funder of mozilla just an FYI)

  • TheCeilingTiles

    I use Chrome, don’t get me wrong it still needs a lot of improvements but i’ve never liked using firefox. I always found firefox bloated an prone to slow downs. Before chrome i used opera, it came with all the features you had to add to firefox… Now on my notebook i find the default settings and theme for chrome give me the best screen real estate for easy browsing.