Sony to ship computers with Google Chrome as default browser
But it turns out there was a method to the madness. Google was working behind the scenes to convince hardware manufacturers to bundle the web browser with their computers. And it's kind of tricky to do that when your software is in beta, implying that it's unfinished or unstable.
Now about 9 months after Chrome emerged from beta, the Financial Times is reporting that Sony and Google have reached a deal to bundle the browser with Sony computers. Sony Vaio computers are already shipping with Chrome loaded as the default web browser, and Google says it's working on similar deals with other PC vendors.
The deal could help boost the number of people using the web browser. After all, if we've learned one thing by the success of Internet Explorer, it's that most people will probably just use whatever web browser comes with their computer. Google also produced a video earlier this year (shown above) that shows that a heck of a lot of people don't really understand what exactly a browser is, which kind of suggests that there are a lot of people who aren't going to be changing the default browser on their computers anytime soon.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
RG said 10:30AM on 9-01-2009
So business reasons are now considered an acceptable part of coming out of beta relatively quickly...sad times
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Brad Linder said 10:32AM on 9-01-2009
Or for not staying in beta for an unreasonably long time past the point where your software is clearly stable enough for everyday use. I think the only reason Gmail could possibly still have been in beta earlier this year was because the folks at Google have a sense of humor.
RG said 10:36AM on 9-01-2009
True Brad, Google are breaking many (perhaps) unwritten rules. Chrome being at version 4 is another one of those rule breaks or sense of humour deals
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Brian said 10:41AM on 9-01-2009
Fantastic news. Chrome is an excellent, speedy, and simple browser. It doesn't have the "advanced" (for my folks) plug-ins of Firefox and is perfect for people buying their computers from big-box-marts.
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neuropixellabs said 5:05PM on 9-02-2009
even if it is a bad thing that it came out of beta for "business reasons", wouldn't you rather have the vast majority of people using a much more secure, fast, and standards compliant browser than IE6?
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RG said 5:15PM on 9-01-2009
By that logic Sony and other computer makers should ship Linux first and foremost. Of course Chrome has advantages over IE.
Quikboy said 5:49PM on 9-01-2009
Uh, unless all Sony computer out there run XP, they should either have IE7 or IE8 on them, since I'd expect Sony would be selling Windows Vista on them.
I don't think anyone would want IE6, but IE8 is a perfectly fine browser.
John said 12:19PM on 9-01-2009
My Vaio FW shipped with Chrome at the end of June. Firefox is still my #1 browser, but the point is Sony's been shipping computers with Chrome for at least 2 months now.
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Money Mike said 2:35PM on 9-01-2009
"Sony Vaio computers are already shipping with Chrome loaded as the default web browser, and Google says it's working on similar deals with other PC vendors."
John said 3:22PM on 9-01-2009
Yes. And I added a time frame.
Fred said 5:49PM on 9-01-2009
What will OEMs do when they cannot load us up with toolbars!?!?!
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