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Google to block Windows users from installing browser extensions not in Chrome Web Store.

Won't affect my Linux-only life. :D

I have to admit it struck me as kind of funny, like Google's thumbing its nose at micro$oft, saying "see how YOU like it!" After all, m$ has spent decades preventing people from doing things m$ didn't deem appropriate, like losing their piece of crap Internet Exploder browser. It's been the m$ way or the highway. Now it's their turn to be on the receiving end of stuff they can't control. :rofl:
 
Probably say bye bye to Youtube downloaders straight away, or anything that infringes Google's ToS. That's OK, I use Firefox mostly and I don't use Windows anyway. :)

nickdalzell said:
They already do that. but you can easily work around that problem.
Click to expand...

Not if they introduce code signing or some kind of certificate system you won't. Should still be OK with Chromium though because that's completely open.
 
FLOSS is the way forward,I'm mostly Linux, apart from a couple of MS only things which I'm having fun trying to run with wine. Also my better half has decided to ditch MS altogether after having 'fun' with Win8.
 
Like i said, Google's had this 'only lets you use Web Store extensions' for a long time. i have always needed a workaround to install any that are third-party. their excuse is to keep the browser stable and more secure (i.e., avoiding malware). it's similar to their policy with the Play Store, to Chrome, it's the same thing as having 'unknown sources' unchecked in Android.
 
nickdalzell said:
Like i said, Google's had this 'only lets you use Web Store extensions' for a long time. i have always needed a workaround to install any that are third-party. their excuse is to keep the browser stable and more secure (i.e., avoiding malware). it's similar to their policy with the Play Store, to Chrome, it's the same thing as having 'unknown sources' unchecked in Android.
Click to expand...

It was like that for a long time, and the workaround was to side-load the extensions. I get the idea now that Google wants to lock-down Chrome for Windows completely, and remove the ability to side-load unapproved extensions. There will not be an option to tick "unknown sources" It'll become like iOS or Windows RT, a locked walled garden. Google can do that as well.

Chrome is basically proprietary unlike Chromium. The use of Chrome is actually subject to Google's ToS, which includes agreeing not to rip videos from Youtube, and this will enforce it. They'll probably prohibit ad-blockers as well, like they have with the Play Store. I'm sure will still be OK with Chromium though, because that's open source(MIT, BSD, LGPL License mostly). Google uses the Chromium project to make Chrome.

Licenses like MIT and BSD means they can use open source in a proprietary product, like Chrome, and don't have to make available any changes or additions they might have made, unlike the GPL. As long as they just acknowledge the original source, and include a copy of the license(s). It's the same with Google's Chrome OS, which comes from the Chromium OS project.
 
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