By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER
A screen shot of the new Chrome app launcher for Windows desktops.
Even if Google is ready to live entirely online, everyone else might not be.
To celebrate the Google Chrome browser’s fifth birthday on Thursday, the company expanded its ambitions in computing by introducing a new kind of Chrome app that runs offline and on other operating systems besides Google’s.
If trying to figure out what that means makes your head spin, you’re not alone.
Until now, Google’s Chrome Web apps worked only online. The new apps combine the best of online and offline apps, the company says, similar to the apps on a smartphone. For instance, they allow people to work without an Internet connection and plug in hardware like digital cameras. But since they are written in Web programming languages, they can sync across devices, back up to the cloud and receive automatic security updates.
So far, there are only a few such apps, like Pixlr Touch Up for photo editing and Wunderlist for to-do lists. But the development has important implications for the way we use computers and the way Google competes with rivals like Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft made a similar move with Windows 8.
The surprising part is that Google’s Web apps now work not just on the company’s own Chromebooks, but also on Microsoft Windows machines and, soon, on Macs, as long as they have the Chrome browser.
For Google, it is a way to promote its own services even for people who use computers made by other companies or who have been turned off by the need for an Internet connection to use Google Web apps.
“It’s really increasing the competitiveness or the appeal of Google Apps for people who don’t want to pay for Microsoft Office,” said Frank E. Gillett, an analyst studying computing platforms at Forrester.
It is also an acknowledgment that Google’s dream of a world in which everyone lives on the Web — always with an Internet connection and without desktop software, which Chromebooks do not have — is not a reality, at least not yet.
“It’s an admission that their original vision was over-simplistic,” Mr. Gillett said. “I agree with the notion that online cloud services are becoming an important part of the experience of using software. But where the Google guys got mixed up was the notion that it’ll all be inside this thing called the Web browser.”
Though Erik Kay, a Chrome engineering director at Google, said in a blog post that the company still believes in the Web, he said it also acknowledged that people need some of the functionality provided by software installed on devices.
Though low-end Chromebooks, which Google has shifted to marketing as a second computer just for Web access, have sold well, the Chromebook Pixel, Google’s $1,300 laptop and MacBook competitor, is a hard sell because it has no hard drive or desktop software. The new Chrome apps could change that.
“Even though the P.C. market is in decline, the form factor isn’t going to disappear,” said Brian Blau, a research director at Gartner who studies consumer technology. “Google has a lot of goals in trying to get businesses and education and markets like that, and having the laptop form factor could be important for them.”
Google’s move seems mostly aimed at courting software developers, Mr. Blau said. Instead of being forced to choose among operating systems, they can just write apps for the Web that run on a variety of systems.
Google’s message to developers is, “This is one more reason that app developers should come and use Google products over their competitors,” he said. “That’s the bottom line.”
Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/google-introduces-new-desktop-apps/
Today we’re unveiling a new kind of Chrome App, which brings together the speed, security and flexibility of the modern web with the powerful functionality previously only available with software installed on your devices. (Think apps designed for your desktop or laptop, just like the ones for your phone and tablet.) These apps are more powerful than before, and can help you get work done, play games in full-screen and create cool content all from the web. If you’re using Windows or a Chromebook, you can check them out in the “For your desktop” collection in the Chrome Web Store (Mac & Linux coming soon).
A new breed of Chrome Apps
Here’s what you can expect with new Chrome Apps:
- Work offline: Keep working or playing, even when you don’t have an internet connection.
- More app, less Chrome: No tabs, buttons or text boxes mean you can get into the app without being distracted by the rest of the web.
- Connect to the cloud: Access and save the documents, photos and videos on your hard drive as well as on Google Drive and other web services.
- Stay up-to-speed: With desktop notifications, you can get reminders, updates and even take action, right from the notification center.
- Play nice with your connected devices: Interact with your USB, Bluetooth and other devices connected to your desktop, including digital cameras.
- Keep updated automatically: Apps update silently, so you always get all the latest features and security fixes (unless permissions change).
- Pick up where you left off: Chrome syncs your apps to any desktop device you sign in to, so you can keep working.
- Sleep easier: Chrome apps take advantage of Chrome’s built-in security features such as Sandboxing. They also auto-update to make sure you have all the latest security fixes. No extra software (or worrying) required.
- Launch apps directly from your desktop: To make it quicker and easier to get to your favorite apps, we’re also introducing the Chrome App Launcher for Windows, which will appear when you install your first new Chrome App. It lives in your taskbar and launches your apps into their own windows, outside of Chrome, just like your desktop apps. Have lots of apps? Navigate to your favorite apps using the search box.
The new Chrome app launcher
Of course, even with all this great stuff happening behind-the-scenes, the apps are what really matter. We know many of you doing enjoy things like photo editing, checking off your to-do’s or unwinding with games, so here are a few Chrome apps to get you started:
Explore and create
Pixlr Touch Up lets you quickly touch up, crop, resize and adjust photos from your computer or Google Drive. If you’re feeling dramatic, you can also choose from a variety of film-inspired effects to apply. And it works offline, so you can get a head start polishing up your vacation photos on your flight home.
Other creativity apps worth checking out:
Get stuff done
Wunderlist is a beautiful and simple to-do list, which features voice dictation and desktop notifications, which remind you of timely tasks and team updates. And for those on the move, you can take your tasks with you from computer to computer, and manage them even if you’re offline.
Cracking Sands is an action-packed racing game that lets you speed your way past your online or computer opponents through beautiful 3D courses. And for those looking for more precise control, you can even connect your Xbox controller via USB.
Other games worth checking out:
We hope you enjoy what you see in the Chrome Web Store. And please share your favorite new Chrome Apps in the comments below.
Posted by Erik Kay, Engineering Director and Chrome App-ologist
Source: http://chrome.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-new-breed-of-chrome-apps.html
