Google has pulled a fast one with its latest chrome dev build. The latest build 5.0.360.4 (.5 for linux) forces the install of flash player 10.1 beta. While this may seem as a good idea, I find it personally a major step backward and yet again Google dictating your experience.
No longer is Chrome the lightweight secure, robust browser anymore. Now it’s simply a browser that tailors to the needs of Abobe. On top of that Chrome will automatically update the flash player in Chrome. Which means if there is a bug in the new flash, or an exploit well then bye-bye your computer.
I can’t believe that Google has chosen this direction. I was not highly disturbed by the automatic roll-out of Buzz because I have a small footprint on Google. This however shows that Google is not doing what the end user wants, but rather what it and its partners want.
Sure if this was an opt-in thing it would be fine, but its now a requirement to run the browser. Sure you can deny the acceptance of the flash player when it installs but you really at the point don’t have a chance. Instead of extending HTML5 video progress, it shows that it wants to help Adobe in its troubles.
“We believe this initiative will help our users in the following ways:
- When users download Chrome, they will also receive the latest version of Adobe Flash Player. There will be no need to install Flash Player separately.
- Users will automatically receive updates related to Flash Player using Google Chrome’s auto-update mechanism. This eliminates the need to manually download separate updates and reduces the security risk of using outdated versions.
- With Adobe’s help, we plan to further protect users by extending Chrome’s “sandbox” to web pages with Flash content.”
So has Google gone beyond its respectable limits yet again? Vote in the poll below.
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