Update: The Google Chrome Installer has now been pulled from the Microsoft Store following all the backlash from users. It’s not clear whether Google or Microsoft removed the app from the store. That’s one less crapware on the Microsoft Store, so this is good news either way. Thanks to Aaron C. for the tip.
Original story follows below.
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Google is bringing its Chrome browser to the Microsoft Store in Windows 10. Exciting, right?
No. The company today released the Google Chrome Installer on the Microsoft Store, which is a modern Windows 10 web wrapper app that loads the Google Chrome download page. From there, users follow the usual download link to download and install the browser using the default browser on their operating system. And that’s basically it.
Yes, really.
To be fair, Microsoft does not allow web browsing apps on its store unless they are using the EdgeHTML and JS engines provided by UWP, which is potentially the reason behind Google not bringing the actual Chrome browser to the Microsoft Store as it uses Chromium.
Still, Google has never cared much for the Microsoft/Store in the past, and the company’s newest app for Microsoft’s app store simply reiterates that. At the end of the day, the Google Chrome Installer is still very, very pointless — the only functionality of the so-called installer is to open the download link for Chrome on your default browser. It basically removes the need for you to open Internet Explorer (or Microsoft Edge) and manually go to the Chrome download page everytime you set up a new Windows 10 installation.
-5/5 stars.
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#229023"><em>In reply to PeteB:</em></a></blockquote><p>Right. Restricted on Windows 10S on Intel, compiled for the wrong processor on Windows 10S on ARM.</p>
skane2600
<p>Pointless because one could just visit the product website to download it? Couldn't that argument be made for any Win32 program – why do people need to go the MS store when they could just download it from the Internet? What added value does the Store provide?</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#229183"><em>In reply to Waethorn:</em></a></blockquote><p>1) No simpler than installing from the web</p><p>2) So vendors create a malware version for web installs and a non-malware version for the UWP version?</p><p>3) People have been obtaining programs for Windows for many years without a store. It's not as if a Store icon is going to convince them to abandon the other methods.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#229276"><em>In reply to Waethorn:</em></a></blockquote><p>2) You're saying that making a malware and a non-malware version of the same program "happens a lot"?</p><p><br></p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#229216"><em>In reply to hrlngrv:</em></a></blockquote><p>On Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS, Chrome won't even install unless you perform some command-line fiddling. </p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#229277"><em>In reply to Waethorn:</em></a></blockquote><p>But did you install it on a just installed Ubuntu or one that you've been using for awhile? If the latter, the equivalent to the command-line "fiddling" I mentioned was probably performed at some earlier time. As many developers have learned the hard way (including me), install testing should be performed on a fresh install of the OS. That's what make virtual machines so useful – the ability to recover the initial state of an OS.</p><p><br></p><p>Update: I can't find my notes right now, but I believe that Chrome may depend on libappindicator1/libindicator7 which apparently isn't installed by default on Ubuntu 16.04.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#229442"><em>In reply to skane2600:</em></a></blockquote><p>I got down-voted. I guess somebody doesn't like the truth or doesn't want to learn. BTW, I never down-vote just because I don't like a post, usually I reserve down-votes for posts that are abusive. If I believe that a post is wrong, I state my reasons, otherwise I just stay quiet.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#229537"><em>In reply to hrlngrv:</em></a></blockquote><p>Thanks for the advice, but I could just as easily say if you can't vote responsibly, stay off the site. Neither advice is enforceable, so people will probably vote as they choose and I'll complain about it when I choose to. Get used to it.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#229301"><em>In reply to hrlngrv:</em></a></blockquote><p>That doesn't sound like a particularly effective test. </p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#229536"><em>In reply to hrlngrv:</em></a></blockquote><p>I was responding to this post:</p><p><br></p><p>"Hmmm. Ubuntu 16.04 was the starting point for Linux Mint 17, and Chrome installed with no issues on Linux Mint 17."</p><p><br></p><p>Not the one about upgrading Chrome. Sorry I didn't provide more context in my response.</p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#229573"><em>In reply to hrlngrv:</em></a></blockquote><p>I would never draw conclusions about one OS based on another even if they are very similar. Imagine if you were told by your boss to write a program that has to work on Ubuntu and you told them you tested it on Mint so you didn't have to test it on Ubuntu. </p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#229610"><em>In reply to hrlngrv:</em></a></blockquote><p>I consider Ubuntu vs Mint to be a tangential issue I'm only discussing because you brought it up. I make no claims about installing Chrome on Mint because I haven't tried it and could only speculate since i have no data to base a conclusion on.</p><p><br></p><p>The fact is that Chrome failed to install on a just-installed Ubuntu distro. I did some research and found that other people had the same problem and presented a solution, I tried it and it worked. And no, the solution didn't involve GPG keys.</p><p><br></p><p>"You must have done something wrong" seems to be the go-to excuse for some Linux enthusiasts when people encounter a problem.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
skane2600
<blockquote><a href="#229665"><em>In reply to hrlngrv:</em></a></blockquote><p>I don't recall for certain what I did although I already presented a guess you apparently didn't read, but I'm not Ubuntu software support for someone who doesn't have any interest in using it and denies that there's a problem. </p><p><br></p><p>BTW, just for the heck of it I installed Linux Mint 17 on a virtual machine, immediately downloaded Chrome and it installed perfectly. I then did the same with a fresh version of Ubuntu and it failed just as before. Very repeatable.</p><p><br></p><p>Feel free to test my results using fresh installs.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
harry12
<p>There are Better Browsers than Google Chrome.</p>