ThinkingNectar

Chroium.org announced Google Chrome Frame. It was stated:

Today, we’re releasing an early version of Google Chrome Frame, an open source plug-in that brings HTML5 and other open web technologies to Internet Explorer.

We’re building Google Chrome Frame to help web developers deliver faster, richer applications like Google Wave. Recent JavaScript performance improvements and the emergence of HTML5 have enabled web applications to do things that could previously only be done by desktop software. One challenge developers face in using these new technologies is that they are not yet supported by Internet Explorer. Developers can’t afford to ignore IE — most people use some version of IE — so they end up spending lots of time implementing work-arounds or limiting the functionality of their apps.

It sounds exciting to allow Internet Explorer to run HTML5 and an improvement in Javascript performance. Seems like a great piece of technical engineering.

From a take up rate perspective, there are reservations. As seems in some of the comments, it seems that users who cannot upgrade their browsers does not have the rights to install a plugin as well? I do not have numbers or facts but digg have a blog post on their statistics. Yes their user base maybe tech savvy and hence the numbers slightly biased. But if their tech savvy use, of which 10% cannot help but to use IE6, I have a feeling that the general internet users will have a higher IE6 usage and likewise be unable to upgrade their browsers.

Yes, maybe installing a plugin might be easier or potentially possible from these users point of view. For new machines and those using IE7 and above, it is always a lesser issue for web developers as compared to IE6. Google Chrome Frame does bring HTML5 to IE, but it does not remove the existence of IE6.

It seems that Google Chrome Frame might give some clueless IT manager somewhere the idea that IE6 may have an extended shelf life.