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Sony snubs Microsoft in Google Chrome browser deal

Google has inked an agreement with Japanese tech giant Sony to make Chrome the default browser in its PCs. Financial terms of Sony's Microsoft-snubbing deal with Mountain View were kept secret. Google said it will push for similar browser tie-ins with other hardware vendors over the coming months. This is the first such deal …

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Reality Dysfunction
FAIL

funny they should say that but...

Just decrudified a new sony laptop for my rels

funny to find that the default Sony support sites didnt work until I went back to IE

Anonymous Coward
Flame

Yet another piece

of Google to remove off new PCs

chris morton
Paris Hilton

why leave it at that?

if they want to make more in-roads they should use Chrome as the PS3 web browser being as the current PS3 web browser is so shit.

A chromified PS3 browser would maintain compatibilitiy with youtube and gmail etc. etc. it would be perfectl.

the deal is already there, so why not?

Paris because she never misses an opportunity to stick some chrome in her box.

Liassic
FAIL

Cutts not a Google Chrome Engineer

Matt Cutts is not a "Google Chrome Engineer" as you quote.

He's Head of Google's Webspam Team.

Anonymous Coward
FAIL

The big bad E

I doubt this will help. The uneducted masses just go for the 'big blue e' when they want the net - doesnt matter if its the default or not!

David Hicks
Linux

@Reality Dysfunction

It's amazing the amount of rubbish they cram on there isn't it?

I bought a vaio a little while ago because they're slim, light and powerful. Took bleeding ages to clean up the windows install. They even had the cheek to put locked versions of a few movies on there that could be unlocked with money. That was 4GB of disk I reclaimed quick-sharp.

Now my baby runs linux and all is well with the world...

Good to see someone taking an alternate browser seriously, though I have no doubt that this will be something to do with sharing ad revenue.

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

Chrome

I use Chrome, Firefox and IE, most of the time I use Chrome, simply because it really is faster than the others, I can click the IE icon and after about 6 seconds the browser stutters into life.

With Chrome however, click - BAM! Chrome is there and ready to go.

It gives me the feeling that IE is bloated and that most of my modest computer's resources are wasted on DRM checks that are checking that the DRM checking processes are checking the DRM checks properly.

Chrome feels like a fast slick browser, what else is there to say?

Anonymous Coward
FAIL

Gogle Groan

Ohh how Sony have changed from wanting good tech to anything that pays them for thieving that Address Bar Search traffic.

Bring back Mosaic and get rid of that shatty ABS.

RMartin

Chrome Dome

Chrome is still very much beta, and not a very good beta at that. Its quick and simple, but it has great trouble with lots of popular sites. Bizzarely I have had lots of problems getting it to run Youtube (someone famous owns them don't they?) content on several machines and Flash in general has loads of issues on Chrome.

JWS
FAIL

EU Rules

Didn't Microsoft just get a huge penalty for doing basically this? Or did I miss something...

Also, I always nuke any new laptop/computer for relatives as the amount of crap is unreal. Self build all the way.

Peter Zero
WTF?

But why?

Chrome isn't finished yet. Where's the extensions? The themes? Sure, it's fast and pretty lean, but why use it when I have firefox?

Bassey

So this is why...

This is why Google caught us all by surprise and removed the beta-tag about a decade earlier than with any other piece of Google software. I suppose it was a bit difficult to tout it around all the major hardware makers when it was still officially in beta - especially given the Vaio brand's natural home as the play-thing of the "Executive"

Anon

Be nice if...

It'd be nice if they could run Chrome in a virtual machine on those Sony... oh, hang on...

gerryg

@JWS

Yes, you did miss something.

1) Microsoft was about "use my browser -> use my operating system"

2) Google has almost no market share so not a dominant incumbent

In the future it might be different.

Tom Chiverton 1

@JWS

Google hasn't used it's dominance in one market area to (illegally) manipulate another. Yet :-)

Henry Wertz 1

Hubris

"So far it's not really made the kind of of impact Google might have expected after 12 months"

Really? They thought alpha, beta, and then a version 1.0 out for a matter of months and they are surprised it "only" has 3%? I'm not hating on Chrome, but this seems to show some hubris on Google's part IMHO.

Alastair 7

Re: But why?

Extensions? Themes? I don't recall IE having either. You're making the mistake of assuming the Chrome is intended as an alternative to Firefox, and I really don't think it is. I use Firefox every day for web development (Firebug, Page Validator, ScreenGrab, etc), but I also keep Chrome open the whole time for my 'normal' browsing- much speedier, much slicker.

And my guess is that we can expect many more of these deals in the future. After all, Google did a good job of getting OEMs to install the Google Toolbar on their PCs. Personally, I'm over the moon- anything that'll stop IE is good by me.

This post has been deleted by its author

Cantankerous Old Buzzard
Welcome

Could this be a trend ??

While I share the opinion of many folks here that Sony is not to be trusted in recent times, I also think that this will be interesting to observe as a possible trend of OEMs becoming less confined to the mindset of doing whatever the Billy and Steve crowd tell them to.

We can only hope for this trend to grow and maybe even bear the fruit of real competition and true innovation in the computer industry.

Sorry, but I'm an incurable optimist. ;>

Jay Castle
Thumb Down

Another example...

......of Sony exhibiting a preference for form over function.

I stopped buying Sony products after my 3rd PS2 died on it's arse and I realised that every time I bought a Sony anything, I was paying at least 1/3 extra just because it looked pretty in a fancy-schmanzy case etc. This despite that much of their product line doesn't work as well or have as many features as most of thier competitors.

It always amazes me how easily people are fooled by 'cool' branding....

Lewis Mettler 1
Stop

facts remain

Even if you get Chrome as the default you paid money for IE. And chances are that Google paid Sony to put Chrome on as well.

Illegal business practices are profitable for Microsoft. And that is why they will continue to screw consumers.

Just remember, if you have a copy of IE, your opinion does not count.

Jim in Hayward
Gates Horns

Will Microsoft increase the cost of Windows to Sony now?

Most likely. Microsoft will penalize Sony for this. That is the power of a predatory monopolist!

Annihilator
Happy

Hello, Sony helpdesk, can I help you?

"Hello, I've just bought a new Vaio thing and I can't find my Internets"

"It's still there, it's just called Chrome now"

"Well I don't want it, I preferred the Microsoft Internets I had before"

and so on

Anonymous Coward
WTF?

@Lewis Mettler 1

"Just remember, if you have a copy of IE, your opinion does not count."

Even if that is my opinion?

MyHeadIsSpinning
Thumb Up

I agree with...

...Cantankerous Old Buzzard.

Anonymous Coward
FAIL

WTF??!?!

WTF was the point in MS making a CHOICE screen for windows 7 if deals can still be done to lock in browsers, why not make everyone get a choice rather then tie-ins!

MarcF
Troll

@AC 10:04

Part of that was that Microsoft claimed that IE was an essential part of the operating system and couldn't be separated. This would mean if they continued with this behaviour that even if Chrome was bundled with Sony systems, and made the default browser, the blue E would still be hanging around the desktop.

Chrome isn't being locked in to Sony systems, it's being installed as a suggestion, much like VAIO and HP and Toshiba and every other PC manufacturer does with the annoying crapware that you get with your computer (I'm talking Norton trials and the likes).

I'm a big fan of Chrome, so not completely impartial in this, but at least now other browsers can be bundled with Windows, and easily replaced if you have another preference.

Troll because I may have fallen victim to one.

Giles Jones

OEMs

OEMs should not be able to install a single thing on the computer. The OS should be an unchanged version of Windows.

The only people who should dictate what the OS should have is the law makers of the country where the computer is sold.

At least with a Mac you don't get all these stupid wranglings over the default browser. Such bastardised OEM OS installs ruin the user experience.

Ray0x6

sony

vaios are among the worst laptops i have used - only beaten to this prestigious accolade by the hated packard bell. even acer and dread compaq do better nowadays. vaios represent an awful user experience, pre-loaded with more unnecessary rubbish than a gateway. the build quality is sucky and the machines require proprietary software to function properly - just like their shitty website. cheap cheap cheap. chrome, great as it is, will not improve their offering (and will probably fail on their support site). i am only slightly heartened that david has managed to get linux working on one. tried this a few years ago with a friends' machine and wifi was a total fail. never buying one.

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