CIOs not taking a shine to Chrome
Summary
Topics
Many in the 'no' camp attributed their lack of Chrome testing to their IT infrastructures being set up to run with Internet Explorer as the default browser.
Nic Evans, European IT director, Key Equipment Finance said: "Too many business applications are only certified for Internet Explorer to consider any alternatives so soon."
One respondent however hoped the advent of Chrome will force Microsoft to up its game in the browser market.
Iain Hepburn, IT Director at law firm Clarke Willmott added: "We use MOSS [Microsoft Office SharePoint Server] and extensive other MS applications and development tools, so we pretty much live in a MS world and have to use IE to get full functionality. We will be watching with interest though and any competition which forces everyone (MS) to raise their game is good for the consumer. We await the release of IE8 and what that may bring."
For the public sector, the issue of using Chrome may be academic as IT leaders there may have to take a lead from the central government security gatekeepers.
Andrew Watson, CIO at the British Transport Police said: "We are not testing Chrome. Partly because the internet is such a potential security risk, we would take our steer off of CESG [the Information Assurance arm of the Government Communications HQ] about its suitability for use in secure government environments."
But those that have tested the browser did have praise for it.
Peter Pedersen, CTO of clothes retailer figleaves.com said: "[We've had] good results so far - far more friendly on the PC memory than IE."
Although his IT team isn't testing Chrome, Key Equipment Finance's Evans added he had experimented with the Google app himself, describing it as "a more clean and efficient browser".Other CIO Jury participants who said they are not seriously testing Chrome as a business browser added they intend to watch the browser's development, possibly with a view to adopting it in the future.
One CIO who is testing Chrome however queried the business support Google is able to provide.
Andy Jackson, head of IT for B2B media group Huveaux said: "We could have done with Google providing us with a technical channel for questions and updates to minimize the impact of the announcement on the development team."
Taking part in today's CIO Jury were:
• Chris Broad, head of IS and Technology, UKAEA
• Pete Crowe, IT director, Fat Face
• Nic Evans, European IT director, Key Equipment Finance
• Madhushan Gokool, IT manager, Storm Model Management
• Paul Haley, director of IT, Aberdeen University
• Iain Hepburn, IT director, Clarke Willmott
• Peter Pedersen, CTO, figleaves.com
• Richard Storey, head of IT, Guys & St Thomas' Hospital
• Andrew Watson, CIO, British Transport Police
• Jane Kimberlin, IT director, Domino's Pizza Group
• Mike Roberts, IT director, The London Clinic
• Andy Jackson, head of IT, Huveaux
Talkback Most Recent of 33 Talkback(s)
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Yet another Google product shot down in flames.
Better stick to search and watch your ad revenue Google, you'll be on the ropes soon.
xuniL_z30th Sep 2008 -
Not really, I don't think businesses are their target market.
To be honest, it simply isn't targeting at businesses. It's targeting developers. This story is completely irrelevant to to future of Chrome.
CobraA130th Sep 2008 -
Exactly
I'm starting to see this as a trend. A new product comes out...bloggers rush to see if IT shops are going to adopt is and then render it a failure if they aren't. Isn't anything made for the consumer anymore? They did the same thing with the G1. Even Vista doesn't deserve to be called a failure simply because IT shops avoid it. The only problem with Vista though is that consumer adoptions is hard to gauge since its preloaded.
Can we please get coverage of consumer products from the consumer angle? Not everything is made for business use.
storm14k30th Sep 2008 -
You said it yourself......consumer adoption ...
is too hard to gauge.
And w/o looking, isn't zdnet's tagline something like "where business meets technology" or something like that.
I can say, based on anecdotal evidence which is shared here frequently regarding certain vendors, i've not heard of one person so far that has loaded and is using Chrome.
Around here, in this industry, Google is a bad word. It stands for "we want all of your data, private and otherwise and to own it forever".
There are not as many people, as Google would hope, that trusts Google. People saw that "do no evil" held no substance and they don't want a company taking their data w/o their knowledge.
Well, in fairness to Google desktop anyway, i guess if someone were to read the license with Google Desktop far enough, or hired a lawyer, they would have found that Google did indeed put it in there, somewhere in small fine print, about storing your deleted messages on their servers. And even though it was supposed to be a feature that allowed people to "undelete" mail if needed, the fact that Google took ownership of it and wanted to keep it forever gave people a rather ominus disturbing feeling about Google and and Google's intentions.xuniL_z1st Oct 2008 -
He said it's too hard to gauge when
it comes pre-loaded on almost all consumer PCs (like
Windows and IE do).
Not like Google Chrome.
AzuMao6th Nov 2008 -
How so?
Some diehard Microsoft fans refuse to use something
simply because it isn't from Microsoft.. and you say
this means it is "shot down in flames"?
All it is is said people shooting themselves in the
foot, and everyone else laughing at them.AzuMao6th Nov 2008 -
Alpha, Beta, Gamma ...
Do these guys have no idea what Beta means?
Granted, gmail is still in Beta - but this is the first
release; surely there's a clue there somewhere?
Heenan7330th Sep 2008 -
Half of Google is in beta
Including Gmail, which has been beta for 5 years now. I think it's their way of avoiding having to support the products in any real and meaningful way.
Norcross30th Sep 2008 -
Re: Half of Google in in beta
No kidding. Google's "products" are full of flash and sizzle and a great idea or two, but there's suprizingly little after that.
rich@...3rd Oct 2008 -
In norcross too!
Chrome was like love at first sight for me. In short measure it's shortcomings ( get it? Short....commings ?) were all too obvious. The break up was quick and painless.
celestialbodi616th Oct 2008 -
Except that
Chrome just came out, where as GMail has been out for
years, and is extremely stable and usable now.AzuMao6th Nov 2008 -
Idiot CIO's
Tying themselves to MS technologies.....
Business agility is paramount and requires more open standards. Any browser, any OS, etc.
Not proprietary MS technologies.
Fire all those Idiot CIO's that got in bed with MS - they are derelict in their duties to the shareholders.
itguy0830th Sep 2008 -
Which is why
you are down here, and they are up there making decisions that matter.
So they do not like Chrome, well here is a bit of a news flash: Alot of people do not like it, while many just do not trust Google to support them if it is not in Google's best interest.
GuidingLight30th Sep 2008 -
Your words speak volumes
about you.
Absolutely volumes. I'm sure Open source is proud indeed to have you on the team.xuniL_z30th Sep 2008 -
Who is the idiot?
You obviously have no idea how difficult it is to manage corporate IT. It's not just about our own software... it's about our vendors, and our customers, and *their* vendors, and *their* customers, etc. In the real world we have to deal with some proprietary software and delicate systems integrations that require a single platform.
I'll bet you're a Democrat, too...
acovington@...1st Oct 2008
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