Chrome Extensions Probably Not Coming In May
Categories: Press
Written By: ChromeMan
According to a recent post on Lifehacker, Google Chrome extensions are coming in May! Yay! Unfortunately, they’re making a bit of an assumption in reporting this, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that turns out to be untrue. Read on for why.
Lifehacker is basing their story on a discovery by a Nicholas Moline, a programmer in Silicon Valley. The observant Mr. Moline noticed that according to the schedule of the Google I/O 2009 conference, there will be a session entitled “Developing Extensions for Google Chrome” containing the following description:
Learn how Google Chrome makes it easy to write extensions using the web technologies you already know. This talk will cover the basics of the extension system (distribution/packaging, installation, updates), as well as the different APIs to enhance with the browser.
Mr. Moline then states that this must mean extensions will be released either before or at the conference in May.
Well, I have to give credit where credit is due. It certainly is newsworthy that there will be a Chrome extension development session at the I/O conference. However, just because there will be a session, does not mean extensions will be released then. At all.
Think Apple releasing the SDK to developers for the App store before the App store’s release.
I would count on an API release before extensions are made a standard feature in Google Chrome, just as Apple released the SDK for apps before the app store. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Moline’s statement is indeed true, once you substitute the words “extensions” with “extension APIs”.
In the words of Charles Barkley, “I May Be Wrong but I Doubt It
February 6th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
To be fair, I said that it means that it is a "safe bet" that it will be released by the conference, but I still stand behind that.
You make a good point about release of an SDK does not necessarily mean release of the means to install those extensions, however I would argue that using Apple's App Store as a model for your theory that Google will probably not do both at the same time is flawed.
Google and Apple are very different companies, and furthermore a mobile app "store" is very different then a browser extensions center.
Even if you do use a mobile app store as your point of reference for this, you should be using Android's application store as opposed to Apples. The application store for Android was available on the Android from day one.
Also, what I didn't say in my original post, is that Google makes an effort to release new services and products at their developer conferences in the past. They released several APIs and features at last year's conference, and they released Gears at the previous year's Google Developer Day.
I can't guarantee that Google will release extensions in May, but I'd still say it's a safe bet.
February 6th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Cool. We shall see what develops.
You being right gets extensions in my hands sooner, so I'm all for it.
May 21st, 2009 at 2:33 am
There IS a developer conference scheduled for May. However, it is quite impossible to expect add-ons to come online BEFORE the conference as they need to standardize integration issues with multiple add-ons & to make sure that a collection of Add-ons won’t crash Chrome.
Therefore, Google will probably iron out these issues before getting out the add-ons. They seem a little more sensible in this matter, compared to M’Soft, who like to dish out stuff that barely work & add on patches & updates & such. Google seem to prefer waiting until the product is more stable before releasing it.
Which is why I’m not holding my breath waiting for the add-ons just yet.