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Google Starts Charging a Signup Fee For Chrome Extension Developers

Posted by Soulskill on from the got-my-mind-on-my-money dept.

trooperer writes "On Thursday, Google introduced two significant changes in the Google Chrome Extensions Gallery: a developer signup fee and a domain verification system. The signup fee is a one-time payment of $5. The announcement says its purpose is to 'create better safeguards against fraudulent extensions in the gallery and limit the activity of malicious developer accounts.' Developers who already registered with the gallery can continue to update their extensions and publish new items without paying the fee." Google also made available a developer preview for the Chrome Web Store.

4 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Never fails... by Hadlock · · Score: 2, Informative

    It would be nice if they waived fees for people who have had active gmail accounts for > 4 years, or something like that. Any geek worth their salt has had an account since mid-2005. I'm no developer, but I've tinkered around with extensions before in the past, just to see what they can do. Had there been a $5 fee in place, I'd have never jumped that hurdle to just poke around with the code.

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  2. Re:say... by mysidia · · Score: 3, Informative

    Last I checked Apple does not charge for the ability to develop Safari extensions and have them appear in the extension gallery.

    I believe you must be thinking of something different Apple charges for; you don't need a WWDC subscription to write safari browser extensions and publish.

  3. Re:The $5 ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Stolen credit cards aren't cheap.

    Actually, they're free.

  4. Re:say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    is a lot better than getting kicked in the nuts

    Some people like it. Can't say it is something I would try, but if you can't lick it, beat it... isn't that how it goes?