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Google Earth Gets a New Home On the Web (arstechnica.com)
To celebrate the Earth Day, Google says it is rolling out what was a two-year in the making major update to Google Earth. From a report: V9 is designed to run in a Web browser (just Chrome for now), but there's now a standalone home for Google Earth. The Android app has been updated, too (iOS is coming soon). Version 9 puts a big focus on guided tours via the "Voyager" section, which serves as a jumping off point for YouTube videos, 360-degree content, Street View, and Google Earth landmarks. The tours are led by scientists and documentarians, with some content produced by well-known groups like the BBC's Planet Earth team. For kids, there's a Sesame Street muppet section.
Targeting Chrome as the only supported browser has become possible thanks to Firefox's decreasing market share. It's now down to about 5% or 6%, across all versions and all platforms. It has no mobile presence of any substance (0.03%).
Targeting only Chrome really wasn't feasible back when Firefox had 30% or more of the browser market. But thanks to one unwanted chaneg after another, users have fled Firefox and moved to Chrome instead. Now Chrome has 50% or more of the browser market, including a significant share of the mobile market.
I think we're just going to see more of this happening. It'll be like the "Best Viewed With Netscape Navigator" and "Best Viewed With Internet Explorer" days of the 1990s, except there won't be an alternative. There will only be, "Viewed Only With Chrome". As more and more sites require Chrome, even fewer people will have a reason to use Firefox. Firefox's already small usage share will continue to drop, perhaps even until it effectively reaches 0% of the market.
The saddest part is that it really didn't need to be like this. Firefox was a major player at one time. People liked using it, more than they liked using Chrome. But then the Firefox devs had to throw it all away! It hasn't just hurt their product; it has hurt the web as a whole.