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Google Disables Inline Installation For Chrome Extensions (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the tightening-bolts dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Google today announced that Chrome will no longer support inline installation of extensions. New extensions lose inline installation starting today, existing extensions will lose the ability in three months, and in early December the inline install API will be removed from the browser with the release of Chrome 71. Critics have pointed out such moves make the Chrome Web Store a walled garden, while Google insists pushing users to the store ultimately protects them.

6 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. This is fine by omnichad · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you've ever seen a regular Chrome user's computer, you know there's at least one rogue extension that they can't explain how it was installed. More likely, several - and one of them changing the new tab page or redirecting searches away from Google.

    1. Re:This is fine by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

      And you can still install extensions from outside the Chrome store, you just download them, enable dev mode and load them up that way.

      It's sufficiently difficult enough to deter users being tricked into doing it by dodgy web sites, but easy enough that it doesn't really affect developers and nerds.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Re:Another reason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Just gave me a reason to suggest ONLY using Chrome to most users. There is no end to the amount of sideloaded shitware extensions that fuck up your browser.

    "But the website said I needed this to do X!" "I don't know. It just appeared there and I cant search anymore" "Why do I see so many ads?"

    To their Credit, google has taken down a good 20 or 30 extensions I've reported as obvious garbage that violates their terms. Still. Anything to cut down on this crap is great.

  3. Re:So how do I develop? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Inline installation just refers to installs from a website. What you are talking about can be done locally using the extensions tab in dev mode.

  4. So that's why Firefox... by urusan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So that's why Firefox has been becoming more and more Chrome-like, so it can be an alternative to Chrome after this change!

  5. Re:Another reason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    To their Credit, google has taken down a good 20 or 30 extensions I've reported as obvious garbage that violates their terms.

    And how did that "obvious garbage" get into the Chrome Store in the first place?

    Google, Apple, whatever. NONE of them can be arsed to scrutinize things that are submitted to their store.

    Google does not manually review every extension in the store. However, when an extension in the store is found to violate the rules, the removal from the store removes it for all users. That *dramatically* reduces the pay-off of tricking users into installing malware.