Got Chrome envy? Try CrossOver Chromium
Google’s new Chrome browser may be Windows-only at the moment, but Mac users suffering from Chrome envy now have a way to get a taste of Chrome thanks to CodeWeavers. CrossOver Chromium is their attempt to port the open source Chromium web browser (the basis for Google’s Chrome web browser) to the Mac and Linux. The port is accomplished using Wine, the Win32 API Compatibility layer that sits atop Mac OS X and Linux and can run many Windows applications.
Hmmm… well 2 of my 4 sites load…
So far in our tests, CrossOver Chromium is less than stable. Actually, it’s less than less than stable. CodeWeavers acknowledges Chromium’s early beta status and cautions against anyone thinking Chromium is ready to take the place of Safari or Firefox just yet.
“This is just a proof of concept, for fun, and to showcase what Wine can do. Chromium itself is just beginning. As the Chromium project progresses, they will be providing more compelling support for Mac OS and Linux, particularly with process security and memory management. Those future versions from Chromium will be better suited for daily use than this version.”
Macenstein? Not so much.
Only 2 of our 4 sites actually loaded, both Macenstein and Son Of Macenstein crashed the browser repeatedly, although I am sure that is in part due to sloppy coding on our part that more mature browsers are able to ignore. CNN loaded just fine.
SUCCESS! A page that loads!
The initial install takes about 3-5 minutes (at least on a MacBook) as the app configures your system to run the Wine environment. If you would like to download the 125 MB CrossOver Chromium and see for yourself what the latest Safari-killer will look like, you can download Chromium here.
I think I can do with a nightly Webkit that is even faster and more stable.
“…cautions against anyone thinking Chromium is ready to take the place of Safari or Firefox just yet.”
Doc! Google Chrome isn’t meant to take the place of Safari or Firefox or any other browser. It is a new class of browser in a way. Some people may end up using and preferring Chrome as their primary browser, but Google has designed and built it specifically to be a web application browser. Everything about it is geared toward separating your web applications from your web browsing. Web apps are task-oriented, whereas web sites are info-oriented.