Skip to Content

Stainless: Another attempt at Chrome for OS X

by Mike Schramm Oct 2nd 2008 at 7:00AM

At this rate, Google won't even have to release Chrome for Mac OS X -- our devs will have done it all already themselves. We've already reported about CrossOver putting their own port of Google's web browser together just to show they could do it, and now word has come in about Stainless, another attempt to bring Google's Chromium kit over to our favorite operating system.

Unfortunately, it's still just a tech demo and not really a full-fledged browser (and the guys behind it, Mesa Dynamics, say that they didn't even try doing the cool stuff that the real OS X Chromium team is working on). But they did create a multi-process browser (one per tab), and they used some of the tech from their other app, Hypercube (Edit: NOT HyperCard, sorry -- I would have been more excited about that, too) to do it. I haven't tried it (I haven't tried the real Chrome on Windows either, Firefox is good enough for me so far), but like the other OS X Chrome, this app really only exists just so it can.

And it shows just how desperate OS X users are to get their hands on Google's browser. Just how much longer do we have to wait?

View Tags

Related Stories

Categories

Analysis / Opinion Odds and ends Freeware Internet Tools Developer

At this rate, Google won't even have to release Chrome for Mac OS X -- our devs will have done it all already themselves. We've already...
 

Add a Comment

Sign in »
*0 / 3000 Character Maximum

19 Comments

Filter by:
Martin

Actually, with a bit of patience and the right tools (XCode), it's pretty easy to compile Chrome for MacOS. At this moment there is no real UI yet, just the so-called "TestShell", but you can use it to browse the web!

If you don't want to install XCode just to try a new browser, I try to post updated builds at http://securityandthe.net/chrome/ on a regular basis.

November 27 2008 at 1:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mtfootfun

This doesn't have the web application shortcut feature I'm trying to get. I hate losing my gmail in my tabs. I know about MailPlane, like it, but don't want to pay for it. Plus, I use lots of other Web Applications and need a To Do list (Remember the Milk), GDocs, GCal, etc. Any suggestions?

November 20 2008 at 2:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
sriggins

lol while reading this article Safari locked up trying to play one of the ads or widgets on this page. Had to force quit and reload session.

Ironic.

October 02 2008 at 12:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Josh

Anyone remember the Neoplanet web browser for Windows? That was pretty chromed out too. When's that coming to Mac, eh?

and no, not really.

October 02 2008 at 12:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ryan

check their website, stainless is similar to chrome, but is NOT built on the chromium kit. How many errors are in this post?

October 02 2008 at 11:35 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Joshua Ochs

Knock knock, TUAW. Have any plans on fixing that glaring Hypercard typo above?

October 02 2008 at 10:57 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Patrick

"And it shows just how desperate OS X users are to get their hands on Google's browser"

um, no it doesn't. It shows just how eager developers are to play with anything Google-ey but doesn't say anything about users.

Of the Mac users who've actually heard of Chrome (which is likely to be a small percentage) I'd say it's probably a 50/50 split between those who are keen to see what it's like, and those who are happy with whatever other browser they're already using and aren't terribly interested in Chrome. Personally I'm in that second camp.

October 02 2008 at 9:17 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Patrick's comment
Taylor

Agreed.
This is not reflective of users. Additionally, this is a tech demo, not meant for actual daily browsing.
Chill.

October 02 2008 at 3:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mehul

How is this better than firefox (with ABP, cooliris and Piclens addons)?

October 02 2008 at 9:03 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
peijin

found it to be quite crashy...as in couldn't even use control apple esc to quit the thing much less the usual force quit method...it could be just me, but not in a hurry to use it again

October 02 2008 at 8:46 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jash Sayani

Using it since a week.... Is it open-source? In that case, I can develop it further.....

October 02 2008 at 8:32 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Buy an ad here

Hot Apps on TUAW

Tweets

© 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.