One of Firefox's initial claims to fame was the fact that the browser could be extended with a multitude of plug-ins. Even though Microsoft caught up with Internet Explorer, Firefox still has an extension edge over Google's Chrome web browser.
"We don't have that in the beta today, but we definitely plan an extension API [application programming interface]," Sundar Pichai, Google vice president of product management, said at the Chrome launch event in Mountain View, California, on Tuesday. "It is one of the things we will get to next."
Firefox extensions enable a wide variety of features, from synchronising bookmarks to debugging website performance to showing detailed exposure data for online photographs. The extensibility has attracted a large number of programmers, too — something that is strategically important for most computing efforts.
However much Google might envy Firefox's extension assets, it is hard to imagine the search giant mustering much enthusiasm for one of the most popular Firefox extensions, Adblock Plus, which suppresses many advertisements.
Google has a strong focus on giving web users a good experience; indeed, the company has said its studies show that users find the text ads placed next to search results to be an overall improvement to the search experience.
However, Google's business depends on advertising, and its $3.1bn (£1.7bn) DoubleClick acquisition is geared to give the company strength in just the sort of online display advertisements that Adblock is designed to counteract.
Extensions are not to be confused with a related technology, plug-ins, which include software such as Sun's Java, Microsoft's Silverlight, and Adobe's Flash. Existing plug-ins work in Chrome, Pichai said.
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in
Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below
By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Membership FAQ
You are quite right. HDS has not been marketing their products well. USPV is miles ahead in terms of ease of use and technology on enterprise...
4 hours ago by sgardia on Will the SUN set on Hitachi Data Systems OEM relationship?
Fedora is the same way as well. The yum update system uses "presto" which shrinks the amount of data needed for download. It's a great system....
15 hours ago by apexwm on Can you believe it - 2765 kB will be freed?
Updated ID cards considered for 2012: [zdnet.co.uk] The government is considering introducing a new generation of ID... http://dlvr.it/KpBZ
16 hours ago on Twitter by cybfor Google, Viacom trade blows in YouTube copyright spat: [zdnet.co.uk] Google and the US media giant Viacom have issued... http://dlvr.it/Knht
17 hours ago on Twitter by cybfor Be sure to include an audio option - eg. a beep tone - to intensify and reiterate the action. This will greatly benefit some consumers and give...
17 hours ago by CIMITL Data disposal is really important to get right. There are standards set by UK and US federal governments to ensure that data is kept secure. If...
18 hours ago by DataSecurityUK Online Fiber Optic Certification Join a talented group of professionals, who are dedicated to Fiber Optic Networking technology. The online course...
20 hours ago by chaycon1 on BT launches 40Mbps fibre-based broadband Online Fiber Optic Certification Join a talented group of professionals, who are dedicated to Fiber Optic Networking technology. The online course...
20 hours ago by chaycon1 on Google to build gigabit broadband to the home
Hi Dava, I'm glad to hear from you, and glad that you see things from the other side. I think that is the most important point of the whole...
20 hours ago by J.A. Watson on Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) and the Latest Tempest
please please please please please please kill that spam bot.
20 hours ago by dava4444 on ZDNet UK: faster, smarter, still IT all the way it didn't post the link it's 'Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Beta-1 First Look' on youtube :) Dava
23 hours ago by dava4444 on Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) and the Latest Tempest Hi James I disagree, Ubuntu needs a GUI update and this one IMO is quite good. your pics show a low res. here's a high res. on YouTube* The...
23 hours ago by dava4444 on Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) and the Latest Tempest Hi any news on the comment bot? knocking me back from my own blog is a bit cheeky lol *Mulder to Scully* "I think it has an agenda.." I know, I...
1 day ago by dava4444 on ZDNet UK: faster, smarter, still IT all the way if you look at the Brentwood exchange on samknows it servers 21,000 residential propertiesm, Lowestoft serves 31,000! Come on BT sort yourselves...
1 day ago by benny boy on BT fibre broadband coming to 69 more towns
[programming] H.264 - a sting in the tail http://reddit.com/bfu4q [zdnet.co.uk]
1 day ago on Twitter by pbreddit
H.264 - a sting in the tail [programming] 13 points, submitted by zigzag [zdnet.co.uk] http://reddit.com/bfu4q
1 day ago on Twitter by reddit Malware infects second Vodafone HTC phone: [zdnet.co.uk] A second Android-based HTC Magic from Vodafone has been... http://dlvr.it/KhKx
1 day ago on Twitter by cybfor
Chatter preview http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/application-development/2010/03/17/salesforce-opens-up-chatter-developer-preview-40088348/
1 day ago on Twitter by miyabi81For multi-store outlets, including retail, banking, grocery, gas, hospitality, convenience stores and others, reducing (or avoiding) the cost of in-store system support and maintenance while maintaining compliance with PCI and other requirements has become a strategic challenge.
Speaker: Dr. Chenxi Wang, Principal Analyst, Security and Risk Management, Forrester Research, Inc. As Enterprises are increasingly connected to the Internet and as hard organizational boundaries are fast disappearing, security professionals are facing fresh challenges in Enterprise computing.
This tutorial is for new MindManager users and teaches you how to get started, by creating maps, reading maps and organizing your information.
Talkback
If Google are likely to frown at Adblock Plus, they're even less likely to entertain that other great ad-zapper CustomizeGoogle, which explicitly targets the text ads in all Google pages, from search results to Gmail.
Jackobyte 4 Sep 08 12:24 ReplyThese are the extensions which make Firefox so popular. Flock also allows the use of these Firefox entensions in its browser.
Google Chrome and Google based search engine www.treehoo.com are a perfect combination if you want to save the planet while surfing...
Samsung 4 Sep 08 13:22 Reply