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Comment by moron4hire | Hacker News Reader

I really don't count Chrome Frame as "works in IE." When you say, "works in IE", it has to mean, "works in the standard install of IE." Because that is the case that most people care about. We deal with IE primarily because we can't convince corporate clients to install anything. If I could get them to install Google Chrome Frame, I'd get them to install Google Chrome, period.

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I (the author) would agree with this statement, except for the baffling fact that Google Chrome Frame has a non-zero number of users. So obviously some people thought "I don't want a new browser, but I'd be OK with installing this plugin."

Strangely enough this was the sentiment at Google. I was talking to a Googler in a recent GTUG meeting and they told me exactly that: Some people won't change browsers but they are OK with installing a plugin.

Well he didn't exactly say it 'works in IE', just that it works in IE with a plugin.

It's like saying no browser can run flash games... because, they can't... unless you've got the plugin.

Your point about the corporate clients is definitely true, you can't install Chrome Frame in places where you can't install a new browser (at least, most of the time). But that's not the only place people use IE*.

Flash is a poor example because the majority of consumer PCs sold already include a reasonably recent version of Flash. This is why I'm still building adgames in Flash when I'd much rather use Unity3d. Unity adds the friction of a plugin install, whereas Flash is likely already installed.

Similarly, getting people to install Chrome Frame adds some friction (though how much depends on how the install is streamlined).

I'm not sure I'm with you here. A lot of offices have really old computers purchased around the time of Windows XP SP1 and the version of flash shipped on those will leave quite a lot to be desired.

So maybe I should have said it's like saying IE (in those types of settings, anyway) doesn't support new flash games because they don't have the right version of the plugin :)

I agree. Technically speaking there is no native support for Webworkers in IE at the moment. That is about to change with IE9 though.

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