Sony signs Google browser deal | Hacker News Reader

Sony signs Google browser deal

news.bbc.co.uk

35 pointsrobin_reala12 comments

I wonder if this is Sony's first step to see full adoption of Chrome OS? It is true many PC manufacturers won't offer Linux because Microsoft will deny them discount deals on copies of Windows. However, to threaten Sony would be tricky for Microsoft as they also compete in the game space. This would interest the DOJ and EU.

I think people overestimate Microsoft's power of persuasion. I mean yes, they can threaten a company whose main business is to sell PCs. They can do that because that company then loses the price battle with its competitors.

But a company like Sony that has investments in music, movies, cinema gear, game consoles, home appliances, digital cameras, hand-held devices and God knows what other fields ... I don't think it can be threaten this easily, DOJ/EU intervention or not.

Because Sony is (very) minor player in US. However, it's over for FireFox and IE.

It would be simply awesome if they can also get it on the playstation. The need there is really much greater.

The browser on the psp is based on netscape 4 or something, and has so many quirks it makes IE6 look sane.

Access Netfront actually. It’s not an awful browser (better than IE6 in many ways :) ), but you’re right, it does have its quirks. Here’s a claimed spec sheet for what I believe is the latest version:

http://www.accessdevnet.com/index.php/Web-2.0/NetFront-Speci...

They don't need Chrome, just Webkit. Who knows what's stopping them.

A faster javascript engine (v8) is nice for mobile devices, and who knows, maybe it's more portable to the Cell SPUs.

I've never actually understood the thinking behind V8, particularly as it's original pitch seemed to include being directly targeted at X86 and yet Google was developing browsers for both the desktop and Android (mainly ARM-targeted).

They've added ARM now I believe but Apple obviously had SquirrelFish on the ARM chip for iPhone from wayback. Maybe they committed before it was obvious that SquirrelFish could lift some ideas from Lua and be competitive with what V8 was planning.

v8 isn't faster, smaller, or more portable -- it didn't even work on x86_64 until very recently!

FT broke the story originally (I think) - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/89f80508-9663-11de-84d1-00144feabd...

The Register calls it a "Microsoft-snubbing deal" - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/01/sony_google_chrome_d... - and also mentions that the Big G is in similar talks with other vendors as well.

MSFT vs. GOOG marketing muscle makes for some awesome popcorn-viewing!

I'm surprised in general that technical people (especially) are celebrating this under the pretext that MS is the big bad wolf. IMHO Google is far more evil than MS ever was.

On a sidenote, has anyone else noticed that Sony is becoming Google's bitch? This all started with Sony's failing ebook project, which had an absolute pathetic collection of books (approximately 25,000) until they hooked in with Google's million+ public domain titles.

Good. Now how about Chrome for Mac?

Back when Chrome was first announced, it seemed better than Safari (3.x at the time). But the more time passes, the more Safari is catching up, and soon all of the features that make Chrome special will have been absorbed into it (and other browsers, probably).

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