Google Chrome slated for bloat removal

Over the course of its rapid progression from version 1.0 to 10.0, Google Chrome has packed on the pounds, so to speak. The introduction of features like the internal Flash player, PDF reader, sync engine, and extension and app support have all been contributing factors in the growth of Chrome's footprint.

Now, however, Google is starting to take a look at where Chrome can be slimmed down. A special group of Chromium developers has been assembled and tasked with reducing the size of the Chrome binaries. While Windows is the primary target, it's likely that Mac and Linux versions will be looked at as well.

Various reasons for the "diet" are put forward by developers. Ian Fette notes that Chrome is delivered as part of several app bundles (like Avast) and larger binaries can cause difficulties. He also points out that Google sees an increased number of failed download attempts as the file size grows. Another developer, Lei Zhang, reminds that not everyone in the world has broadband -- and even a few megs here and there can make a big difference to those users.

A monitoring system has been put in place, and developers will now made made aware of increases in size as the Chromium buildbot churns out new snapshots.

Google Chrome slated for bloat removal originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/22/google-chrome-slated-for-bloat-removal/

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