CIOs not taking a shine to Chrome

Despite the hype, it seems few IT teams are testing Google's recently launched Web browser Chrome--yet.

In Silicon.com's latest exclusive CIO Jury poll, the respondents revealed that they were still steering clear of the application, with 10 out of 12 saying their IT teams are not testing it.

Many in the "no" camp attributed their lack of Chrome testing to their IT infrastructures being set up to run with Internet Explorer as the default browser. Google unveiled Chrome at the start of September.

Click image for full Chrome gallery.

(Credit: Robert Vamosi/CNET Networks; Google)

Nic Evans, European IT director at Key Equipment Finance, said: "Too many business applications are only certified for Internet Explorer to consider any alternatives so soon."

One respondent, however, hoped that the advent of Chrome will force Microsoft to up its game in the browser market.

Iain Hepburn, IT director at law firm Clarke Willmott, added: "We use MOSS (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server) and extensive other MS applications and development tools, so we pretty much live in a MS world and have to use IE to get full functionality. We will be watching with interest though and any competition which forces everyone (MS) to raise their game is good for the consumer. We await the release of IE8 and what that may bring."

For the public sector, the issue of using Chrome may be academic, as IT leaders there may have to take a lead from the central government security gatekeepers.

Andrew Watson, CIO at the British Transport Police, said: "We are not testing Chrome. Partly because the Internet is such a potential security risk, we would take our steer off of CESG (the Information Assurance arm of the Government Communications HQ) about its suitability for use in secure government environments."

But those who have tested the browser did have praise for it.

Peter Pedersen, CTO of clothes retailer Figleaves.com, said: "(We've had) good results so far--far more friendly on the PC memory than IE."

Although his IT team isn't testing Chrome, Key Equipment Finance's Evans added that he had experimented with the Google app himself, describing it as "a more clean and efficient browser."

Other CIO Jury participants who said they are not seriously testing Chrome as a business browser added that they intend to watch the browser's development, possibly with a view to adopting it in the future.

One CIO who is testing Chrome, however, queried the business support that Google is able to provide.

Andy Jackson, head of IT for business-to-business media group Huveaux, said: "We could have done with Google providing us with a technical channel for questions and updates to minimize the impact of the announcement on the development team."

Taking part in this CIO Jury were:

• Chris Broad, head of IS and Technology, UKAEA
• Pete Crowe, IT director, Fat Face
• Nic Evans, European IT director, Key Equipment Finance
• Madhushan Gokool, IT manager, Storm Model Management
• Paul Haley, director of IT, Aberdeen University
• Iain Hepburn, IT director, Clarke Willmott
• Peter Pedersen, CTO, figleaves.com
• Richard Storey, head of IT, Guys & St Thomas' Hospital
• Andrew Watson, CIO, British Transport Police
• Jane Kimberlin, IT director, Domino's Pizza Group
• Mike Roberts, IT director, The London Clinic
• Andy Jackson, head of IT, Huveaux

Julian Goldsmith of Silicon.com reported from London.

[mrorie]

Ironically enough, Chrome is much, much faster at dealing with Sharepoint than IE is. Obviously you lose some functionality, but for browsing documents and such it's a huge improvement.

[Save_Me_from_my_Govt]

After reading the user-license agreement, I'm not putting it on my machine. The companies can do what they want.

[pjhenry1216]

What's wrong with the user-license agreement? I don't see any problems with it anymore.

[benjaminstraight]

Everyone will use it eventually

[Vegaman_Dan]

I doubt enterprise level companies will adopt it because there is no support for the product. As long as it is Beta (is any Google app NOT still in beta years later?) and that means no support or liability for using it.

Give it time though. It only came out a short time ago. A company would be foolish to adopt a bleeding edge product.

[zizzybaloobah]

The thing both Firefox and Chrome (and Opera?) need to get adopted is solid enterprise management capabilities for their products. I know a lot of IT managers who love Firefox for example, but can't deploy it within their organization because they aren't able to deploy and manage it a the granular level they can with IE.

[howard_nyc]

Q: why can't you install both...?

People -- excuse me, corporate users -- would select whichever browser best suited a given situation

Dude, use a bicycle to go around the block... and jet around the world with Chrome....

(whoops my bias is showing)

[Kwasiowusu]

Chrome is chock full of malicious Google spyware. Any CIO that installs it on his company's PC's should be sued.

[ivorycruncher]

Until Chrome supports NTLM authentication (a.k.a. Single Sign-On), there's no way my company will even touch it. We have one web app already that depends on that feature, and others may follow soon. That app is completely inaccessible from Chrome. Firefox does support NTLM, althouth you need to manually enable it per site in the advanced configuration page (sort of a while list of sites to allow NTLM to work on). We have a few Firefox users here and there, but those users are typically more advanced than most. Everybody else just uses IE7 as their default, because even though there are more security risks, "it just works." Most average users wouldn't have the patience to hassle with switching back and forth between two separate browsers. Yes, if Firefox were more manageable, it might be easier to deploy, but all it will take is for somebody to run into a site that requires ActiveX, and they have to switch back to IE again.

[ferretboy88]

Chrome is spyware

[JoSlaight]

I'm a home user and an artist (visual). I'm trying out G-Browser right now, but I like Firefox 3.0 much better. "Just Because It's FREE" is not a great reason to adopt it.
I hate I.E. and every website that requires it, tho. I used Netscape browser from 1990-2002. I've used Mozilla's Browsers & T-bird since, but with every kind of security software you can think of.
So today I check out Chrome, and throw my 2 cents in.

[fadetosepia]

At my company, timecard fraud is the #1 reason for firings with #2 being surfing inappropriate sites. Sure, they can see everything on the firewall and the network but it's always good to backup a good firing with hard evidence. There was a study done on forensics and it was found that Chrome's incognito mode doesn't really store data on hard drive. So, for many companies this may be a problem if they're trying to get physical evidence of the employee's surfing habits.

http://www.surfchrome.com/index.php/home/news-list-mode/70-incognito-mode-forensics