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Google Chrome experiment crashes browser tabs, impacts companies worldwide

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Re: Google Chrome experiment crashes browser tabs, impacts companies worldwide

#41
post #40
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google have made many attempts to sell Google services, and Chrome in particular[1], as professional software that businesses can rely on. I've been at conferences where senior Google staff went to great lengths to present the benefits of switching to Chrome. > The experiments are not exactly a secret program and have existed for a while I've been responsible for managing Chrome in a professional environment for seve…

Whoa, I just set out to find the way to disable them. I thought it was possible, but I seem to have confused that with Firefox. Firefox calls it "studies", and you can easily opt out of them in the browser's options. Chrome (and chromium) calls the feature "field trials" and there doesn't really seem to be a way to opt out. I'm seriously baffled by the audacity of Google here. Seems as if the only way to actually get…

> I'm seriously baffled by the audacity of Google here

Join the club!

> It might be worth to investigate whether there is some kind of host name that could be nullified on the network, of the server that the trials are loaded from.

It looks like they're downloaded from https://clients4.google.com/chrome-variations/seed

Blocking the entire hostname would cause problems with other features of Chrome. But I think blocking the particular URL would need SSL interception which isn't very appealing.

Re: Google Chrome experiment crashes browser tabs, impacts companies worldwide

#42
Man, I just do not get what's happening here. It sounds like there are just SO MANY things WRONG about how people could let problems like this affect them.

First: it's harming terminal servers... What? Why would you need to use a browser on a terminal server? I just don't get that, first and foremost. By and large, a GUI should be a luxury, if you're remoting into a server. Even for loopback purposes, a browser should only be needed for a web server.

Second: Why is Chrome, but most importantly GOOGLE Chrome left as the only option available to users? Obviously, it's been made clear in recent news that Microsoft has adopted Chrome as its browser core, but the Microsoft distribution should be on a different release channel, no?

Third: Why is Google not firewalled and blacklisted, such that Chrome can't phone home. Seems like an obvious disease vector. We all know that Chrome routes around policy controls, by installing to user home directories, so that it can thwart frisky, tyrannical administrators that would seek to prevent users from installing wonky appz, progz and warez.

Fourth: Why no enterprise LTS install. Google used to supply this to Windows Enterprise deployments. And if they did, it's, by definition, supposed to be a slower, more stable release channel (long term, often meaning six months, or perhaps years, with only incremental urgent security patches, for emergency zero day coverage). Shame on Google for crossing that line, but shame on enterprise subscribers if they installed non-professional consumer software on not just enterprise machines, but servers no less.

Fifth: If you need browser on your terminal server, in order to get things done, you're doing something wrong. But really, if that browser is mission critical to performing actions on said server, and you are dependent on it, then I question your skill level, talent and wit in general. Browsers just aren't that special. There's no way Chrome should be such a crucial component, while dialed in to a server, such that only Chrome can accomplish things that cannot be performed by some other means. Please check yourself, because it sounds like you made your own bed, and you should be made to lie in it, because you are bad at your job. (or dump the whole situation, quit, find some other place to work, if you are subject to the bad decisions made by someone else, because this sounds stupid)

Last: I bring this up, because I can't imagine the Chrome dependency being rooted in anything else. Intranets and JavaScript.

Chrome's singular claim to fame is essentially it being a consistent JavaScript wrapper for client-side UI delivery. If you need to look at page elements that only work via JavaScript, again, you've created your own problem. And if JS is needed on a terminal server because intranet? Holy shit! You did it to yourself, and there's no two ways about it.

You need to correct your situation, and extricate any such workflows that happen to (A.) rely on JS (B.) in a browser (C.) a browser you aren't really trying to control (D.) while remoting into another machine (E.) one that is indeed a server no less.

Listen, remote desktop, firewalls, VPN access, and web technology are all great, but this is no way to run a business. But most of all, this is no such way to run a server.

No company should be able to pull the rug out from under you by making uncontrolled contact with your server, in ANY way. Not because they aren't supposed to. Not because of some imaginary honor system that might forbid such a thing. But really, because it is impossible for the network traffic to even occur.

Google should be unreachable, even if you've chosen to use their software.

If Google is able to push changes to your shared access machine, you're the one in the wrong.

Re: Google Chrome experiment crashes browser tabs, impacts companies worldwide

#43
post #41
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoa, I just set out to find the way to disable them. I thought it was possible, but I seem to have confused that with Firefox. Firefox calls it "studies", and you can easily opt out of them in the browser's options. Chrome (and chromium) calls the feature "field trials" and there doesn't really seem to be a way to opt out. I'm seriously baffled by the audacity of Google here. Seems as if the only way to actually get…

> I'm seriously baffled by the audacity of Google here Join the club! > It might be worth to investigate whether there is some kind of host name that could be nullified on the network, of the server that the trials are loaded from. It looks like they're downloaded from https://clients4.google.com/chrome-variations/seed Blocking the entire hostname would cause problems with other features of Chrome. But I think blocki…

Digging in the code also brought up that URL, and it appears as if the entire feature was disabled if Chromium is built without the "Google Chrome branding" flag (and can then be reenabled by specifying a seed URL yourself via command line). Hence one might get by with building from unmodified Chromium source.

But the options to disable it on official prebuilt Chrome appear to be grim indeed. SSL interception might not even work at all, as I guess Google uses certificate pinning.

Re: Google Chrome experiment crashes browser tabs, impacts companies worldwide

#44
post #26

With Edge being based on Chromium I expect many corporations will start switching away from Google Chrome, but it's just swapping one corporate overlord for another.

It's switching two corporate overlords for one, so I think they'll still see it as a net win.

Re: Google Chrome experiment crashes browser tabs, impacts companies worldwide

#45
post #30

I chuckled at this: > "Do you see the impact you created for thousands of us without any warning or explanation? We are not your test subjects," said an angry sysadmin. "We are running professional services for multi million dollar programs. Do you understand how many hours of resources were wasted by your 'experiment'?" Did you, dear sysadmin, pay anything for Google Chrome? No? Are you in any contractual relation t…

Does being a GSuite customer counts as paying for Google Chrome?

If that doesn't count, there there is no scenario where you can say you've paid for it.

Re: Google Chrome experiment crashes browser tabs, impacts companies worldwide

#46
post #41
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoa, I just set out to find the way to disable them. I thought it was possible, but I seem to have confused that with Firefox. Firefox calls it "studies", and you can easily opt out of them in the browser's options. Chrome (and chromium) calls the feature "field trials" and there doesn't really seem to be a way to opt out. I'm seriously baffled by the audacity of Google here. Seems as if the only way to actually get…

> I'm seriously baffled by the audacity of Google here Join the club! > It might be worth to investigate whether there is some kind of host name that could be nullified on the network, of the server that the trials are loaded from. It looks like they're downloaded from https://clients4.google.com/chrome-variations/seed Blocking the entire hostname would cause problems with other features of Chrome. But I think blocki…

Is just patching the url in the binary an option?

Re: Google Chrome experiment crashes browser tabs, impacts companies worldwide

#47
post #40
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google have made many attempts to sell Google services, and Chrome in particular[1], as professional software that businesses can rely on. I've been at conferences where senior Google staff went to great lengths to present the benefits of switching to Chrome. > The experiments are not exactly a secret program and have existed for a while I've been responsible for managing Chrome in a professional environment for seve…

Whoa, I just set out to find the way to disable them. I thought it was possible, but I seem to have confused that with Firefox. Firefox calls it "studies", and you can easily opt out of them in the browser's options. Chrome (and chromium) calls the feature "field trials" and there doesn't really seem to be a way to opt out. I'm seriously baffled by the audacity of Google here. Seems as if the only way to actually get…

No no no. This is an isolated incident. Developers at Google are absolute Wunderkinds that know everything better than the stupid users out there, and never make any mistakes. Except this one time. So don't worry, just leave those field trials enabled, it won't happen again.

Re: Google Chrome experiment crashes browser tabs, impacts companies worldwide

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox does: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-esr-release-cyc...

ESR user for many years, plus useragent-switcher for sites that pretend to care about my "security" (but mostly care about CSS eye candy and the latest whizzbang). Free beta tester for other people isn't in my job description ;-)

> plus useragent-switcher for sites that pretend to care about my "security"

What kind of site does that? I'm on ESR too (from Debian's repos) and never seen anything like it

Re: Google Chrome experiment crashes browser tabs, impacts companies worldwide

#50

I’ve seen Chrome in so many corporate environments and never understood why. Native browsers work fine and are crafted to work reliably in the environment they’re used in. My guess is some admins simply like Chrome and thus decided everyone should. I like Firefox but I keep it at home, at work I use Microsoft Edge.

My work uses Microsoft Edge and it’s just not very good. Not as many sites work on Edge as Chrome.

I hope this changes when Edge goes to Chromiun but from a UX perspective, too much stuff doesn’t work on Edge.

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